Daycare in CWE (with prices around $500/month or lower)؟ (St. Louis: day care, how much)

[Arsene Lupin]

Keep falling in these forums through google everyday, I guess its time I make a post!

Me and my wife are looking for a daycare for our 1 year old son, as we are arriving to st louis early July. We are planning to live in CWE, so we are looking for a daycare around us.

We found childgarden, their location is perfect but they are pretty expensive ($255/week). We checked the Child Daycare Association website:

CDCA

But really couldn't find anything there. Just sent them an email and hopefully we get some useless replay. Do you guys know of any daycare places with our price range in CWE? How about outside CWE? We didn't commit to any housing plans yet, so we are flexible. We just picked it because I'm going to washu and wife is going to SLU, so its in the middle.. in addition to it being one of the safest areas in st louis.

Appreciate the help guys

PS: My price range is based on the averages I find in the US. That why I'm puzzled with all the $1000+/month prices.

[newinSTL]

My son is in the new Wash U daycare near the Delmar Loop, and the rate there is well over $1000/month. There are 2 daycares affiliated with the Children's Hospital that are probably within walking distance of where you will live in the CWE, but they are most likely similarly priced. I think you're going to have a hard time finding something in that price range. Perhaps an independent home-based day care, or nanny share? Even then, it might be difficult.

[Arsene Lupin]

Thanks newinstl!

I did notice everything to be $1000+ per month. My price range was based on this article here:

How much you'll spend on childcare | BabyCenter

Here is a quote:

Topping the charts with costs over $11,000 a year ($917 a month) for baby and toddler daycare are the following states, beginning with the most expensive: Massachusetts, Washington, D.C., Minnesota, New York, Wisconsin, Washington, Pennsylvania, and Maryland.

And at the bottom of the charts, here are the states with daycare costs below $6,000 a year ($500 a month) for baby and toddler daycare, beginning with the least expensive: Louisiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Nebraska, Texas, Idaho, North Dakota, South Carolina, Kansas, and Alabama.

Sadly this seems to be very misinformative.

I guess I'll have to cut from the housing budget to balance things around.

Thanks again!

[aragx6]

^I think if you averaged MO's expensive areas with its cheaper, rural areas, you might see those numbers play out, but as a whole that's a pretty inaccurate article. I know folks in Chicago who easily spent more than $1500/month.

Assuming you're sending your child to daycare full-time -- 160 hours/month -- keeping it under $500/month would mean you're paying someone like $3/hour to watch your kid -- that's especially low for a 1-year old who still requires near constant care.

Best of luck!

[rmc01]

I think larger day care centers are out at $500/month. You may be able to find an in-home center that is closer to that price, though. Have you joined the Metroparents Yahoo group? If not, you may want to join and post your question there--I imagine the folks in that group would have knowledge of in-home daycares and smaller centers that are not as easy to find, especially when you are searching from afar.

metroparents : Metroparents

[zach_33]

I think Childgarden offers assistance for those with financial need. You might look into it if your income is arguably middle or low. It is an awesome facility with great staff. I have comparison shopped and it comes in 10-20% lower price than comparable facilities. I believe this is because of subsidies from the St. Louis ARC (United Way). Also, the prices decrease each year the child ages, so you're looking at 225 for 2 year olds, 200 for 3 year olds.... It's reasonably priced among the better daycares. A strong recommend if you can make it happen.

[SouthCityGal]

For ages 2 and up, I would recommend Southwest Baptist Church's Child Development Center (CDC (Preschool) - Southwest Baptist Church*) as being very affordable. They are located in the Southwest part of the city. All-day, 5 day a week care is approx. $155 for a 2 year old. The price goes down slightly when your child turns 3. They also take kids part-time. I think a cost of roughly $625 a month can't be beat for full-time care. The facility is clean and stable with several teachers who have worked there for years, but it's not state of the art or fancy. If you don't mind the religious affiliation (which is only a small part of the curriculum), and the price is good, you shouldn't have a problem with the short commute to get there.