I did some tweaking of my rates last year but not anything that mattered much. I may great money on my hourly full timers but its the part-timers that are killing me.

3 fulltimers=Pretty good money
1 Parttimer=4 days a week (All Day unless dad gets off early)
1 Parttimer=3 days a week (1 full day, 2 7 hour days)
1 Parttimer=Preschool only
1 Parttimer=Afternoons

Alot of providers go by what the state pays but its seems soooo little. I put the chart down below so everyone could see.

LICENSED RATE MAXIMUMS

Registered Family Rate Certified Family Rate Certified Center Rate
1-62 63-135 136-215 1-62 63-135 136-215 1-62 63-135 136-215
Hourly Part-time Monthly Hourly Part-time Monthly Hourly Parttime Month
Infant $2.50 $341 $455 $3.00 $371 $495 $3.60 $446 $595
Toddler $2.50 $338 $450 $3.00 $345 $460 $3.52 $431 $575
Preschool $2.50 $319 $425 $3.00 $338 $450 $3.12 $356 $475
School $2.50 $300 $400 $2.65 $375 $500 $3.12 $345 $460
Special Needs $2.50 $341 $455 $3.00 $371 $495 $3.60 $446 $595


Sorry if its hard to follow! I would fall under the Registered area and all mine would be Preschoolers. Do these rates see very low? I guess I'm just stuck on what to charge my part-timers.

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Maybe its not worth it to take PTK.
I always charge more than FT per day or $5/hr drop in. So my preschool FT rate is 175 but part time is 40/day, even if they come 4 days. Personally I don't like PT because it takes away a space for a potential FT. I have a kid that comes 4 days and a kid that comes on his day off. But I only am allowed 6 kids, so I rarely give out PT space.

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I had a daily rate. Whether a child was here 3 hrs or 9, they took up the same spot. I also had a 3 day min guaranteed rate. If someone wanted 2 days, they still had to pay for 3 days.

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Agreed, I'm not really one to take on PT kids. Are you able to charge your PT families a daily rate instead of an hourly rate?

Am I the only one here that doesn't consider 4 days a week PT? 1-3 days at my house is PT, 4-5 is FT. If someone is here 4 days out of the week, I can't really fill another PT spot if he's taking up 4 days because I'd only have one day left without his attendance.

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Good idea. I wouldn't take a kid for 3 hours on a regular basis ( only as drop in if space permits), but that's a good way around it!

The only reason I ever took a 4-day kid on part time pay was because I was new and had only one other kid. I was lucky to find another kid who needed only one day, and it was the day he was out! Between the two I get more than a FTK for 1 Ft spot.

Anyhow, as to the original post I would consider charging full day rates instead of hourly, at least. And then maybe see if you can require 3-day minimums, or something that will help your income go up. You need to consider that you may lose families doing this, but it will leave room for FT kids.
Personally I would try to get a feel for who would walk and start looking for FT kids before enforcing the new fees.

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I have a 3 day minimum. Anything less is drop in and is available ONLY when I choose to be available or want to take a drop in.

I also don't fuss with anything hourly. As Melissa Ann said, they still take up a space either way so I base my rates on days rather than hours.

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Yes that does seem rather low. I try to avoid taking pt if at all possible b/c its so hard to make good income from them. In my mind pters should be paying us providers more because it is usually so hard to fill in the other days but it has never worked out that way for me, I always chicken out and go with the lower rate. I charge $35 a day for 1-3 days of care. That seems low to me.
I think a lot of providers charge the same for ft and pt because of that very dilemma. I actually have a friend that does that, none of her clients mind it either. She just explained it to them.
I guess in a way its like the pt child is really taking up a ft spot b/c the other days are nearly impossible to fill.
I would charge a bit more just becasue its harder to maintain a pt schedule. Good luck.
I think Daisy said it best, I just recently changed my contract to state that I will take pt children only untl there is a ft oppurtunity then the current will get first dibs and if they turn it down then the other family gets the spot. ( not exact words but you get the idea).
Deb

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I actually make more money off my part timers because their rate is higher. I have two full time spaces that 4 part timers share and from those 4 part time families, I make twice as much money as what I would have made if I had filled the spots with two full timers.

I think in my area anyways, families who only want part time care are fully aware that they will have to pay a higher rate because part time is so hard to accommodate with the varying schedules and sporatic care needs.

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