As school begins this fall my husband and I are celebrating the fact that after 30 years of parenthood we have reached the end of education expenses, including 12 years of college tuition, for our three children. Surprise: This is just in time to contribute to the education fund for our first grandchild, due in a few weeks.
Education is one of our family values and since children are born we learned it is an expense that starts at birth. As new parents we subscribed to a publication, Growing Child, Growing Parent that helped us understand more completely how our child learned and what we could do to support her learning. We discovered that we were her first and most influential teachers, but that through the years we would share the task of her education with professionals who would expand her world.
Working families where all adults are employed outside the home rely on child care practitioners early in their child's life for quality care and education. For them the reality is that the first five years of a child's life can be more costly than college tuition.
For the 2007-2008 school term the average cost of tuition and fees at a Pennsylvania public college was $9,672 (College Board, Trends in Frasier B. Zahniser Extension Today College Pricing, 2007). According to a report, Parents and the High Price of Child Care: 2008, from the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies, the average price of full-time care for an infant in a center in Pennsylvania was $11,200. For a 4-year-old in a center, parents paid an average of $6,800 for full time care in 2007. You can access the full report at www.naccrra.org.
The NACCRRA report points out that the price of child care is rising faster than the average rate of inflation. The cost of quality child care is out of reach for too many families. This has created a cry across Pennsylvania and the U.S. for increased public investment in improving the quality of child care for all families. To ensure access to quality child care for children of working families Pennsylvania's Child Care Works program provides some financial support.
You can contact Child Care Information Services of Mercer County to learn more. Call 724-346-6171 or 800-564-7600. If you are beginning to save for college costs, you are facing a confusing maze of funding opportunities. Penn State Cooperative Extension has a new publication, Conquering College Costs, that discusses some of the options available and provides web sites containing more information and changes that may occur during the year.
While there is no one best investment, each investment type has its advantage and disadvantages. Generally, the longer the time between when you invest the money and when you need it, the more risk you can take.
You can access Conquering College Costs on the web at http://pubs.cas.psu.edu/Publications.asp or call us for a copy at 724-662-3141.
A child's education is an investment that pays great dividends to the child, its family and society. While it is primarily an investment of time, it also costs a considerable amount of money.