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Parents and Guardians Forum>Weekly and Monthly Payments
Unregistered 10:21 PM 08-08-2016
Is it legal for a daycare to change both a monthly fee and add a weekly fee? bacause the month happens to have five weeks in the month.
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bklsmum 03:15 AM 08-09-2016
If it is in the contract you signed and agreed to, yes. Some of my parents pay monthly but their monthly rate depends on if there are 4 or 5 weeks in the month.
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Blackcat31 06:01 AM 08-09-2016
Originally Posted by Unregistered:
Is it legal for a daycare to change both a monthly fee and add a weekly fee? bacause the month happens to have five weeks in the month.
Not all months have the same number of weeks in them so if the "Monthly fee" is based on 4 weeks then those months that have 5 weeks in the will be a "Monthly fee" + "Weekly fee" so equal to 5 weeks.

Rather than question the legality of the charges, ask the director or provider to explain the contract and payment agreement you signed.
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Unregistered 09:20 AM 08-09-2016
We haven't signed the contract, we were quoted in writing that the monthly fee was XXX amount for the new coming school year. Then the contract was sent to our house for signing (2nd year there at the same daycare) and there is now a new weekly fee added in.
Weekly fee was not added last year nor was it meantion to us either in face to face conversation or via email when we were sorting out days attending for the up coming school year.. It was quite a surprise and skock to us. Trying to see if this a common practice.. We have a meeting with the Director but wanted more insight from you all before we meet with the Director.
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Blackcat31 09:27 AM 08-09-2016
Originally Posted by Unregistered:
We haven't signed the contract, we were quoted in writing that the monthly fee was XXX amount for the new coming school year. Then the contract was sent to our house for signing (2nd year there at the same daycare) and there is now a new weekly fee added in.
Weekly fee was not added last year nor was it meantion to us either in face to face conversation or via email when we were sorting out days attending for the up coming school year.. It was quite a surprise and skock to us. Trying to see if this a common practice.. We have a meeting with the Director but wanted more insight from you all before we meet with the Director.
It might very well be that when setting up monthly payments, they didn't realize they were shorting themselves on those weeks that had more weeks than others.

I've seen providers do it a thousand times.

Glad you have a meeting set up. Please up date as to what the Director says as I am curious now....
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Unregistered 09:31 AM 08-09-2016
Will do! Thank you for the insight, I was feeling at a lost.
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MarinaVanessa 09:38 AM 08-09-2016
It's not a surprise to me that they are adding an additional fee for months that have an extra week, they probably figured out that they are shorting themselves and wanted to change that this year. It IS a shock to me that they would do so without sending a notice of some sort to the parents first pointing out that their fee's would be different this year.

Seems a little shady to me and I'd be irritated. Like maybe they were trying to slide the new fees in on clients in hopes that they'd sign the new contract without really reading it first thinking that it would be the same as the previous contract. IF that's the way that it happened I'd be hesitant to continue care there in fear that they would try something sneaky in the future. I'd definitely ask for a meeting with the director to at least be heard, it's good that you plan on doing the same.
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Unregistered 04:11 PM 08-11-2016
Good Evening, I said I would update...

Met with Director today and discuss our situation with the written confirmation on monthly fees two months before the end of last school year. The meeting went well, we worked out that my daughter would be going five days a week but for a few less hours a week so we didn't have to pay the extra weekly fees. I think it worked out for both us (on a fixed income) and the daycare, who are a small independent daycare in a small town. We also live around the corner from them. We also have 6 month twins so maybe there was a good gesture there in hopes we will be sending them there once they are two years old.
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Blackcat31 04:44 PM 08-11-2016
Originally Posted by Unregistered:
Good Evening, I said I would update...

Met with Director today and discuss our situation with the written confirmation on monthly fees two months before the end of last school year. The meeting went well, we worked out that my daughter would be going five days a week but for a few less hours a week so we didn't have to pay the extra weekly fees. I think it worked out for both us (on a fixed income) and the daycare, who are a small independent daycare in a small town. We also live around the corner from them. We also have 6 month twins so maybe there was a good gesture there in hopes we will be sending them there once they are two years old.
I don't understand what the weekly fee was for?

Did your DD attend extra long days?
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AmyKidsCo 08:01 PM 08-11-2016
IMO it depends on what the fees were for and how the fee structure is set up.

My monthly fee is 1/12 the yearly total and is a flat rate no matter how many weeks/days are in the month, holidays, closed days, etc.
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LysesKids 08:54 PM 08-11-2016
Originally Posted by AmyKidsCo:
IMO it depends on what the fees were for and how the fee structure is set up.

My monthly fee is 1/12 the yearly total and is a flat rate no matter how many weeks/days are in the month, holidays, closed days, etc.
I do the same; I don't want to be figuring out, adding on or deducting an extra week every few months it complicates my budget.
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Meeko 09:47 PM 08-21-2016
Wow...talk about complicating things!

I figure my monthly fee by multiplying 52 weeks of weekly tuition to get the yearly fee. Then just divide by 12. Same fee...every month....all weeks paid for. No adding and subtracting etc.
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rosieteddy 06:17 AM 08-22-2016
I counted Mondays.Monthly fee was due last week of the previous month and we counted how many Mondays were in the next month.
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thrivingchildcarecom 10:45 AM 08-22-2016
I have a weekly rate for my clients, but for clients wishing to pay monthly I offer a 3% discount. When I first started doing this it didn't occur to me to take into account the weeks of the year instead of the weeks in a particular month. I finally figured it out and now calculate it for the 52 weeks of the year using a worksheet.

If you would like the specifics check this out: http://thrivingchildcare.com/2016/03...are-discounts/

Hope that helps.
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