How much should preschool cost?

[GoPats]

I just wrote out a $5,500 check for one year of preschool. This seems a bit pricey to me. The program is five days a week for three hours a day. They have two teachers for 15 kids.

Is this expensive? What are you all paying for preschool.

 

[fatcho]

We paid about that for a five day a week program. The student to teacher ratio is very good and I'm sure that affects the price. I found that the schools with a "learning" focus were more expensive than the schools with the "fun" focus.

 

[Peyton]

Wow, good to know. My daughter will be starting preschool next year and I had no idea what to be prepared for. It does sound expensive, but I definitely want her in more of a learning environment as opposed to a play environment.

 

[chelly]

Some can actually cost quite a bit more than that, a recent email I got from Babycenter has prices as high as almost 14k for a school year. That seems just about down right like highway robbery!

 

[Clive]

Holy cow!! Are you guys kidding me?? $5,500 to $14,000 for preschool???? How does anybody afford that? My wife is due with our first and if I wasn't totally freaked out before, I am now.

 

[MikeWay]

I think $5,500 is a good price. We pay about $1k more than that. I am looking forward to our little one finishing this year so she can start kindergarten!

 

[jason]

We pay about that for our daughter to attend a Montessori school. But she goes for full days. It is a tax write off for preschool.

 

[Bear]

Wow! I had no idea it was that expensive! That seems like a lot, but I guess it probably isn't if you are talking about a whole year. How do you like the Montessori school Jason? We would love to find one for our daughter.

 

[NoobDad]

Yeah, tax write offs are good. I had no idea it cost so much. It makes me wonder if it is worth it for my wife to go back to work or if it would be better for her to spend the next 5 years at home.

 

[jason]

Wow! I had no idea it was that expensive! That seems like a lot, but I guess it probably isn't if you are talking about a whole year. How do you like the Montessori school Jason? We would love to find one for our daughter.

I love it. Ours is reasonably priced. But there are extra costs. We bring in a snack for whole class. It is on a rotation schedule, so it was about every other week last year with the smaller class size. This year her class is bigger so it is once per month about. We also have to do 10 hours of volunteer work there per year. I do not remember if that is per child or not.

But they are great. Every so often they have all the families go to a local restaurant, and other family functions. My daughter is learning a whole lot too. She is three and can write her name, count to 20, knows ABC's and is even learning how to read a little.

My brother had his daughter in it, which is how we found out about it. After 3rd grade they moved her to public school as the class size drops to less then 5 kids per grade. But she is reading two full grades higher then her class. She has a great foundation for her future education.

 

[orangesweater]

My son went to a montessori school for preschool as well (he's still in montessori for grade school as well.) It was about $4500 but still pricey compared to other preschools in our area but I think it was well worth it. You should spend that kind of money for preschool if you believe that the program the school offers will benefit the child in the long run. Some parents I know want their child admitted into an elite private school so they prep them from age two and spend $$$ as if it is do or die.