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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Have You Ever Raised Your Rates?
jenh171 02:32 PM 01-27-2011
if so, by how much? do you do this regularly & how frequently? how did you go about it? in other words, did you keep current parents at their regular rate and start the new rate with new families?

ideas?
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lvt77 02:40 PM 01-27-2011
Originally Posted by jenh171:
if so, by how much? do you do this regularly & how frequently? how did you go about it? in other words, did you keep current parents at their regular rate and start the new rate with new families?

ideas?
here is one that i used some time ago.... I raise rates only as i see it necessary




Dear Parents.

I want to thank you for intrusting in me to help your child learn and grow over this past year; I truly have enjoyed having your child here in my care.

Due to an ever-changing economy, I find myself in a difficult position. As the cost of supplies, licensing, child care insurance, training, food, curriculum, and services to keep my home in good condition go up in price, my rates must also come up to reflect this change. Please be aware that the increase will help keep the daycare center running smoothly and will benefit your child(ren).
Starting February 1st the rates will be as follows:
$40.00 per child existing client’s $55.00 new clients not potty trained
$50.00 new clients fully potty trained

Hours must not exceed 9.5 hours of care on any given day. Fee after 9.5 hour of care will be charged at the rate of $8.00 per hour per child and $10.00 per hour per child for new clients.

Should you need extra days added to your week, the fee will be $7.00 per hour, per child. Fees to be estimated and paid in advance. The reason for this, is that the food program will no longer pay for meals for drop in care and this is also the rate that I charge for drop in rates.

I know that you are as affected by the state of the economy as I am and welcome anyone to talk to me about these necessary changes.
Thank you for your understanding and cooperation,
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lvt77 02:41 PM 01-27-2011
here was my one for this year:


December 29, 2010
Dear Sandlot Families,
They say that time flies when you’re having fun, so I must be having a blast! I can hardly believe that another year is coming to an end. I can’t begin to tell you how much fun I have had with getting to know all of the children, as well as you parents.
As we start the New Year, you are going to see a lot of changes take place within the Daycare. One of the amazing things that I would like to share with you is that I have been given the opportunity to attend a teacher’s only Zoo Phonics conference. This truly is an amazing opportunity for me, mostly for our children. This is a program that is usually only offered at head start centers, so I am so excited to have this opportunity to share with all of you.
The food program has decided to form into a new program that will have several changes for the provider. I am sure along with their new program, there will also be some new rules, so please understand that these are rules that we all must comply with to continue to stay on the program and continue saving each month. At the beginning of the year, I will have to complete an entire reenrollment as well as more required classes. As much as this program is a pain to me and sometimes to you parents, we have to look at the positive side of things and realize that this program also benefits all of us by the finical savings it provides us each month.
Some of the other changes you will see are the hours of operation that the daycare is open. The new hours will be from 7:45am to 6:00pm Monday – Friday. However, you will still be set in your set times stated in your contract. I know that this will affect some of the families and this was not an easy decision for me to make. At this time I am working over 80 hours per week and I will be going back to night school to continue my degree in teaching, which would make it impossible for me to sustain the current schedule that we have now. The new hours will being February 1, 2011. I hope that I can help make arrangements for all families to be able to work with these new hours.
Another change will be that because of all of the changes that are taking place, I will be revising the parent handbook for everyone to reread and sign. It should be completed by mid January.
Lastly, due to an ever-changing economy, I find myself in a difficult position. As the cost of supplies, licensing, child care insurance, training, food, curriculum, and services to keep my home in good condition go up in price, my rates must also come up to reflect this change. Please be aware that the increase will help keep the daycare center running smoothly and will benefit your child(ren).
Starting January 27th the rates will be as follows:
$42.50 per day per child full day $24.50 half day
$52.00 new clients not potty trained $48.00 new clients fully potty trained
I know that you are just as affected by the state of the economy as I am and welcome anyone to talk to me about these necessary changes.
Again, I really want to thank all of you for your understanding and cooperation, without it, we could not have such a successful childcare center.
Unless otherwise notified by you in writing by January 28th, your new contract will reflect the new increased price stated above on said date.
Kindest Regards, Parents signature and Date
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Michael 02:56 PM 01-27-2011
Some more threads on rate increases: https://www.daycare.com/forum/tags.p...=rate+increase

and threads related to rate increase notification: https://www.daycare.com/forum/tags.php?ta...e+notification
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MarinaVanessa 03:36 PM 01-27-2011
I just raise my rates by a dollar a week each year so every year I get $52 dollar raise . None of my DC families have ever had an issue with this and I've had several say things like "$1 a week?! that's it?". I guess it makes them feel better about raise increases because instead of raising rates by $5 a week every 5-10 or so years they're slowly paying that gradual increase.
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jenh171 03:57 PM 01-27-2011
my rates are hourly, so it's hard to think of a nice easy way to do it. but i like that dollar a week idea!
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Abigail 11:25 PM 01-27-2011
A dollar a week would seem like I never get a raise! Some say it's 10% increase, but that is high in my area. I plan to raise my rates by $5/week because that is only $250/child/year for working 50 weeks of the year.

Most people would get a .50/hour raise in the corporate world and in 50 weeks at 40 hours a week that turns into $1,000 pay raise. If it's a dollar pay raise it would be a $2,000 pay increase for the year. I see $250/child/year very understanding and deserving. Remember we pay for our own insurance and double the taxes.

JEN, if you're doing hourly care, I would make sure you charge minimum wage or else contract them to minimum hours. When I babysit I get paid $8/hour for one or two children and $10/hour for three. If it's my full-time job I would want a secured income.
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