We spend about $5,000-6,000 per year on after care, occasional school days off, and camps for our child (if we stuck with the YMCA for all camps, it would be less than $5,000). That's much less than the $30,000 we would be paying for private pre-school. We also save considerably on transport costs (we walk to school and work) and mental health (sitting in traffic makes me crazy). We love DC and wouldn't consider moving to the suburbs.

If you do decide to move to DC, you should definitely get an address soon to be able to submit in the second round of the lottery.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do the math.

Free pk3 will cover 8:00-315. You will need to pay for after care, summer break camp, winter and spring break and coverage for parent teacher conference and professional development days. So you will probably save about 50-55% on your current day care bill.

The cost of moving isn't small.

Move if you want to live in DC for the long haul. But probably not worth it just to save on child care.

+1

I'm the opposite. Wouldn't want to move MD or VA for the long haul. I love how suburban folk always find their way to DC threads. Anyhow, I'm perfectly content living and staying in DC for the long haul.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are a handful of schools with guaranteed in bounds PK3 in DC, but by and large, they are not schools that middle-to-upper-middle class people feel comfortable sending their children above kindergarten. Otherwise, it's lottery until kindergarten. Your younger child would have sibling preference in the lottery for your older child's school, which is usually a strong indicator that they'll get in.

Also, the PP was correct to suggest that you consider other costs associated with it. Aftercare is available at most schools, and not all schools charge for aftercare. There are breaks when you will need to make childcare arrangements, but even factoring in those costs, it is still cheaper than daycare by a long stretch.

But only if your rent is comparable right now (and I assume you're renting otherwise this would seem to make little sense). Also factor in DC tax is higher than NoVA. So you lose some money there too. Depending on where you are in NoVA, rents (for places you'd find acceptable) in DC could easily exceed what you pay now, further eating into cost difference. And what are you going to do for childcare for #2? Being in DC may very well limit your childcare options, and centers tend to be a bit more expensive in DC than they are in NoVa. Not by much, but that's another couple hundred. Add it all up and even with free aftercare, you're possibly not coming out all that far ahead. I have friends who considered this same option and the tax+rent difference wiped out virtually all the savings. Facing #2 now, with #1 in a DC pre-K, we're actually looking to move out - going with an au pair or nanny will be cheaper (different degrees of cheaper of course) than 2 in a center or for the nanny not actually that much more expensive than DC infant care (for a spot we're not sure we can get) plus the aftercare + days off + breaks + summer camp expenses we will have. And we definitely pay more in rent and taxes than we would in VA. So basically it's a wash. There have been some savings this past year - but again, factoring in school schedule care, rent differences and taxes, not nearly as much as you'd hope and certainly something that wouldn't have made it worth it had we not already been in DC.

I think whether it's a wash or not is pretty situation-specific. We live in DC, rent, and sent DD to daycare until she was old enough to go to school. Daycare was $1500/mo. Her school is free. The only other expense that changed was that we did not need to buy diapers anymore because she was toilet trained. So for us, it was a savings of $36,000 in childcare alone.

But what about the professional training days, holidays, and vacations? Presumably you have to pay something for child care on those days, which eats into that $36,000 savings to a certain extent.

Anonymous wrote:Would or did you move to DC so that you could get free preschool? We live in NOVA and are thinking about doing this for our soon to be 3 year old. Is a spot guaranteed? We'd love to have #2, but can't afford 2 daycare payments, so this is looking really appealing to us.

We did! Spots are not guaranteed, and we just entered the PK3 lottery for the fall, so not sure where (or if) we'll get in. But our list included multiple solid "safeties," so we're pretty confident that our DC will get in *somewhere.* Since DC would have been in daycare anyway (in a center downtown close to work, not close to home), we figured that giving the lottery a shot was worth it.

As far as taxes, etc., do the math of course, but if 2 daycare payments would be prohibitive, you're likely not in a high-enough income tax bracket that the difference would be that big of a difference.

And unless you have a huge house full of tons of furniture, I think moving would more annoying than expensive. You'd just need to rent a truck for one day. Or hire movers if you don't want to DIY, which would of course be more expensive.

Our rent is less expensive than when we were living in MD, but we went down a bedroom so that we could be in the neighborhood we wanted and as close as possible to transit. If you want to move into a place that's the same size/number of rooms, it will likely be more expensive or pretty far from a metro stop. But biking or taking the bus are still options. For us, it was worth moving and giving up some space for the commute improvement alone. So much easier!

If you do decide to go this route, do some research on the in boundary schools for the places you are considering renting. For PK, not all students get into schools that the are IB for, though most do. But you can take a look at how many IB students got in (or didn't) last year to weigh your chances. And there are very good ECE programs that DO admit all their IB kids, as well as some out of boundary kids, so just take a look at several options before you sign a lease. Good luck!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are a handful of schools with guaranteed in bounds PK3 in DC, but by and large, they are not schools that middle-to-upper-middle class people feel comfortable sending their children above kindergarten. Otherwise, it's lottery until kindergarten. Your younger child would have sibling preference in the lottery for your older child's school, which is usually a strong indicator that they'll get in.

Also, the PP was correct to suggest that you consider other costs associated with it. Aftercare is available at most schools, and not all schools charge for aftercare. There are breaks when you will need to make childcare arrangements, but even factoring in those costs, it is still cheaper than daycare by a long stretch.

But only if your rent is comparable right now (and I assume you're renting otherwise this would seem to make little sense). Also factor in DC tax is higher than NoVA. So you lose some money there too. Depending on where you are in NoVA, rents (for places you'd find acceptable) in DC could easily exceed what you pay now, further eating into cost difference. And what are you going to do for childcare for #2? Being in DC may very well limit your childcare options, and centers tend to be a bit more expensive in DC than they are in NoVa. Not by much, but that's another couple hundred. Add it all up and even with free aftercare, you're possibly not coming out all that far ahead. I have friends who considered this same option and the tax+rent difference wiped out virtually all the savings. Facing #2 now, with #1 in a DC pre-K, we're actually looking to move out - going with an au pair or nanny will be cheaper (different degrees of cheaper of course) than 2 in a center or for the nanny not actually that much more expensive than DC infant care (for a spot we're not sure we can get) plus the aftercare + days off + breaks + summer camp expenses we will have. And we definitely pay more in rent and taxes than we would in VA. So basically it's a wash. There have been some savings this past year - but again, factoring in school schedule care, rent differences and taxes, not nearly as much as you'd hope and certainly something that wouldn't have made it worth it had we not already been in DC.

I think whether it's a wash or not is pretty situation-specific. We live in DC, rent, and sent DD to daycare until she was old enough to go to school. Daycare was $1500/mo. Her school is free. The only other expense that changed was that we did not need to buy diapers anymore because she was toilet trained. So for us, it was a savings of $36,000 in childcare alone.

Thanks for this perspective. I'll have to take a look at the school breaks, cost of summer camps and rental costs and see if this would really result in a savings for us despite the increase in taxes and potential cost increase of daycare for #2. I work 3 12hr shifts in healthcare, so I have some flexibility in being able to cover school days off/breaks. We have tossed the idea of moving back to where I grew up that is LCOL so we can afford to grow our family, but we really like the DC metro area and all that it has to offer. Thanks everyone for your comments!

You might investigate if your younger child's daycare would allow your older child to attend during camps. I also really just adjusted our vacations to coincide with school breaks to the best of my ability. We do camp in the summer, but we usually travel during spring break and winter break. It works out fine.

There are some schools that have guaranteed admission to PreK3 for IB children- not sure if you need to complete your form by the deadline for that (deadline passed)

I would assume those same schools have low cost before and aftercare.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are a handful of schools with guaranteed in bounds PK3 in DC, but by and large, they are not schools that middle-to-upper-middle class people feel comfortable sending their children above kindergarten. Otherwise, it's lottery until kindergarten. Your younger child would have sibling preference in the lottery for your older child's school, which is usually a strong indicator that they'll get in.

Also, the PP was correct to suggest that you consider other costs associated with it. Aftercare is available at most schools, and not all schools charge for aftercare. There are breaks when you will need to make childcare arrangements, but even factoring in those costs, it is still cheaper than daycare by a long stretch.

But only if your rent is comparable right now (and I assume you're renting otherwise this would seem to make little sense). Also factor in DC tax is higher than NoVA. So you lose some money there too. Depending on where you are in NoVA, rents (for places you'd find acceptable) in DC could easily exceed what you pay now, further eating into cost difference. And what are you going to do for childcare for #2? Being in DC may very well limit your childcare options, and centers tend to be a bit more expensive in DC than they are in NoVa. Not by much, but that's another couple hundred. Add it all up and even with free aftercare, you're possibly not coming out all that far ahead. I have friends who considered this same option and the tax+rent difference wiped out virtually all the savings. Facing #2 now, with #1 in a DC pre-K, we're actually looking to move out - going with an au pair or nanny will be cheaper (different degrees of cheaper of course) than 2 in a center or for the nanny not actually that much more expensive than DC infant care (for a spot we're not sure we can get) plus the aftercare + days off + breaks + summer camp expenses we will have. And we definitely pay more in rent and taxes than we would in VA. So basically it's a wash. There have been some savings this past year - but again, factoring in school schedule care, rent differences and taxes, not nearly as much as you'd hope and certainly something that wouldn't have made it worth it had we not already been in DC.

I think whether it's a wash or not is pretty situation-specific. We live in DC, rent, and sent DD to daycare until she was old enough to go to school. Daycare was $1500/mo. Her school is free. The only other expense that changed was that we did not need to buy diapers anymore because she was toilet trained. So for us, it was a savings of $36,000 in childcare alone.

Thanks for this perspective. I'll have to take a look at the school breaks, cost of summer camps and rental costs and see if this would really result in a savings for us despite the increase in taxes and potential cost increase of daycare for #2. I work 3 12hr shifts in healthcare, so I have some flexibility in being able to cover school days off/breaks. We have tossed the idea of moving back to where I grew up that is LCOL so we can afford to grow our family, but we really like the DC metro area and all that it has to offer. Thanks everyone for your comments!

Anonymous wrote:Do the math.

Free pk3 will cover 8:00-315. You will need to pay for after care, summer break camp, winter and spring break and coverage for parent teacher conference and professional development days. So you will probably save about 50-55% on your current day care bill.

The cost of moving isn't small.

Move if you want to live in DC for the long haul. But probably not worth it just to save on child care.

+1

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are a handful of schools with guaranteed in bounds PK3 in DC, but by and large, they are not schools that middle-to-upper-middle class people feel comfortable sending their children above kindergarten. Otherwise, it's lottery until kindergarten. Your younger child would have sibling preference in the lottery for your older child's school, which is usually a strong indicator that they'll get in.

Also, the PP was correct to suggest that you consider other costs associated with it. Aftercare is available at most schools, and not all schools charge for aftercare. There are breaks when you will need to make childcare arrangements, but even factoring in those costs, it is still cheaper than daycare by a long stretch.

But only if your rent is comparable right now (and I assume you're renting otherwise this would seem to make little sense). Also factor in DC tax is higher than NoVA. So you lose some money there too. Depending on where you are in NoVA, rents (for places you'd find acceptable) in DC could easily exceed what you pay now, further eating into cost difference. And what are you going to do for childcare for #2? Being in DC may very well limit your childcare options, and centers tend to be a bit more expensive in DC than they are in NoVa. Not by much, but that's another couple hundred. Add it all up and even with free aftercare, you're possibly not coming out all that far ahead. I have friends who considered this same option and the tax+rent difference wiped out virtually all the savings. Facing #2 now, with #1 in a DC pre-K, we're actually looking to move out - going with an au pair or nanny will be cheaper (different degrees of cheaper of course) than 2 in a center or for the nanny not actually that much more expensive than DC infant care (for a spot we're not sure we can get) plus the aftercare + days off + breaks + summer camp expenses we will have. And we definitely pay more in rent and taxes than we would in VA. So basically it's a wash. There have been some savings this past year - but again, factoring in school schedule care, rent differences and taxes, not nearly as much as you'd hope and certainly something that wouldn't have made it worth it had we not already been in DC.

Just to put it out there, DH and I have enough leave in our jobs such that we are able to alternate the DCPS days off and stay at home, so we don't pay for extra care those days. Summer camp is expensive, but that is our choice -- we could have definitely found cheaper options if we wanted, and compared to the amount we saved by not having the kid in daycare, it still was cheaper.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are a handful of schools with guaranteed in bounds PK3 in DC, but by and large, they are not schools that middle-to-upper-middle class people feel comfortable sending their children above kindergarten. Otherwise, it's lottery until kindergarten. Your younger child would have sibling preference in the lottery for your older child's school, which is usually a strong indicator that they'll get in.

Also, the PP was correct to suggest that you consider other costs associated with it. Aftercare is available at most schools, and not all schools charge for aftercare. There are breaks when you will need to make childcare arrangements, but even factoring in those costs, it is still cheaper than daycare by a long stretch.

But only if your rent is comparable right now (and I assume you're renting otherwise this would seem to make little sense). Also factor in DC tax is higher than NoVA. So you lose some money there too. Depending on where you are in NoVA, rents (for places you'd find acceptable) in DC could easily exceed what you pay now, further eating into cost difference. And what are you going to do for childcare for #2? Being in DC may very well limit your childcare options, and centers tend to be a bit more expensive in DC than they are in NoVa. Not by much, but that's another couple hundred. Add it all up and even with free aftercare, you're possibly not coming out all that far ahead. I have friends who considered this same option and the tax+rent difference wiped out virtually all the savings. Facing #2 now, with #1 in a DC pre-K, we're actually looking to move out - going with an au pair or nanny will be cheaper (different degrees of cheaper of course) than 2 in a center or for the nanny not actually that much more expensive than DC infant care (for a spot we're not sure we can get) plus the aftercare + days off + breaks + summer camp expenses we will have. And we definitely pay more in rent and taxes than we would in VA. So basically it's a wash. There have been some savings this past year - but again, factoring in school schedule care, rent differences and taxes, not nearly as much as you'd hope and certainly something that wouldn't have made it worth it had we not already been in DC.

I think whether it's a wash or not is pretty situation-specific. We live in DC, rent, and sent DD to daycare until she was old enough to go to school. Daycare was $1500/mo. Her school is free. The only other expense that changed was that we did not need to buy diapers anymore because she was toilet trained. So for us, it was a savings of $36,000 in childcare alone.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you want to live in DC for other reasons and longer term, then sure. But take note that PK3 is not guaranteed. Start your research on myschooldc.org.

If your plan is to move into DC and then move back to NoVA for K, no.

Are you renting and would you rent in DC, or are you considering selling a house in NoVA to buy one in DC?

We're renting and we wouldn't need aftercare- my husband gets off work at 3pm.

Can he GET to the school by 3:10?

(Not every school day ends at 3:10. Ours ends at 3:30. One next door appears to get out at 4

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are a handful of schools with guaranteed in bounds PK3 in DC, but by and large, they are not schools that middle-to-upper-middle class people feel comfortable sending their children above kindergarten. Otherwise, it's lottery until kindergarten. Your younger child would have sibling preference in the lottery for your older child's school, which is usually a strong indicator that they'll get in.

Also, the PP was correct to suggest that you consider other costs associated with it. Aftercare is available at most schools, and not all schools charge for aftercare. There are breaks when you will need to make childcare arrangements, but even factoring in those costs, it is still cheaper than daycare by a long stretch.

But only if your rent is comparable right now (and I assume you're renting otherwise this would seem to make little sense). Also factor in DC tax is higher than NoVA. So you lose some money there too. Depending on where you are in NoVA, rents (for places you'd find acceptable) in DC could easily exceed what you pay now, further eating into cost difference. And what are you going to do for childcare for #2? Being in DC may very well limit your childcare options, and centers tend to be a bit more expensive in DC than they are in NoVa. Not by much, but that's another couple hundred. Add it all up and even with free aftercare, you're possibly not coming out all that far ahead. I have friends who considered this same option and the tax+rent difference wiped out virtually all the savings. Facing #2 now, with #1 in a DC pre-K, we're actually looking to move out - going with an au pair or nanny will be cheaper (different degrees of cheaper of course) than 2 in a center or for the nanny not actually that much more expensive than DC infant care (for a spot we're not sure we can get) plus the aftercare + days off + breaks + summer camp expenses we will have. And we definitely pay more in rent and taxes than we would in VA. So basically it's a wash. There have been some savings this past year - but again, factoring in school schedule care, rent differences and taxes, not nearly as much as you'd hope and certainly something that wouldn't have made it worth it had we not already been in DC.

OP here-Thanks, this brought up some additional points we hadn't considered. We'll sit down and do the math and look at rental costs etc in the area we'd like to live in.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you want to live in DC for other reasons and longer term, then sure. But take note that PK3 is not guaranteed. Start your research on myschooldc.org.

If your plan is to move into DC and then move back to NoVA for K, no.

Are you renting and would you rent in DC, or are you considering selling a house in NoVA to buy one in DC?

We're renting and we wouldn't need aftercare- my husband gets off work at 3pm.

Can he GET to the school by 3:10?

Anonymous wrote:If you want to live in DC for other reasons and longer term, then sure. But take note that PK3 is not guaranteed. Start your research on myschooldc.org.

If your plan is to move into DC and then move back to NoVA for K, no.

Are you renting and would you rent in DC, or are you considering selling a house in NoVA to buy one in DC?

We're renting and we wouldn't need aftercare- my husband gets off work at 3pm.

Anonymous wrote:There are a handful of schools with guaranteed in bounds PK3 in DC, but by and large, they are not schools that middle-to-upper-middle class people feel comfortable sending their children above kindergarten. Otherwise, it's lottery until kindergarten. Your younger child would have sibling preference in the lottery for your older child's school, which is usually a strong indicator that they'll get in.

Also, the PP was correct to suggest that you consider other costs associated with it. Aftercare is available at most schools, and not all schools charge for aftercare. There are breaks when you will need to make childcare arrangements, but even factoring in those costs, it is still cheaper than daycare by a long stretch.

But only if your rent is comparable right now (and I assume you're renting otherwise this would seem to make little sense). Also factor in DC tax is higher than NoVA. So you lose some money there too. Depending on where you are in NoVA, rents (for places you'd find acceptable) in DC could easily exceed what you pay now, further eating into cost difference. And what are you going to do for childcare for #2? Being in DC may very well limit your childcare options, and centers tend to be a bit more expensive in DC than they are in NoVa. Not by much, but that's another couple hundred. Add it all up and even with free aftercare, you're possibly not coming out all that far ahead. I have friends who considered this same option and the tax+rent difference wiped out virtually all the savings. Facing #2 now, with #1 in a DC pre-K, we're actually looking to move out - going with an au pair or nanny will be cheaper (different degrees of cheaper of course) than 2 in a center or for the nanny not actually that much more expensive than DC infant care (for a spot we're not sure we can get) plus the aftercare + days off + breaks + summer camp expenses we will have. And we definitely pay more in rent and taxes than we would in VA. So basically it's a wash. There have been some savings this past year - but again, factoring in school schedule care, rent differences and taxes, not nearly as much as you'd hope and certainly something that wouldn't have made it worth it had we not already been in DC.