Preschool Pay Calendar Help

[jenboo]

Hi!
I am working on getting everything figured out for my school year preschool that is opening in the fall. This is new territory for me as I am used to doing full time care. I have a few questions for you guys:

1. I am charging a monthly tuition rate. School starts Aug 19th and gets out May 22nd. How would you charge for the 2 weeks in Aug and 3 in may? I was thinking of possibly doing the 2 weeks in aug due at the time of enrollment to hold their spot. Then I could just charge a lower tuition for May that would cover the 3 weeks in that month.

2. If I do not charge Aug at enrollment, would you charge an enrollment fee? How would you handle returning families? I don't want to count on people coming back after summer and they all flake last minute and I screwed financially...

Thanks for the input!

[kendallina]

I run a preschool with a similar schedule and monthly tuition. In August I charge a pro-rated tuition. It's not due until the first day of school, but I have really great, easy clientele (mostly professors, college town). For May, I charge normal monthly tuition, just I do for December/January when I have two weeks off for Christmas.

[jenboo]

Originally Posted by kendallina

I run a preschool with a similar schedule and monthly tuition. In August I charge a pro-rated tuition. It's not due until the first day of school, but I have really great, easy clientele (mostly professors, college town). For May, I charge normal monthly tuition, just I do for December/January when I have two weeks off for Christmas.

Awesome. Do you do anything to try and avoid people pulling last minute before the school year?
So they pay 2 weeks of aug on the 22nd of Aug (in my case) and then when do they pay for sept?

[Annalee]

Originally Posted by jenboo

Awesome. Do you do anything to try and avoid people pulling last minute before the school year?
So they pay 2 weeks of aug on the 22nd of Aug (in my case) and then when do they pay for sept?

The church operated preschool in my town adds up the days for each month and gives an invoice to the parents two weeks prior to payment due date. They all pay a month in advance. If there is a snow day the parents are re-imbursed or credited for the upcoming month. Just an idea!

[kendallina]

Originally Posted by jenboo

Awesome. Do you do anything to try and avoid people pulling last minute before the school year?
So they pay 2 weeks of aug on the 22nd of Aug (in my case) and then when do they pay for sept?

September is due Sept 1st. But again, I do have a unique clientele. Pretty much the whole town gets paid monthly on the 1st.

[CityGarden]

I love the hours of my preschool program and them being at such a fun age!

Originally Posted by jenboo

Hi!
I am working on getting everything figured out for my school year preschool that is opening in the fall. This is new territory for me as I am used to doing full time care. I have a few questions for you guys:

1. I am charging a monthly tuition rate. School starts Aug 19th and gets out May 22nd. How would you charge for the 2 weeks in Aug and 3 in may? I was thinking of possibly doing the 2 weeks in aug due at the time of enrollment to hold their spot. Then I could just charge a lower tuition for May that would cover the 3 weeks in that month.

My preschool program is in session between September (day after Labor day) and ends in the last 2 weeks of June. We follow the local school district calendar - which gives me a generous amount of time off and less protest from parents than I read about on here.

I opted to charge an annual tuition with the option of monthly payments. This annual tuition approach allows me to charge the same monthly amount September - June.

When thinking of having a set monthly tuition keep in mind some months have 5 weeks and some months you may have vacation closures. I find the months with 5 weeks balance the months I have closures/short months (i.e. Winter / Spring break, etc.).

A side benefit of setting the same monthly tuition is auto-payments! Parents don't have to go in and change anything since the amount is consistent most have me set up on auto-pay!

Originally Posted by jenboo

2. If I do not charge Aug at enrollment, would you charge an enrollment fee? How would you handle returning families? I don't want to count on people coming back after summer and they all flake last minute and I screwed financially...

Each year, a $300 registration fee and new signed contract is also required for every student. This year I plan to give them the new contracts and registration fee reminder in the beginning of March and it is due by the end of March. This gives me plenty of time of market for other families. It does take longer to fill spots with limited preschool type hours than with full daycare hours in my area.

[kendallina]

As for families pulling out early and not paying the full month of May.. I don't have any issues here but I'm pretty lucky and have great parents. If someone asked about it or said they were going to do that, then they wouldn't be able to enroll in my Summer Camp/next fall's preschool/younger sibling/ etc ..haha. I wouldn't necessarily recommend trusting people as much as I do...lol