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[quote=Anonymous]There have been lots of discussions on this in the old nanny forum, so I'd suggest you search there too, but here's a quick breakdown for us anyway.  The absolute minimum requirements are the agency fee, the travel fee, the selection or match fee, the stipend, the education amount, transportation to and from and the cost of monthly au pair meetings, a set up room, and all food costs.  I would argue that cell phone is required too, but it's not explicitly required.  Below are some breakdowns in terms of cost of different agencies.  We're with Cultural Care, so I'm using those numbers.

I'd estimate it costs us about $23,000/year since we take one vacation during the year that we bring her on ($20,000 for minimum requirements plus car usage plus trips/activities/eating out/etc).  Our au pair works about 25 hours/week for 49 weeks out of the year (51 weeks living with you minus two weeks of vacation), so that works out to over $18/hour, which seems like a lot for someone with as little education and experience as she has, nevermind that we're also providing her with housing and spending tons of time on guidance throughout the year.  If we used her the full 45 hours/week, that would be a little over $10/hour, which I think would actually be a good market rate for her education/experience/need for hand-holding and considering she's technically a live-in.  But we love the flexibility (could never find a nanny to do only morning drop-off, afternoon pick-up and date nights) and we love the relationship that we have with her, so we think it's worth it.  Here's the breakdown:

[b]Absolute Bare Minimum [/b]- $7,390 initial fee (we paid this much with the discounts at the time, could vary) + $200/week stipend for 51 weeks + $500 education stipend + $20/month for the meetings (ours are usually activities that we have to pay for, could vary) + $100/month for food + $20/month for phone = [b]$19,770 annually[/b]

[b]If you have her drive[/b], you'll cover the cost to get a license, the cost of insurance, and any deductibles for accidents she is in while on duty - $85/year (driver's license fees in Maryland anyway), $100-600/year (approximate cost of insurance, I'll use $200 as a midpoint), $500 deductible (assuming one accident, because I've rarely heard of an au pair who didn't have at least one) = [b]$785/year[/b]

[b]Other Considerations if you truly want every dollar counted (I didn't count these in my total except for the trip):[/b]* Assuming you have to buy furniture/towels/sheets/curtains/pillows for her room, that could run you some money at least for your first au pair
* Little things you'd never consider like now that someone is home all day, we run the AC and heat all day whereas before we had it off most of the day since we were gone
* If you take her on any trips or do any family activities, you cover the cost of airfare, tickets, food, hotel, etc. - for one vacation depending on where you go, it can get expensive
* If you're a family that eats out frequently, she will expect to go with you or to get an order if you order in, so that could increase food costs
* She can only work 45 hours a week, 10 hours a day and gets two weeks vacation and at least one weekend off each month - so childcare coverage costs for when she is off duty
* Consider how much you'll spend on gifts and/or bonuses during the year, especially over the holidays and birthdays, we have spent about as much as we would on our own kids

[b]Cultural Care: [/b]$7,965 total 
Registration fee - $75 per year 
Selection fee - $175 per year 
Program fee - $7,595 per year 
Transportation fee - about $120 for DC area per year

[b]Au Pair in America: [/b]- $8,345 total 
Application fee - $350 
Program fee - $7,495 per year (going up to $7,795 in 2013) 
Match fee - $400 per year 
Transportation from training center - about $100 to DC area

[b]Au Pair Care [/b]- $8,395 total: 
Program fee - $7,850 
Application fee - $50 (normally $350) 
Domestic processing fee - $35 
Domestic airfare from training center - $460 to National airport 
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