Originally Posted by Unregistered:
Thanks so much for your feedback.
You're right about it not being true discrimination if they are charging everyone the same thing, it just feels like a way to weed out those who can't afford to pay $1500 upfront (I am not sure you can apply for financial aid for this part) and/or those who can't afford to take the time off work to bring in their babies for a play date. I don't know, it seems like the kind of thing that you hear about in reference to those super chichi preschools in Manhattan (we live in a big city but not New York). Plus, they don't tell you if you are admitted at the play date, you have to wait to get word of their official admissions decision.
And, the $1500 reservation fee is on their website but it isn't explicit so we naturally thought that this applied to a month of tuition, which is the case for even the most expensive daycares we looked at (including the one our daughter currently attends). We didn't find out this wasn't the case until we went for a tour.
True, we don't have to move forward with the process. I am still trying to work through it all and don't have a lot of mom friends to ask so I just wanted to get some perspective on whether it was normal or not.
Absolutely could be the reasoning. From a business stand point I can totally see why they'd do that....nothing worse for a provider to take the time to interview, cover the policies etc, do all the paperwork and registration required to enroll and then have a family/child not work out due to misrepresentation.
I've had lots of families that swore up and down their child could do X or that the fees or weekly tuition was something they could easily manage only to find out later that their child was no where near the developmental milestone they were supposedly at or the family suddenly had money issues and either can't pay, won't pay or uses the "I didn't understand how you billed for that" line.....
I think that although it's a ridiculously high amount, I still see the value in it for sure!
You are smart to weigh your options though but I am curious about the communication issues and the turn over.
Is there a reason for the turnover or is it just regular turnover that seems to happen in centers frequently at times? Are the communication issues something new or something you feel you could possibly rectify with a meeting/discussion with the director?