Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I would feel bad if someone genuinely wanted a Christian preschool, but then had to send their kids down the road to the much more expensive Little Tots Secular Academy because there was no space left for them.
Not to worry, church preschools give registration preference to church members. At my daughter's preschool, church members could register until January 13, non-church current participants in the preschool registered on January 14, and new participants who aren't members of the church get the remaining slots now.
The subsidizing also goes both ways. Let's say a church has a nice facility and wants to offer preschool for their members. But there are only 3 3-year-olds among the members this year. It isn't really cost effective to hire a teacher for 3 kids. But if they open up registration to non-church members, then they can afford to hire a teacher. Opening the program to non-church members once church members have registered keeps the program sustainable over the long term.
On the other side of it, many secular businesses aren't actually in the business of offering preschool at all. They are in the business of offering daycare, and they would much prefer to have an all-day daycare child every day paying daycare rates rather than a half-day preschool child three days a week. They don't get the tax deductions that churches get, and their costs are much higher. They need to charge a premium for preschool to make up for the fact that the student takes a slot that could be used by a full-time daycare student. They are also a for-profit business, while a church program can operate without making a profit, or if the church is willing they can even take a loss.
There are a few programs around here that are private and aren't daycares, e.g. Language Tots, but its a challenge for them to fully use their facility all day in order to offset their costs. I believe they charge reduced rates in the afternoons to help with that issue.
Are things really this competitive? I appreciate the dedication these parents have for their children, but at the same time it kind of makes me glad I don't have kids and don't have to feel the pressure to compete in this kind of thing.
"Demand for space in popular pre-schools in Wake County has gotten so hot that parents were willing to camp outside overnight to ensure that their children get spots for the fall."
Not surprising but for some perspective IMO. People camp out for concert tickets, sports tickets, Wii Play systems, and any other HOT item that is tough to get so why not pre-school.
There was a time when pre-school started and ended in the child's home. It typically went from birth to 5 years of age. Today we have to camp out to get into something that use to be home grown.
What I want to know is why *any* preschool would use a first-come-first-serve registration process. Why not have a 3-5 day registration window in which you randomly select from among those who register during that time period? These types of unnecessary procedures contribute to a really sad feeding frenzy.
I have three kids that have gone to preschools in three towns in two different states AND I have never camped out. Parenting doesn't have to be a rat race, NRG
Said something to my neighbor across the fence earlier today, and she says that the church-run preschool at her church had parents camping-out like this years ago, and they changed the whole registration process to keep that from happening.
This preschool registration article was also discussed on a local parenting board And I must say that most of the moms on that board found it to be bizarre. I really think this is the exception, not the rule. It's probably about as common to camp out for preschool registration as it's to be against year round schools Ah, gotta love the media!
This happens in Florida also. At my church preschool, definitely and it still is. Parents did camp overnight - even if you are a church member. This was a Christian school too!!
My husband would not camp out so our son got into the 3 day 3's mornings so it was a good option for us at the time. He ended up going there through 8th grade so it worked!!
He still retains those values and is a nice young man, now 18!!
Enjoy those years - I would go back in 1 second! (We are actually thinking of fostering or adopting down the road!)
I'm so glad to be done with preschool!!! In FL where my kids went, the church based schools were much cheaper but we wanted one with certain accreditations. And, yes, people camped out all night. I did not, we got in on the wait list--we were choosing between our parish (episcopal) school and the one we eventually went to--we went to the one we got into first. Our parish school had the same accreditations and was NOT cheaper. But we ended up paying many times what we would have paid for the church down the street, which had, I'm sure, a wonderful program, but it wasn't among our choices.
I think people have done the wait-all-night thing for years. In one town I lived in, people did it at the Christian preschool near us with absolutely no accreditations whatsoever--it just had a wonderful reputation, and had we lived there when my kids were in preschool, we would have tried!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Ah, gotta love the media!
Preschool spot
