Am I Being a Jerk? (Preschool Question)

My kids were off more in Jan. than they went to school (snow days) and we paid the whole month. They didn't start until the 15th of September and we paid that whole month too. I think what the poster below said is true of most schools. Its calculated by year and divided by months.

my daughter's preschool divides the yearly tuition into 9 equal monthly payments. Her last day is the 16th - and she also had two weeks off for Christmas break.
Even though the kids are done, the teachers still have work to do cleaning up the classrooms and toys. They work hard and I appreciate what they do and the majority of my tuition money pays their salary.

Well around here pre-school tuition is set for the year, then you pay in 9 monthly installments. So they're not charging your per day or per week, they're just dividing the payments up so that you pay an even amount per year. IMO, you are paying the last monthly installment of the total tuition - it doesn't matter what day school lets out.

Our peschool breaks down the entire total tuition (the week after labor day through the middle of June) and divides it into monthly payments does your school do this? I wasn't happy to see that June costs the same as the other months until I went and reread our handbook which shows the tuition breakdown. Yours could be the same way where it's not a monthly cost but the year cost split into x amount of equal payments.

Our preschool was a "per year" tuition. Is this just the final installment on that?

Tuitions are usually calculated per year. Then they divide it by number of months they're in school (usually 9 months), so you have the convenience of paying monthly instead of writing one enormous check at the beginning of the year. This is completely normal for some schools. Other schools actually DO require that one enormous check at the beginning of the school year. If they pro-rated tuition to reflect the actual days in school, things would get super complicated for the accountants, but in the end you'd still be paying the same amount. This way, it's just simpler all around.

I don't know that I want to say you are being a jerk. But I don't believe it's offensive for a business owner of any kind of business to set their policies. You should have known going into this that they charge for a flat weekly/monthly rate.

I've been providing care for 25 years and I so deserve a vacation. Somehow I keep thinking that one day I'll have a group of parents that are doing well enough that I can ask for one. But every one of my parents is struggling with something be it unemployment at times, under-employment, working 2 jobs, going to school and working full-time, no help from the fathers of the children, and those are just to name a few of the problems I hear about everyday.

I can't speak for that school you are using. But I bust my hump daily to provide the clean home, healthy food, up to date toys, equipment, and computers, AND provide good old fashioned morals, care, on time diaper changes, etc. My parents take vacations and many of them bring their kids to me during those vacations because they feel entirely entitled since they paid for it. I'm not here to take advantage of them. But I certainly would hope that they aren't bad mouthing me about the fact that I charge a FLAT weekly rate no matter what their attendance level is.

If they are ending the preschool on the 13th, you shouldn't have to pay for the rest of the month. If you are pulling your child on the 13th, it's another story. Since it sounds like this is their choice, I would call them and tell them there's been a mistake with your bill.

Our preschool charges an annual tuition divided over 10 months. So, we pay the same each month no matter how many days he goes. It does not bother me.

I agree, if it's their choice, you shouldn't have a full month.

The preschool our kids went to did the same thing. Annoyed me too but it was a great preschool with tons of stuff for the teachers/kids to use in the classrooms. I just figured they used the extra $$ to replace things or buy more. Wouldn't hurt to ask why they charge for a full month.

They usually prorate the entire year's tuition over the course of time that you are there and take into consideration the days off. At least that is what my school does.

So in reality, if you didn't get charged for the "whole" month of May, you would have paid more for the other full months. It just makes it easier for parents because its the same amount each month.

I know how it feels though, it seems like you are getting ripped off.

When my daughter attended preschool, I remember that the tuition contract was strange. I think they started in mid-September and that the September tuition was added to May tuition or something of that sort. The tuition requirements should be outlined in your contract/enrollment forms.

You might be a jerk IF you go in complaining about something that you agreed to last September.

Hello

Being part of the preschool world I know what yup are talking

Just remember that even tough your child's yearis over the teachers stay for another week or so putting everything in order, making evaluations, cleaning, doing inventory of th classroom materials, etc....

So the owners still pay the teachers and the utilities, thtat will allow your son if the case or someone else tu have a proper classroom for the next school year

In my preschool we charge the last month, and we charge it in advance, when parents enroll the child in order to be sure parents will pay

Most preschools look at it on a full year basis... Annoys me in a way too but I'm not sure anyone running a preschool is getting rich. And usually it is stated up-front that it's a year's tuition and they just break it down by month for convenience. Very likely that's the case here. Every preschool we've ever used has us pay a full month for the last month of the year. One of ours ends on 6/10 and we pay for all of June!

I don't see what would be offensive about it. The preschool is providing a service, you used the service, and poor economy, or not, they deserve to be paid. Tuition is normally a yearly sum, divided by equal monthly payments, to make it easier for the families to pay.

The tuition for these programs is "X" for the school year. Parents who pay monthly are usually charged x amount per month because they divvied it up over 8 or 10 months. doesn't mean you were paying x per month for school just that that was your monthly payment if that makes sense lol.

I wouldn't pay the full month. I would pay for the days he's signed up. That's how our daycare works. She does take time off, but they are 'paid days off' and 'no payment required days' depending upon the contract we signed when using the service.

Crazy they want you to pay a whole month when clearly, the kid will only have attended 10 days or so of school in May.

I would ask since the school is ending on the 13th of May. However, when my son went to prek we ended a few days before elementary school ended like a week and I a prorated amount the end of the year but the beginning of the year school started a few days after elementary and I paid full that month.

You are not being a jerk by asking and I'd look at the papers from the start of the year it may have something in it about why they do that. When you ask just day oh, I thought it was pro rated for the days they were in class. Most people won't think much about it and if it's a mistake I'm sure they will correct it.

It depends on what you originally agreed on as far as tuition.

It's the total bill divided by the number of months. That way when they were out for Christmas Break, Spring Break, Fall Break, etc...each month is the same. They don't count the Summer months of June and July.

It depends -- did you know you were going to be charged the same monthly tuition rate every month and that they budget them to be the same monthly...and did you know the ending date of the preschool year? We pay the same thing for December though our PreK closes for 2 weeks over X-mas and New Years....so it is much shorter than the other months. We knew this up front (the schedule and the monthly tuition rate). If so, they probably budgeted it out and spread it over the months.