Is it normal to charge full month tuition for 2 days?

[Anonymous]

Just enrolled our kid for preschool this fall. School asked for the first full month of tuition to be paid Aug. 1 with school starting til Aug. 30. It was phrased like tuition for the whole year is $X, to be paid in installments of $Y starting Aug. 1.

Is it weird for them to charge a full month of tuition when the child isn't there til the second to last day of the month? Our daycare allowed us to pick a start date and prorated from there, but understand school may be different. Please advise!

[Anonymous]

It’s the same cost though right? Just divided by an extra month? I assume their expenses begin to really ramp up in early August so that covers them for those purchases. Many preschools run on thin margins so that month may cover all their payroll for teachers who start before the students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s the same cost though right? Just divided by an extra month? I assume their expenses begin to really ramp up in early August so that covers them for those purchases. Many preschools run on thin margins so that month may cover all their payroll for teachers who start before the students.

Yes, that's right. There are administrative/other costs on top of tuition, but if Aug. tuition goes toward teachers prepping for school, that makes sense.

[Anonymous]

Yes. Normal.

They’re doing you a favor by breaking up the annual cost into monthly payments. It doesn’t mean the number of days attended each month will correlate with cost.

[Anonymous]

Most likely, you’ve committed to a year or school year of preschool. If you pull your kid out part way through the year, you still committed to pay for the entire year. They have broken the tuition u into equal installments. The first installment is due August 1, as opposed to paying for the month of August.

[Anonymous]

Yes it’s normal.

[Anonymous]

OP here - thanks all for reassuring me!