One-Time Deposit or Installments

[Abigail]

I know a 2 week deposit prior to enrollment AND another week of tuition on the first day of care will be expensive. Does anyone ONLY offer installments of a deposit where they charge an additional $25/week until they have gotten 2 weeks worth of daycare accumulated? I'm wondering if I should just go this route or still give a choice.

[lvt77]

Hi even though most of my dcp could afford it I do installments
Exactly like u said. $25 extra a week until 2 weeks of tuition has accumulated

[Abigail]

How does everyone else deal with deposits or installments? I was thinking of giving the option of having up to 8 weeks to pay the deposit because 8 weeks would be paying an extra $31.50 to make a $250 deposit paid. Should I just offer to either be paid in full or over the course of 10 weeks at $25 more per week? Ten weeks seems kind of long though, but it would be easy to keep track of if everyone is only given 10 weeks as an option. I'm looking at it from a viewpoint of having a pre-typed contract. I guess I could discuss options with them ahead of time, but I really don't like my handwriting because I'll erase and rewrite and it just gets ugly. LOL

1. Paid in full ($250)
2. Pay $25 more per week for 10 weeks ($250)
3. Pay _____ more per week for _____ weeks ($250, 10 OR 12 week max???)

[dEHmom]

Just a thought, what about not mentioning the deposit payments really, state that after 10 weeks of care @ ***/week, tuition will be reduced to ***/week. They will be happy because it's like a discount. And just state that the extra charge from the first 10 weeks of care, will be put towards the final 2 weeks of care.

[Abigail]

Originally Posted by dEHmom

Just a thought, what about not mentioning the deposit payments really, state that after 10 weeks of care @ ***/week, tuition will be reduced to ***/week. They will be happy because it's like a discount. And just state that the extra charge from the first 10 weeks of care, will be put towards the final 2 weeks of care.

The only issue I have with this is tracking all the different payment dates the fee will decrease. I am hoping most families can afford to pay the deposit in full, lol, but that's not likely. I definitely like the idea, but if I'm competitively priced already and add $25 per week until such and such date, that may seem really expensive. I know this is the only fee I'm currently requiring, but once I get all my papers done and if I have a nice welcome packet I might even charge a registration fee of $10 or $20 per family....I tend to always go above and beyond anyways.

[Abigail]

Does anyone require at least 50% deposit down before care even starts? That would make it seem like less. As a PP said, does anyone else offer the already-factored-in-deposit into the first two months of care and then bring it down to the weekly rate so it seems like a discount?

[Angelwings36]

I have always asked for deposits to be paid upfront and have never had a problem with it. But for the most part this is for families that are holding a space. Do most providers charge a 'holding' fee on top of a regular deposit? If so, how much do you charge?

I may start offering payment installments for deposits for families that start immediately after interviews. I get paid either monthly or bi-weekly in advance so I think I will either offer it over two months (with monthly payments meaning it would only take one month to collect the fee) or over 6 weeks (for bi weekly payments again meaning it would only take one month to collect the fee)

[wdmmom]

The only time I have parents pay a deposit is if I'm "holding the spot" which I will only do for 2-3 months. If the start date is within 1 month, they pay a 1 week deposit which is applied to their first week of daycare. If the start date isn't for 2-3 months, they pay a 2-3 week deposit which is then applied to when they cancel services.

It is your business. If you want to accept partial payments for your deposit, than so be it.

[Abigail]

I have a separate contract for a holding fee which would be for those who cannot enroll for even a week and want to make sure they get the spot or those who have to wait a few months. I will decide at the time considering a few factors on what that rate would be. Depends how full I am....if I have many open spots the fee will be less and if I only have one spot remaining then the fee will be higher.....same goes for whether they're a full time spot or part time spot or unusual hours spot.

The holding fee is not applied towards anything. It's simply a fee for my commitment to hold that spot and turn others away until you can enroll. The same goes for the deposit. It's ony refundable if you decide not to stay enrolled during the first two-week trial period. After those two weeks have completed, the two week deposit will be applied for when parent's give notice. This saves me if they decide to walk and not come back I would have the final two-weeks' pay already.