Daycare cost per week
Childcare is quoted weekly almost everywhere, which is convenient for programmes and misleading for families. Two weekly rates ten dollars apart can be four hundred dollars a year apart once everything else is counted.
Why the sector quotes weekly
Because staffing is planned by the week. A room's teacher is scheduled in weekly shifts, the ratio is a weekly staffing question, and the revenue that has to cover it arrives weekly.
It also smooths the awkwardness of months. Some months have four billable weeks and some have five, and a weekly rate lets a programme bill the same amount for the same amount of care.
For families it has one drawback: nothing else in a household budget is weekly, so the number has to be converted, and the conversion is where the mistake happens. Fifty-two weeks divided by twelve is 4.33, not 4.
What rides on top of the rate
Registration, annually and per child. Supply or activity fees, usually annual. Late collection fees, per occurrence. Some programmes charge separately for nappies and wipes; some charge for meals; some charge for trips and photographs.
Then the weeks. A programme closed ten days a year and charging for all of them costs two weeks more than the headline suggests over a year, relative to one that charges only for weeks it opens.
None of this is hidden — it is all on the fee sheet. It is just not in the number anyone quotes on the phone.
| Item | Typical basis | Where it shows up |
|---|---|---|
| Tuition | Per week | The quoted number |
| Registration | Annual, per child | Enrolment and each renewal |
| Supply or activity fee | Annual or termly | Fee sheet |
| Paid closure days | Built into the weekly rate | The calendar, not the fee sheet |
| Absence | Usually charged in full | The handbook |
| Late collection | Per minute or per occurrence | The contract |
What is charged and how varies by programme. Ask for the fee sheet and the closure calendar together — the two documents are what make two weekly rates comparable.
Comparing two quotes properly
Convert both to an annual figure with fees and paid closure days included, then divide by the days of care you will actually receive. That is the only number that compares.
A programme at $310 a week with no registration fee, forty-eight billable weeks and nappies included frequently beats one at $290 with a $200 registration, fifty-two billable weeks and nappies extra.
Do it on paper once, at enrolment. It is the only moment you have leverage and the only moment both programmes will answer the questions.
Part-time is rarely pro rata
Three days is usually more than three fifths of five, and often close to four fifths. The reason is honest rather than cynical: a part-time place is harder to fill, and a room holding a Monday-Wednesday-Friday child cannot always sell the Tuesday and Thursday.
Some programmes solve this by pairing part-timers into a full place. If yours does, the discount for part-time will be better — ask whether they pair.
And check whether the part-time rate carries the same fees. Registration usually does not scale down.
Sources
- DOL Women's Bureau — National Database of Childcare Pricesfetched 2026-09-04