Daycare waitlist fees, ugh!!!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I stopped getting on paid for waitlists after a few centers, especially those that wouldn't even tell me where we were on the waitlist! Yes, it matters if I'm 3rd or 37th on the waitlist if you're asking me to pay to be on there!

That would only matter if you believe they use the waitlist the way you think they’re supposed to. What’s stopping them from saying you’re #3 and then taking someone who is #37 ahead of you?

[Anonymous]

I hear ya, it is hugely annoying.

I think the pp is right that they do this so that the waitlists don’t get even more inflated than they already are - without deposits, everyone would be on every waitlist and the daycare would have to do more work combing through it when spots opened up.

That said, it’s still super sketchy to me because the daycares never seem transparent about availability/openings/timeline and they encourage you to apply and then leave you totally in the dark. It’s so frustrating!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I stopped getting on paid for waitlists after a few centers, especially those that wouldn't even tell me where we were on the waitlist! Yes, it matters if I'm 3rd or 37th on the waitlist if you're asking me to pay to be on there!

That would only matter if you believe they use the waitlist the way you think they’re supposed to. What’s stopping them from saying you’re #3 and then taking someone who is #37 ahead of you?

Nothing. We had a slot scheduled for a specific date. I called a week before to confirm and they gave away the spot.

[Anonymous]

Parents are aholes too. Pay the fee for the spot. I know some parents who wasn't ready and wasted a spot. Could've been for someone else who was serious.
Some people are really non empathetic and selfish

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Parents are aholes too. Pay the fee for the spot. I know some parents who wasn't ready and wasted a spot. Could've been for someone else who was serious.
Some people are really non empathetic and selfish

I don’t understand your rant. No spot is wasted.

[Anonymous]

I live in MoCo, and none of the centers (all local chains/nonprofits) we signed up for waitlists for charged a fee. One of them did encourage us to call monthly to let them know we were still interested. That seems like a fair system but of course takes up their time. Another just said we would need to enroll and pay $75 to hold the spot on the date they opened enrollment for the next school year (luckily our desired start date coincided with the school year). Bright Horizons did charge a wait-list fee and honestly if they hadn't I would have signed up despite not really being interested, just as a back up . Since they charged a fee I decided to hold off. Goddard seemed to know well ahead of time when they would have spots and wanted us to pay a lot (a week's or a month's tuition) nonrefundable to hold the spot. Held off on that too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I stopped getting on paid for waitlists after a few centers, especially those that wouldn't even tell me where we were on the waitlist! Yes, it matters if I'm 3rd or 37th on the waitlist if you're asking me to pay to be on there!

That would only matter if you believe they use the waitlist the way you think they’re supposed to. What’s stopping them from saying you’re #3 and then taking someone who is #37 ahead of you?

Nothing. We had a slot scheduled for a specific date. I called a week before to confirm and they gave away the spot.

Have you signed a contract for that spot or was it still based off the waitlist?

[Anonymous]

Daycares asks for $100. But centers...they will go to $300 per month.


Well if you want a spot you gotta do it.