Rapid City Daycare? (rent, credit, day care)

[JonManique]

My wife and I are thinking of heading to the area this June or July. My wife does home daycare and we are wondering what the daycare situation is like there. Does anyone know what areas might be best for new growth in that field? I have talked to a few people who seem to think there is always a need for good daycare providers, so we think/hope she won't have any problems getting a few kids there.

Any ideas/feedback is most welcomed!

Thanks!

Jon

[SDHomesteader]

I think what Rapid City would be in most need of would be Affordable Day Care. Some of the Day care places are just soo damn overpriced its ridiculous. Especially when it comes to single parents, hell half of them can't afford daycare. Please keep this in mind when ya get here and set up your daycare.

[Jammie]

I don't live in RC., but just a suggestion for a general area~Could your wife put an ad in the Rapid City Journal? I'm sure you thought of that after you find out the situation. Also, I don't know if this applies in every state, but licensed daycare providers often get more children here. It's just a qualification if you have clients who get their daycare paid for through the state. (college students/w children, single parents, etc)

[JonManique]

Thanks for the comments. Yes she will get lisenced, she is here and it does help. She will also have a web site and advertise in the Journal and other local papers if there are any??

Also, I wonder what you all consider "affordable rates"? What kind of rates do they charge that seem high there? Here, normal rates for a pre-school type daycare (at home) is about $115-130 per child... depending on age.

Thanks.

[SDHomesteader]

Is that per month, or per week.

The reason I say affordable (I'm a stay at home dad so its irrelevant to me but I know many single parents that just can't afford daycare anymore) is because my mother used to do it when I was growing up. Lets do some math here.

Say A single Parent makes a very good wage of 9 dollars an hour, I know, getting hopeful there as most wages aren't that high so please remember that. Lets assume they get a 40 hour work week. Ok now thats 360 per week. Pretty depressing just sitting right there. Ok now we're going to assume that its 4 weeks per month yadda yadda for the monthly income of 1440.00 Per month. HOLY hell thats depressing. And thats before taxes. Yeah we don't have state taxes up here but even the federal tax could take anywhere from 15% to 25% of them thar wages. Lets assume the lower bracket of 15%, (thats 216 if my math is right for taxes) Leaving a whopping 1224.00 to pay the bills. Rent assuming a very low rent of say 400 a month, thats 824 left, Now I am gonna assume on some of the other bills based on my bills (electric for me is relatively low cuz I shut everything off at night except the alarm clocks, my heater requires no electricity as its propane and runs without power in any case). 824 bucks left, HOLY HELL how depressing. 100 For electric, now we're down to 724 left, We'll say 75 a month for Heating bills averaged out over a 12 month period because we all know heating is pretty much a must during Winter Months but not so during summer months, Ok now we're down to 650.00 (649 but I am rounding up a buck). Ok Water Bill (which normally includes Sewer, trash etc...) at 50 a month (mine runs around 35 a month but I am very conservative with my water usage), ok that leaves 600 a month. Phone bill, (my land line is rather inexpensive at 15 a month plus the 30 a month for unlimited long distance) we'll say 50 a month, leaving 550 a month. Cable, Although not a neccesity for life, most people have some form of additional TV services, I'm guessing on this from back in iowa rates as we don't have cable or sat TV anymore, just not worth the money anymore, at 75 a month. Leaving 475.00. Internet access I will leave out even though 99% of the people would die nowadays without it. Ok now more than likely this person has a car payment, even if its a buy here pay here place (which I have yet to find in this neck of the woods) at We'll say a very conservative 200 a month, damn that leaves 275 bucks out of that High Paying 9 dollar an hour job. Crap, What about Food for the month. I spend 300 a month on average for Me, Wife and Kid, not including pet food etc... yet I have seen many on just this board alone that say they spend 400-600 a month on groceries. Well even at the low 300 a month for food this person is now in the negative. That doesn't inlcude any Clothes for the kids, an occasional toy (and at Toys Be Us or Walmart Prices on toys, that would be a damn good occasional, ya seen the prices of toys lately, HOLY COW.)

Now don't get me wrong, Daycare is a wonderful Invention it really is. My sister can't afford it for her two kids, she works at a credit union, making around 11 an hour. Luckily though her 3rd kid is 18 and can watch the two younger ones (big gap in ages in her case). But the way the economy is its a wonder anyone making 10-11-12 or even 14 an hour could afford daycare in any case. I've seen some that charge well over 200 a month back in iowa when we lived there. And I do understand that you do need to be paid for your time. My mother babysat kids, Ran a ad in the paper etc.. way back when before all the licenses and scares of todays time. She charged 50 bucks a month for kids during the work day and provided the Lunch meal. Or course things were much cheaper back then too. Mom was also the stay at home mom and did this to help pass the time while us kids were in school and to earn a few extra dollars, not to do it as a living per se as your wife would be doing.

I wish ya the best of luck and also suggest that you do please take into considerations some of the wages people make, perhaps a sliding scale fee system based on wages etc...

[SDHomesteader]

I forgot and left out the monthly fuel bill for the car as well to get back and forth to that job they need to get to to pay the bills.

[JonManique]

Yeah, the going rate is PER WEEK of course. I have talked to several daycare providers in the Rapid area and it sounds like most are charging the same rates there.... around $115 avg. per week, per child!

Here in MN, it has not been less than $90-100 per week for at least 10 years.

[Snowbunny76]

I'm not in Rapid City, or even South Dakota, for that matter, but I am in the Midwest. I do daycare myself, and the rates you listed are really close to mine.

The people who complain about the cost of daycare ought to try it themselves for a month. I don't know why some people think we should practically do it for free.

[JonManique]

Originally Posted by Snowbunny76

I'm not in Rapid City, or even South Dakota, for that matter, but I am in the Midwest. I do daycare myself, and the rates you listed are really close to mine.

The people who complain about the cost of daycare ought to try it themselves for a month. I don't know why some people think we should practically do it for free.

I agree. When you really add up the hours these women are actually working... it's not like they make a ton of hourly wages! Plus... do you know how much these little kiddies can eat? ha ha..... unless you feed them cheap cheep foods... it's not really "cheap" to feed a whole pile o'kiddies!

Daycare is a good business, but you don't get rich doing it. You really have to care about kids and their upbringing/training, to be in this line of work. It's not a piece of cake all the time!

[SDHomesteader]

We Did do daycare for almost 6 months back in iowa and the costs were just horrible, so I think I do have a right to complain about the costs.

The other thing we noticed about the daycare, Licensed and everything, was part of a side shoot of the School for the deaf there in Council Bluffs, was they just had tooo many damn kids per Adult in my opinion, half the kids were off wandering around while the Adults were on the telephone or what have ya, needless to say we yanked our kid out of there pretty damn quick.