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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>How Do You Charge For Holding A Spot For An Extended Period Of Time?
aDCProvider 10:45 AM 04-11-2014
Last year I held a couple infant spots for almost 6 months and I was still pretty new to this so I only charged a 4 week deposit. After a while, I realized it was not worth my while to only charge so little to hold a spot for so long. I turned multiple people away for these spots while making no income on them until the babies started.

Fast forward, now I have a system in place where the deposits get larger, the farther out the start date is.
-2 weeks deposit for starting within 30 days.
-4 weeks for starting within 30-60 days
-8 weeks for starting within 60-120 days.
To hold a spot beyond 120 days and I begin collecting full tuition as a holding fee not to be credited towards future attendance. Whereas my deposits are applies to last 2 weeks of care, first 2 and last 2 weeks, and first 4 and last 4.

Lately, every family I interview that doesn't need the spot for several months (6+ where they would have to pay tuition after the deposit runs out), balk at how large the deposit is and the fact that they see paying the holding fee (tuition) as paying something for nothing.

I thought this was a great system, it protects me from huge financial losses while holding a spot. I am finding that people don't want to pay a $1500+ deposit to hold a spot (in my area the daily rate is $50+). So they end up passing on the spot.

What is your policy on holding spots, deposits, and holding fees?
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Tags:deposits, holding fees, holding spot policy, holding spots
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