Okay, so nobody ever said having a kid would be cheap, fair enough. But we've got good health insurance (we think) and we're very conservative with our cash, so we're charging forward unafraid. And then we had a look at day care...
So Cara teaches at Carnegie Mellon, and right across the street from her office is the Cyert Center - CMU's day care and preschool. Now we're not sure how much, if any, day care we'll need, but this place is pretty convenient: Perfect location, gobs of accreditation, solid reference, and, well, it's right across the street from Cara's office and a 5 minute walk from mine. We know that there is generally a waiting list, but Cara (and therefore our wee babe child) qualify as pretty high up on their priority list, so we decided to give it a look. Cyert Center Webpage
So it sure looks great, but in frustration, Cara couldn't find rates anywhere on the site. Then we found a reference to them: For current tuition rates, inquire by e-mail. Half-jokingly I warned: You know what they say, if you have to ask we can't afford it... Which, it turns out, couldn't be more true. Buried way down in one of their many PDF downloads, we finally found the punch line: This year's tuition is $18,300 for a baby. Tuition. For a baby. $18,300. And you must provide your own food.
I mean we didn't expect it to be cheap, but, well, that's more than either of us has ever paid for a year of college, including graduate school in Dublin. And don't get me wrong, I'm sure it is VERY GOOD day care - I mean they do advertise creative play with string, clay and wire - but it isn't college. Except that it is... Carnegie Mellon University. $18,300 probably seems cheap compared to say, a year at CMU's Tepper School of Business which will cost you $49,500 in raw tuition alone, $71,818 when all is said and done.
They say you're supposed to start your kid's college fund when the wee babe child is born, and we plan to. But at those rates, when are you supposed to start saving for the kid's day care?
You start saving for your child's daycare when you're born.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations! What exciting news. Although you barely mention the waiting list at the day care. I've seen instances where the wait list is a year. Yes, you read that right. That means you'd have to put your name down BEFORE you actually get pregnant. After paying day care for three kids, who are now finally all in a public school, the $18,300 annual cost wasn't that totally outrageous to me! Just think what they pay in NYC. Oh wait, they'd get a nanny and pay more!
ReplyDeleteHi Kristen! Yeah, the waiting lists are crazy as well. I just talked to the people who run the daycare at Pitt, and found that the tuition there is (slightly) more reasonable. Then I asked about the availabity for part-time infant care next fall, and got laughed at. The waiting list is currently THREE YEARS. Absolutely wild. I don't know what's worse, that it's that long a wait, or that people actually sign up for day care over two years before conceiving a child!
ReplyDeleteOh, don't let me tell you what we pay for day care. It's not as much as Dartmouth tuition, but more than Pitt's out of state tuition.
ReplyDeletehahaha!!! at least it's cheaper than med school!! (haha...)
ReplyDeletei can only laugh because i don't have a wee babe child to provide for... :)