Fees Rising Unevenly

06/05/2012

Poetry is emotion put into measure. The emotion must come by nature, but the measure can be acquired by art.
Thomas Hardy

In last week's Exchange Insta Poll, we surveyed readers in Canada and the United States about weekly fees for child care. When we compared the results to date with findings from the same Insta Poll from January 2010, we found that fees have been rising even during this economic downturn. However, the rate of the increase is not uniform. For example, if we look at fees for 4-year-olds in different geographic areas, we find that in 28 months fees have risen as follows:

Canada = 14%
New England = 6%
Mid Atlantic = 3%
Midwest = 7%
South = 11%
Southwest = 19%
West = 19%

Of course, this is not by any means a scientific survey, but it does give two general indications: First, that early childhood providers are dealing with considerably different economic environments in different regions; and second, that in most of the regions, the rate at which fees have been rising is very slow. You can check out the current results, and add your input on the Exchange Insta Poll.

Natural Preschool Playgrounds - Create your natural preschool playground with The Adventurous Child - www.adventurouschild.com

Procare Software is the tool of choice for more than 25,000 child-centered businesses. Streamline your child care management, administration, record keeping and automate payment processing. Free Demo!

For more information about Exchange's magazine, books, and other products pertaining to ECE, go to www.ccie.com.