Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My car insurance is $400 a year extra.
I don't pay workers comp and most people do not.
Gym membership?
$3100 for gas and dinners/etc seems too high. Make her pass gas for personal use; and don't pay for her activities/dinners out
Grocery seems right, and make them pay for any organic or special foods, because APs will take advantage of this if you don't set rules.

AupairInAmerica is highly recommending workmans comp
Coverage and will add it into their own cost breakdowns now.

It’s required in some states (including ours) but it’s not a lot of money. Maybe 400/year.

Anonymous wrote:My car insurance is $400 a year extra.
I don't pay workers comp and most people do not.
Gym membership?
$3100 for gas and dinners/etc seems too high. Make her pass gas for personal use; and don't pay for her activities/dinners out
Grocery seems right, and make them pay for any organic or special foods, because APs will take advantage of this if you don't set rules.

AupairInAmerica is highly recommending workmans comp
Coverage and will add it into their own cost breakdowns now.

Anonymous wrote:What is the actual cost of having an Au Pair? Wondering if this must be a lot cheaper than a nanny. I’ve had friends with Au Pairs but one mentioned hers was unhappy because they weren’t paying her more and other Au pairs she knew were eating more perks. How does the cost/perks vary? Wondering if it would make any sense for our family or if a nanny is the better way to go. We’d do a live out nanny.

We paid our AuP the federal minimum wage., with a bare minimum of 200/we

All in all, we spent about 35k/yt on AuPair Expenses. Still wayyyy cheaper than a nanny, but the childcare product is generally incredibly inferior to a nanny. Its a trade off. My kids are older so we really just needed a hall monitor and a solid driver.

Adding to my 20:34 post, I think our 7 APs have cost us about $25k-30k per year, all-in. Atop the $20k:$500 education stipend, $200-500 car insurance, $240 cell phone (we provide SIM and insist on Life360 tracking).

0818: We did not pay for gym, their meals out, clothing, car repairs, speeding tickets. It was very clearly spelled out that they would pay for gas on their personal trips >50 miles, and all speeding/car repairs. Taking on vacation 4x: well, you decide how much you want to pay to have childcare on vac.

Knock wood, no disasters whatsoever x 7 APs (no crashes, uber driving, etc etc). We had 2 "Bropairs" and they were great for both my daughter and my son.

We had one mutual rematch where it was clear she could not drive well on 495/270: figured it out in 2 days.

About 20k cash + Room & Board.

Have had 7 via Au Pair in America and Cultural Care. Both programs charge ~10k upfront, and stipend is $196/week x 52 weeks. Add car insurance (surprised USAA bill was $200/yr more to add her to our oldish minivan).

We have had a wonderful experience - ours have been from Germany, New Zealand, S Africa, and Brazil. Early on we took them with us on vacations, later on we opted not to.

Just be very clear and upfront in the Family Handbook about duties/expectations. Screen for attitude, train for success.

We got pretty highly motivated, university-bound APs who had good executive function and motivation. The downside is they would leave after 1 year for uni, and you're retraining every year.

Anonymous wrote:My car insurance is $400 a year extra.
I don't pay workers comp and most people do not.
Gym membership?
$3100 for gas and dinners/etc seems too high. Make her pass gas for personal use; and don't pay for her activities/dinners out
Grocery seems right, and make them pay for any organic or special foods, because APs will take advantage of this if you don't set rules.

In DC, our car insurance is 1000k extra b/c all APs are considered "new drivers."
We pay for all of her gas, but she cannot take the car more than 100 miles without permission - that's easily 800/year.
We don't pay for a gym membership now, but previously we certainly did - it helps fight against AP depression.
We buy whatever our AP wants to eat - but she is not allowed to eat junk food around the kids - and we only match with pescatarians/vegetarians, as a rule.

Anonymous wrote:My car insurance is $400 a year extra.
I don't pay workers comp and most people do not.
Gym membership?
$3100 for gas and dinners/etc seems too high. Make her pass gas for personal use; and don't pay for her activities/dinners out
Grocery seems right, and make them pay for any organic or special foods, because APs will take advantage of this if you don't set rules.

Dinners and activities are when AP is joining the family. This is a cultural exchange, so paying for AP to join is the expectation.

While most don’t cover worker’s comp, it’s a good idea. If the AP gets hurt while caring fr your kids, you want to be covered.

My car insurance is $400 a year extra.
I don't pay workers comp and most people do not.
Gym membership?
$3100 for gas and dinners/etc seems too high. Make her pass gas for personal use; and don't pay for her activities/dinners out
Grocery seems right, and make them pay for any organic or special foods, because APs will take advantage of this if you don't set rules.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are wrong.

Stipend at $200 per week - $10,500
Agency fee (first year; second year$1300 lower) - $9300.

That leaves 5-8k for food and perks.

You must be a nanny. You had no clue.

No, your agency charges much cheaper fees, you must be with a bottom barrel agency. Ours charges 12k. Our stipend 12k. Car insurance is 2k. Educational stipend is 1k. Food, gas, perks ois easily 8k. So yes, 35-40 is about right.

What “bottom barrel agency.”? Name names because I’m 100% it doesn’t exist and if it does, I’ll switch.

28-32k a year, easy when paying the minimum stipend. Especially when your aupair demands organiz strawberries and wrecks your car. If it’s a good year and you have a good aupair without any major drama, it’s closer to the 35k but still more if she needs to drive and you have a car insurance hike .

My breakdown is

9500 - agency fee
1200 - car insurance hike
10400 - stipend
2400 - grocery increase
960 - gym membership
360 - cell phone bill
1500 - local trips dinners out/activities
1040 - workers comp addition to our insurance
500 - education stipend
1600 - gas


All of the above doesn’t cover the additional cost of simply having another adult in the home. There are normal things like increased water bills or extra tickets to a movie for outing. If you have an aupair who hangs out with your family, carry out dinners are more and if you don’t, maybe the wear on the car goes up more.

Any additional money for bigger perks are just on top of this

We have an extraordinaire and it is about 38k.

Or this 38k poster is pricing a special au pair. Extraordinaire. Or educaire. Or special needs au pair.

But that wasn’t the initial question

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are wrong.

Stipend at $200 per week - $10,500
Agency fee (first year; second year$1300 lower) - $9300.

That leaves 5-8k for food and perks.

You must be a nanny. You had no clue.

No, your agency charges much cheaper fees, you must be with a bottom barrel agency. Ours charges 12k. Our stipend 12k. Car insurance is 2k. Educational stipend is 1k. Food, gas, perks is easily 8k. So yes, 35-40 is about right.

Wow, you are clueless and overpaying (and both). See prior posts. Our agency is excellent (and cheaper than prior post because they waive app fee and matching fee most of the time). What agency charges 12k. It must be a no name which makes it harder to find candidates and certainly to rematch. Need a big pool.

The rest is off. For example, we pay $400 extra per year to put our AP on our car insurance.

“The bare minimum” in terms of an agency fee which is pretty standard across the board?

Alright, I went digging into various sources. PP with the low rates is paying close to the bare minimum in terms of stipend.

https://www.aupairinamerica.com/fees/
Program Fees for 2021:
Au pair
Match fee - $450
Annual Program Fee - $9085
Minimum Weekly Stipend - $195.75
Educational allowance up to $500

Extraordinaire
Match fee - $450
Annual Program Fee - $10250
Minimum Weekly Stipend - $250

Educare
Match fee - $450
Annual Program Fee - $8220
Minimum Weekly Stipend - $146.81
Educational allowance up to $1000

*Department of State regulations specify that an au pair may not provide more than forty-five (45) hours of child care assistance per week in the Au Pair or Extraordinare Programs, or more than thirty (30) hours of child care assistance per week in the EduCare Program.
*Beyond private room and full board expenses, host families should remain mindful that the au pair becomes a member of the household. As such, the au pair is likely to have recurring personal needs that may include expenses for mobile phone, electronic devices and internet use, personal car use/automobile insurance and/or public transportation, toiletries, additional educational/cultural experiences, sports and recreation activities, as well as special clothing needed because of climate differences from their home country, or for sports, recreation or travel.

https://culturalcare.com/pricing/
$75 registration fee
$300 processing fee
$9195 program fee
*You will also pay a flight supplement fee of between $0-$400 for your au pair’s travel from their home airport to the gateway closest to your home.

Paid to your au pair:
$9983.25
*This calculation is based on a weekly stipend of at least $195.75 paid to your au pair for 51 weeks, including 2 weeks of paid vacation.

Additional costs:
Education requirement - up to $500 (requirement of 6 college credits during their term)
Room and board (Families often provide access to a car, cell phone, and include their au pair in family vacations.)
Insurance (If your au pair will drive, you’ll need to cover additional auto insurance, and in some states you may need workers’ compensation coverage.)

None of this takes into account the extras:
higher utilities
higher grocery bills
cell phone plan
insurance
car repairs
unexpected tickets - parking, speeding, etc.
clothing purchases for the au pair (if they don't have a good winter coat, for example)
taking them on vacation

APC charges the following. Definitely not a 'bottom of the barrel' agency. What is that anyway?
There are of course added costs - if you pay more than the stipend, if you pay for a car + insurance (not really needed in city centers), if you bring them on vacation, etc


Application Fee (non-refundable) $50 When you apply
Placement Fee (non-refundable) $350 When you match with your au pair
Program Fee* $8,900 $1,000 upon matching and remaining balance of $7,900 paid 30 days prior to your au pair's arrival
Minimum Au Pair Stipend** $195.75/week Paid weekly to your au pair
Average Annual Cost: $19,479

After 4 years of hosting I would estimate 25K per year.

What I would caution is the same as the previous posts - It is something you really need to consider and if it works for your family. When it works it can be an amazing option, but it can also be difficult if you have the wrong match. You also need to be prepared to have someone in your house 24/7. I will say that part has been easier that expected as I realized early on that most 20 somethings don't really want to hang around with their HM after hours.

You also need to be aware that due to all of the travel restrictions it is much harder to bring someone to the country. You will need to focus on countries that have visa appointments happening.

I will say I am a big fan of the au pair program but this current situation is not the best time to bring someone in to your home. They won't be able to make friends as usual. Very few places they can visit and of course travel is a hard thing to manage...