For the many parents socking money away for college this might be some bad news: sending your newborn child to daycare will cost roughly the same as sending your 18 year-old to college.
So says a report by Child Care Aware of America, a program that links parents to childcare providers across the nation.
Here are some key findings from the report:
- Today the average tuition at public universities in Michigan is $10,837.
- Parents in Michigan spend $10,114 on full-time daycare for newborn children.
- Single mothers in Michigan have the eighth best pay in the nation, but daycare costs have the potential to cut their income in half.
- In 2010, putting two children through daycare exceeded the median annual rent payments in every state.
These numbers surprised me so I decided to do some additional research. Here's what I found:
- Nationwide college tuition rates have skyrocketed 1,120 percent over the past 30 years.
- From 2000 to 2010 the cost of raising a child in America increased 40 percent.
- As expensive as daycare and education costs are, they only account for 17 percent of the total money parents spend on their children.
Many leaders have acknowledged the importance of early education and childcare for the country's most vulnerable children. But with costs at such staggering levels, many families in poverty could find it increasingly difficult to pay for such care.
