The Cost of Daycare

When I was researching daycares at this time a year ago, I visited 3 centers in Grand Rapids/Kentwood (Generations at Porter Hills on Fulton, Appletree on 52nd & Eastern, and Rainbow on 52nd & East Paris), and they all charged $204/week for infants up to 1 year old, then it gradually decreases as the child gets older. $204/wk is a lot of money, especially when you multiply that by 52 wks/year - YIKES! But I didn't feel like I had much choice. I don't have family in the area who could help with childcare, and I wasn't comfortable going with an in-home provider who was a total stranger. Do your research, visit different places, and find out the features they offer. I went with Generations because I felt like I got more for my money, and it just had a better atmosphere than the others I visited.

Now my son is with an in-home provider, and I pay $130/wk. I love the savings, I love his caregiver, but the biggest downside is that if she's sick, I'm stuck taking a day off work unless I have a backup sitter (which I don't). In a center, if one of the workers calls in sick, it's not a problem.

It really depends on your area. I don't know about Sparta, but the NW Grand Rapids area's average was $126 per week for full time last year when I was looking. You can call Kent Regional 4C to get referrals and average charges for your area. The phone number is ###-###-#### ext 230 or the website has a form you can fill out and they will e-mail you. www.4cchildcare.org Hope this helps!

In my experience, it is 20-30 dollars a day for in the home daycare.

I have had 2 different in-home providers. They have each charged $100 a week for full time care. One gave a sibling discount, my current one does not. In between these two sitters, my kids were at a preschool/daycare combo since we moved and I needed to interview sitters. They charged $25.50 a day per child. Centers are much more expensive. When I checked into Appletree Christian Daycare center 7 years ago, it was $189 per week per child! OUCH!

Good Luck! I hate hunting for good providers! Follow your gut. You'll just know.

C.

Full time rates for my area, for an infant are around $200/week.

L. p here - yea, the cheapest daycare i found in GR is 46 bucks/child/day....