Super confused about preschool application fees

Hi there! I have a 20-month old and would like to put her in a pre-school for a few days a week. I started looking at pre-schools and noticed that most applications required a deposit. Are parents really expected to send a check in with each application? I assumed I will apply to several schools but only get into 1, if that even, since I understand space is limited. However, I don't want to send a check along with each application. That doesn't make sense. Thanks for any feedback. clueless about preschool!

The application fee not only covers some of these costs, but it also helps to limit the number of applications, since only those who are seriously interested enough in the school will pay the fee. If there were no application fee, the more popular schools would have hundreds of applications to sift through. I think it is reasonable to pay an application fee. Just udentify the 3 or 4 schools that you are really interested in.

I got laid off so can't use daycare, need deposit back

I had planned to return to work after my maternity leave in mid-August, and found a wonderful family day care for my son. We gave a deposit (one month's tuition) and signed a contract back in early May. Wouldn't you know it, early August rolls around and I get a call from my boss telling me I have no job to return to. This was 2 weeks before my son was to start childcare. Given the economy, and job prospects in my industry in particular, I know it could be several months before I can find another position. My husband and I decided that we needed to cancel childcare - we just can't afford it until I actually have some income -- which I did the next day.

The provider was very understanding on the phone, and suggested I call back when I find a job; if she has openings at that time, she would be happy to take my son. During the conversation, I did not ask for my deposit back. My thinking at the time was that the deposit held our spot, and it wasn't really fair for her to now have to scramble to fill it with so little notice. But, when I described the situation to several people, they were surprised she did not offer to return it.

I am sympathetic to the provider's situation; but, of course, we could really use the money back. My husband even suggested using a month's worth of care anyway, since we essentially paid for it, but I think that's unnecessarily disruptive to our son. Plus its probably too late for that now. I'm thinking about calling in a few weeks to see if she has filled the spot, and if so, asking if she would consider returning some or all of our deposit. (I don't think she has any way of contacting us, as I still have all of the forms, including the signed contract. I was to return them to her 1-2 weeks before our son started care.) Would this be out of line? Has anyone else been in a similar situation? How did you handle it? Thanks in advance for your input. Anon

The reason I am suggesting this is that if your husband is still working FT, and you are actively looking for a job, you are going to HAVE to have some childcare for your job search. You can't bring the baby to interviews, networking lunches, etc! Plus you might welcome a few hours of break each week to run errands when there are no interviews. Could be a solution that could work out for both of you. But you should call her soon, before your deposit gets absorbed into her finances and forgotten. Fellow job-hunting mom

And she probably needs that $500 more than you do. All that being said, you could politely ask if a refund or partial refund is possible, but I believe that she is within her rights to make that decision herself. Perhaps you have a case against your previous employer. a provider who has been there ...

Daycare terminated our contract, won't refund deposit

Has anyone experienced the termination of child care after two days? Our child day care terminated our contract after only two days of service. We had paid a deposit of $650.00 at the time of the signing of the contract and another $650.00 on the first day of day care for service to be rendered for the next two weeks. Upon the termination of our contract, the owner stated that she will not refund any of the amount, $1300.00. Is this possible?

The termination reason, given by the day care, was that we were being difficult. We dropped our 6 month old baby off at 08:30 am with a scheduled pick up at 11:30 am. The owner was agitated by the 11:30 pick-up time. She stated that 11:30 am is nap time for the children at the center. However, the contract stated that nap time is between the hour of 12:00 pm and 02:30 pm. At pick up, the owner stated that "she can no longer take care of our baby" because we do not follow the rule. What rule are we not following?

Is it fair for a day care to terminate any time for any reason and keep all the money? Is this a general policy with all the day care? Concerned Parents

Most importantly, what does your contract actually say about terminating the relationship? Did the daycare provider say that you couldn't return to the daycare ever again or just that you could finish out the time that you paid for and not more (that's what deposits and contracts are there for, and why there are ''outs'' for both parties)? Deposits aren't a guarantee that you'll be able to stay indefinitely - they're just there as securities for you to have a guaranteed spot for when you want to start service. And if either of you decide to call it quits, you have time to find a replacement. If they say you can't even finish out the time that you paid for, then they are probably breaching their contract. But if you just don't want to show up again even if you're allowed to, you should accept the money loss. As for the situation, It does seem odd that you had a scheduled pick-up at 11:30 two times in a row, yet that was nap time for some of the kids. I can't imagine that the daycare owner wouldn't have let you pick up the child early if it was sick.

Is this a new daycare with not many clients (perhaps a warning flag for the next time you put your deposit down somewhere)? Or was there just a misunderstanding? For instance, were you actually trying to be respectful of the other kids when you came by? (sometimes kids just nap early some days, a fact of life) Maybe you could work out an agreement that would be less disruptive of the other kids if you really need to do an early pick-up (like having the child's things ready, and the baby handed out to you instead of you coming in). Did you try contacting the owner again, now that you aren't in the ''heat of the moment'' when you had the bad interaction? If the daycare is actually good in many ways (location, price, kids' and other parents' satisfaction, etc.), it's probably worth trying to work it out. You don't want to shoot yourself in the foot terminating something that could be good for your family in the long run, even though there are problems at the start. Anon

Since you have a contract, I would contact her by certified letter telling her that if she does not return the deposit and, at a minimum, half of the amount you paid for the two weeks of service, she will be hearing from your attorney next. deborah

I actually encourage you to take them to small claims court; they should be much more willing to work with someone only two days into the contract, and yet they obviously were not. Though of course I'm hearing only your side of the conflict, and maybe you were being difficult (doesn't sound so, however), they should at least be reasonable enough after only TWO DAYS to give you back most of your money.

I say take 'em to small claims. I wonder if this daycare is doing anything like this to others in order to make extra $$? Sounds almost like a scam.. I mean, two days...

Your baby wouldn't be in good hands there anyway, and you might win the small claims case. At least they might learn a little (expensive) lesson. Small claims can garner you three times the complaint amount. Then you'll have to collect, but you can do that, too, via the courts (i.e. garnish their bank account). It takes time, but it can be done. -- tired of being ripped off!

As for the first hand ''bad'' daycare experience, our first day care - a San Francisco center called ''C5'' (Civic Center Child Corporation)had several incidents were famililes were expelled from daycare with little or no investigation, largely on a whim. It almost happened to us (I am not going into detail, but it was not a pleasant experience), but we eneded up being able to stay there and then left as soon as we could. The day care is impossible to find on a short notice, so there should be a provision to at least allow families find another provider before they have to leave.

I hope you can recover your money and find another (good!) child care provider quickly. a_a

First off, thank your lucky stars that the contract has been terminated. I would sooner chew my leg off than have my kid at a daycare with such insane rules and ways of dealing with things.

That said, read your contract. There is probably a very explicit clause about terminating the arrangement, repayment of deposit, etc. It seems highly unlikely that ''being difficult'' is listed under reasons for termination.

I have never heard of a daycare center showing unwillingness to allow the parents of an infant to come by at any time to check on or pick up their child. Moms at my sons' infant center used to drop in throughout the day to nurse their kids! Makes me suspicious - as though they didn't want you being there at that particular time? Maybe it's time to check with the liscensing board or get some specific info about the particular center? anonymous

I would be interested to know if we may have had the same daycare provider. If you would like to talk offline, shoot me an email. Nic

No longer happy with preschool - get out of contract?

We are taking our child out of a pre-school because we do not feel like it is the right place for any of us. Aside from keeping $1,500 in deposits, they are requiring us to pay more, we do not know how much yet but perhaps several thousands more because we had signed a contract. They are threatening us with engaging a collection agency even though none of the money is for care actually provided. Is there anyone who has gone through this, know what to do? We are not rich but we shouldn’t be bound to send our little one to a place we no longer feel happy in. Please comment. stressed out parents

Now that you have made that commitment (and potentially another family was turned away on your behalf) you absolutely owe it to the school to pay for the spot until it is filled.

I would also re-think your last statement - You essentially said ''I don't think we should be bound to honor our commitments just because we signed a contract'' anon

Breaking a Preschool Contract..anyone had success?

We are in a serious bind and need some advice. I am hoping that someone out there has been in a similar situation and can offer some words of wisdom.

Both of my kids attend a fabulous Montessori school - I'll call it the Turquoise school (has nothing to do with anything, but I need a good code name). Because we live in a part of Oakland where the schools are sketchy, we decided to send our oldest child (who I will call Aloe) to Turquoise for Kindergarten. Well, after we had already signed a contract with Turquoise for this next year, several things changed for us and for Aloe. I won't get into the details here, but the changes were big enough to make us rethink our plan.

We thought and talked about it for a long time, and finally decided to apply (late) to a private school. We didn't give official notice at Turquoise, but they unofficially knew about our intentions. It turns out that Aloe was accepted at the private school a couple of weeks ago. However, now the Turquoise school will not let us out of our contract for this year. Apparently there are several spaces open for next year, and until they fill all of them (including Aloe's), we are obligated to pay them tuition, even though Aloe will not be attending the school.

So, now we are looking at double tuition for an indefinite number of months - maybe even a full school year.

Obviously, we signed a contract and the Turquoise school has a business to run. We are not looking to weasel out of anything - just looking for some kind of win/win solution. Is there one? If anyone has any advice, we would love to hear it!

Thanks. Signed, Sticky School Situation

Private school deposit while waiting for public school lottery?

I am assuming it is a common problem: You aren't sure of getting into a good public, so you choose a private school that accepts you, you make a promise to have your child attend, and you pay a deposit. Then, if you get lucky enough to get into a public you feel good about, you have to renege on your agreement with the private school. I am sure the privates must be all-too-familiar with this scenario. How do you ethically and logistically navigate around this problem? Obviously, you lose your deposit, which makes sense, but can they hold you captive for more than the deposit? I believe many privates require you to sign a vow, essentially, that you commit to paying for the entire year. How do people handle this delicate situation? I would like to hear people's experiences. Perhaps certain schools are more laid-back than others. I heard through the mill that someone just had to pay for their kid's entire school year tuition, even though their child got into a public in the first month or so of the school year. Pray tell. Thanks.

If you think you might want to hold a space that you might forgo if you get into the public school you want, you should make sure you are aware of the deadlines for deposits and tuition. Anon

Different schools have different policies about parents' liability beyond the deposit, so my advice is to read any contract very carefully before you sign it and assume that you will be held to the terms. You can always plead your case with the school, of course, but if you think you may need to be released from the contract then your safest bet is to purchase tuition insurance. (I know, it seems silly, like health insurance for your pet or something, but it's one way to ensure that neither you nor the school takes too much of a hit financially.) Private school administrator

Preschool dicontinued our employee discount tuition rate

My son has attended a preschool affiliated with a synagogue for nine months. When we were initially offered the spot, we were offered an employee discount because my husband does periodic work for the synagogue. This discount continued throughout the summer and the first month of the current school year. Come October, we received a bill charging a higher tuition rate. Attached was an unapologetic memo stating that employees are now defined as those who work at least 20 hours a week for the organization. We met with the preschool director as well as the board president and basically all we got was ''this is the new policy.'' We don't feel that this is reason to take our son out of a great preschool but we definitely feel disrespected. Especially because we're more involved than most parents there. Should we drop it and pay up or go another route? Feeling stepped on

Usually in these situations there has been a big fight and the board has had to meet and argue it out. It's not as though all of these people met in a room and said ''I know, let's insult so and so'' (that's what ''disrespect'' means, by the way. If someone has no respect for you and acts in that way, they are insulting you.)

It sounds to me as though you're mad that you'll have to pay full price and you're trying to personalize it. Preschools are expensive.

Perhaps, instead of nursing hurt feelings, you can proactively go to the director and volunteer to give them five hours of ''free'' time per month for a reduced rate. That is a BUSINESS approach, rather than a ''personalized hurt feelings'' approach and would probably be the best thing to try. English Major

My plans changed; preschool won't refund my deposit

I had plans to enroll my 18-month-old in a Montessori program while continuing with my education. I had to pay a $75.00 application fee, as well as fork over a full month's tuition that ''was to be applied to your child's first month of tuition''. This $630.00 ''deposit'' was non-refundable. I was only slightly hesitant to do this because I had every intention of going to school Well, SURPRISE, I became pregnant. This has derailed my school plans slightly because the new baby is due in August. Not only will I not be able to attend school that fall as my baby will be too young, but as I can only transfer to my intended school in the fall, this leaves me with an extra semester empty. Because the children will be so close in age, I decided that the best time for my 18-month-old to take off would be this semester. I can devote exclusive time to her, and it will do my health good as the stress of finals would come up at the very end of pregnancy. Well, I wrote all of this with sincere apologies to the director of the Montessori school. I asked that if she could not refund the deposit, if my daughter could attend for the month. This would be really helpful to our family as I had nnot been able to attend my first prenatal appointment because I have NO ONE to care for my daughter. Plus, I don't like to pay $630 for absolutely NOTHING.

After a week of waiting for the director's reponse, I was admonished for waiting this long to reply to her as they had been expecting my child. However, I had sent a previous e-mail about my daughter's start date and never received a reply from her. The director went on to say that not only would the deposit not be refunded, but they would not allow my daughter to attend school only for the month. The only alternative she gave was for me to enroll my child in school either this semester or for the summer session. Otherwise, the deposit is forfeited. I must add that I need to find a program that accepts BOTH of my children as this Montessori program doesn't accept infants, so it would be a waste for my child to attend this school now. Can anyone advise me on organizations I can contact to either get my deposit back or get services for this large sum of money? Kari

You didn't pay $630 for ''nothing'', you paid it to hold a spot for your child. The school relied on this and did hold a spot for your child. The school would argue that they provided a valuable service to you by holding the spot, to their own detriment. Just chalk it up as an expense of having a child. You're going to be spending a lot more just on diapers. My advice would be to move on and let it go. Congratulations and good luck with your pregnancy! anon

Preschool deposit is 3 months of tuition

Our child is three and we are thinking about sending her to a preschool in Oakland, but are unsure because they are asking for a deposit of 3 months tuition with the annual contract. And we can't use those 3 months of tuition until the end of the school year if we decide not to renew the contract for the next year. Most of the other preschools we looked at only asked for one month's tuition as a deposit, and then that deposit is applied to the final month of tuition for the contract year. Unfortunately, they are already full. I'm interested in feedback on this--other parents' experiences, and whether any particular preschool is worth that kind of investment. anon

Preschool promised to return deposit but hasn't yet

My family was supposed to move to Walnut Creek this summer and so we had registered my twin sons at a local preschool to start this fall. We paid a total of $912.00 for 2 deposits ($300-something each) and 2 $100 teacher retention fees. Last April, our plans changed and I notified the school that we would not be attending the school after all. The director said she would get our money to us ASAP. It has now been four months and numerous phone calls with different answers each time (The check is in the mail, We'll get it out to you today....) and we have yet to see any money. I know there is some portion that is non- refundable, but ALL of it ($912.50!!!) seems excessive! My husband finally spoke to the owner one day and she said something about how they usually don't return the money but she would get a check out to us anyway but we still haven't seen anything. We are out of state and need the money but are getting really frustrated. Has anyone else ever had this kind of trouble with this school or any other school? How did you get your money back? We thought it was a great school but are really shocked at how this has been handled.

Preschool won't return deposit after withdrawal

It's been four months since we withdrew our toddler last September from a preschool in Berkeley , but we still haven't got our deposit back (we gave one month notice as required). We called the director many times and each time she just gave excuses that their accountant was not in the office or was on vacation. We had been waiting patiently for them to get back to us, but nothing happened. So we eventually went to her office one week ago to talk to her in person, thinking it might help solve the problem. But gosh, we were so wrong. We ended up going to her office again this afternoon to confront her, but she still gave us this same ''accountant leave of absence for today'' excuse. The whole situation has become so unbelievably frustrating and ridiculous and we just cannot take it any longer. I would love some suggestions as to what others have done in similar situation or advices as to what actions we should take. Thanks very much! Frustrating parents

Preschool contract requires entire year's tuition

We are concerned about a provision in a preschool contract asks you to agree to pay for the entire year with no provision for withdrawal. We were just accepted. We'd like to be able to withdraw our child if he is unhappy or if for some other reason we can't attend. There is provision for the school to ask you to leave if they want to. But no escape clause for the parents. Is this common? What do parents do if their child is unhappy. Can it be negotiated. If anyone has experience with this, I'd appreciate hearing from you. Another school we considered had tuition insurance, has anyone had experience with that.