I guess I don't feel that college and child care can be compared at all.
Child care rates are for no less than 50 hours per week. How many hours in class is full time enrollment? 16 or 20, maybe? Most daycare is a 1:8 ratio. What is in in many university courses? Often times 1:100. Never less than 1:25. Do the tuition rates include the countless other things that are provided at daycare (meals, supplies, etc.)? I think if you break it down and factor in ALL of it, you'd find daycare to be much, much less costly. What university includes a promise to clean up boogers, poop, and pee with paid tuition?
It just does not compare!
Sure, a parent may pay more for their offsprings' daycare than they do for their college education. So what? It's not the same thing. I bet almost all parents will pay way more for all the toys and gadgets they buy their kids over their first 18 years than they will ever spend on daycare or college, too. So what? Should we launch a big study and berate Little Tikes, Legos, and Sony for their audacity to operate a business and provide a product or service that people choose to purchase, because it costs more than the average college education?
My DCFs each pay me $2.30 per hour for the enormous responsibility of caring for their very young children, and pay for groceries, supplies, and taxes. A pittance, really.