What is the difference between cost of care and the price that is published as fees for parents?
Providers do not price or charge parents for the total amount that it really costs to operate a program. Providers consistently stress that they are unable to set rates that cover the full cost of care because parents could not afford to pay such high rates. The difference between the cost of care and the price varies from program to program since there is no current “standardization of service levels”. The largest cost center in a child care budget is personnel. Some programs may determine that having staff with degrees is the best care approach and therefore have higher staff costs. Other factors can play a significant part in cost of care such as enrollment levels, hours and days of operation to name a few. A market rate survey is designed to measure price, not costs. A completely different approach must be used to measure data on the actual cost of providing early care and education services. Knowing the costs to provide care is critical in budgeting for any child care program. It
