Why is Bright Horizons so pricey?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That's like asking why some people are willing to pay $12-a-pint for Jeni's Ice Cream versus $3-a-pint for your standard Mayfield Ice Cream.

Quality.

LOL! Looks like BH found this thread.

[Anonymous]

BH is like Starbucks. You are paying for a good latte. Not amazing but good. And it’s consistent. You know what you are getting. You don’t have to worry or think too much. That’s what you are paying for. You could get a less expensive latte somewhere else but you’d have to do more work to find it.

[Anonymous]

The BH near my house we use for backup care is 2600 per month for infants. Our regular home daycare is 1400 but took hours of research and getting on a waitlist when I was a day pregnant to get into.

[Anonymous]

BH is super expensive because a lot of people get corporate or Agency discounts. We foolishly paid full price not realizing most people don’t - and eventually moved our kids to a full day preschool at a church for half the cost. And the church program has lower teacher turnover and better food.

[Anonymous]

What really matters in child care, especially for infants, is ratios and turnover. Ratios should be clear when you tour, and turnover you might get a sense of by asking about it and/or talking to current parents. Having a nice facility is a bonus. Accreditation is nice but it costs a lot for them (and therefore, for you) so most don't have it.

[Anonymous]

It's expensive because between employer subsidies and sheer desperation they can get people to pay for it. They are charging what the market will bear.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bright Horizon's are typically accredited and they compensate their teachers very well. They also do not skimp on things like cleaning. The cheaper centers are often not accredited not could they be (you do have to be open for a year to seek NAEYC accrediation) and many pay their teachers minimum wage with no benefits. Also, rent in this area is a real factor in operational costs.

No BH does not pay staff well.

I agree the pay is crappy. Also I noticed the kids 3-4 couldn’t count, read, write and barely knew the colors and shapes compared to my old center where the kids in that age group were. BH was mostly play all day and the kids weren’t learning anything. Most of the teachers were mediocre/foreign and just happy to say they worked there like they were the top of the line teachers. Save your money and go elsewhere it’s not worth it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's expensive because between employer subsidies and sheer desperation they can get people to pay for it. They are charging what the market will bear.

This. We considered BH, because there was a center next to my husband's office, but it was subsidized through a different employer, and the rate they were going to charge us just wasn't worth it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bright Horizon's are typically accredited and they compensate their teachers very well. They also do not skimp on things like cleaning. The cheaper centers are often not accredited not could they be (you do have to be open for a year to seek NAEYC accrediation) and many pay their teachers minimum wage with no benefits. Also, rent in this area is a real factor in operational costs.

No BH does not pay staff well.

I agree the pay is crappy. Also I noticed the kids 3-4 couldn’t count, read, write and barely knew the colors and shapes compared to my old center where the kids in that age group were. BH was mostly play all day and the kids weren’t learning anything. Most of the teachers were mediocre/foreign and just happy to say they worked there like they were the top of the line teachers. Save your money and go elsewhere it’s not worth it.

At what daycare center are most 3-4 year olds reading and writing? I don't think that is common. However, for what it's worth, our DS is in that age bracket and goes to a BH center. He knows capital letters very well and most of the lower case letters. He also recognizes numbers and can count to 15-20. Also, knows all of his colors and shapes.

That said, isn't it generally accepted that play based preschools are the better approach? Do you really want someone drilling your 3-4 year old on more academic issues all day long? I think it's unlikely your kids would enjoy that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:BH is like Starbucks. You are paying for a good latte. Not amazing but good. And it’s consistent. You know what you are getting. You don’t have to worry or think too much. That’s what you are paying for. You could get a less expensive latte somewhere else but you’d have to do more work to find it.

I think this is right. You know that there are at least minimum standards you can confidently rely on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BH is like Starbucks. You are paying for a good latte. Not amazing but good. And it’s consistent. You know what you are getting. You don’t have to worry or think too much. That’s what you are paying for. You could get a less expensive latte somewhere else but you’d have to do more work to find it.

I think this is right. You know that there are at least minimum standards you can confidently rely on.

Yeah, I wouldn't bet on that. The super expensive BH center I toured was beautiful but has had multiple complaints against it for things like giving medication to the wrong child. Really parents, you can do better than this. Tour different centers, check their licensing inspection history, ask to speak with current parents. It's the least you can do for deciding where your child will spend most of their waking hours.

[Anonymous]

I’ve noticed they’re significantly more expensive than otherwise very comparable options and concluded they have more corporate overhead and I’ve also noticed they tend to have locations near metro or other strategic commuter locales so that must be more expensive to operate too (rent)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BH is like Starbucks. You are paying for a good latte. Not amazing but good. And it’s consistent. You know what you are getting. You don’t have to worry or think too much. That’s what you are paying for. You could get a less expensive latte somewhere else but you’d have to do more work to find it.

I think this is right. You know that there are at least minimum standards you can confidently rely on.

Yeah, I wouldn't bet on that. The super expensive BH center I toured was beautiful but has had multiple complaints against it for things like giving medication to the wrong child. Really parents, you can do better than this. Tour different centers, check their licensing inspection history, ask to speak with current parents. It's the least you can do for deciding where your child will spend most of their waking hours.

We had major issues with the BH in Rosslyn.

For instance, one day they forgot to feed our infant for 8 hours. We arrived and all of her bottles were untouched and she was red eyed and unconsolable in a crib. None of the floaters in the room could tell us why she hadn't been fed. They had no idea. Management had no idea either.

The center was also constantly out of ratio. One morning there were 10 infants with one teacher. I reported the center to the county for this. They were subject to a surprise inspection and cited for being severely out of ratio. The county threatened to shut them down. BH buried the notice on a bulletin board, hiding the citation from parents. We left.

It's really hard to find infant daycare slots or we would have left sooner.

[Anonymous]

You’re paying the premium for the commercial space they lease, and the burdened cost of overhead for each child and employee. Plus their target profit margin.

The benefits you find appealing at BH from staff to structure, carry a cost. And sometimes a premium.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bright Horizon's are typically accredited and they compensate their teachers very well. They also do not skimp on things like cleaning. The cheaper centers are often not accredited not could they be (you do have to be open for a year to seek NAEYC accrediation) and many pay their teachers minimum wage with no benefits. Also, rent in this area is a real factor in operational costs.

No BH does not pay staff well.

I agree the pay is crappy. Also I noticed the kids 3-4 couldn’t count, read, write and barely knew the colors and shapes compared to my old center where the kids in that age group were. BH was mostly play all day and the kids weren’t learning anything. Most of the teachers were mediocre/foreign and just happy to say they worked there like they were the top of the line teachers. Save your money and go elsewhere it’s not worth it.

At what daycare center are most 3-4 year olds reading and writing? I don't think that is common. However, for what it's worth, our DS is in that age bracket and goes to a BH center. He knows capital letters very well and most of the lower case letters. He also recognizes numbers and can count to 15-20. Also, knows all of his colors and shapes.

That said, isn't it generally accepted that play based preschools are the better approach? Do you really want someone drilling your 3-4 year old on more academic issues all day long? I think it's unlikely your kids would enjoy that.

3-4 years old they’re learning to writing and reading. Most of the kids I’ve seen are basically behind once they start “real school” after leaving BH. I would expect for the tuition for the child to be learning something. They can play all day at home or with a babysitter for way less. Most centers that aren’t play based academics start in the toddler room and it’s not drilled all day long or forced. The kids still get to play and be kids they're actually learning unlike BH teachers randomly maybe asking one open ended question and snapping a pic of your child playing with blocks to send to you.