Open Discussion Forum

  • 1.  How are child care centers handling tuition payments when having to close due to COVID

    Posted 03-06-2021 10:11 AM
    I am a business owner of a childcare center.  We recently had to close for 14 days for a quarantine period over the health department requirements due to COVID.  This is the first time this has happened to our business since we reopened back in July. 

    How are centers handling the tuition payments I mean we cannot pay the staff and our business costs without the tuition payments from families. I don't want my staff to have to file for unemployment every time this could possibly happen. Can anyone advise as we also don't want to lose families because of having to pay the tuition payments when we have to close for such a long period of time. 

    Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated 

    Thank you

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    Amber O'Neal
    Barnegat NJ
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  • 2.  RE: How are child care centers handling tuition payments when having to close due to COVID

    Posted 03-07-2021 11:30 AM
    We have a special needs center. We have had closures for Covid and excessive snow days in NY. Yes, we used unemployment which is a hassle. There were too many snow days so we gave a few more snow days. We don't charge tuition to parents because the state or insurance pays.Also, we looked very carefully at the closing protocols and worked with the Dept of Health which helped us revise the closing. At first we closed the center and learned how we could close a classroom and other details. You may be able to refine the closing protocol by working closely with the county or state Dept of Health. ping me if you want to review details

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    Scott Mesh, PhD, CEO
    Los Niños Services (NYC) www.losninos.com
    Young Child Expo & Conference www.youngchildexpo.com
    scott.mesh@losninos.com
    https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottmeshnyc/
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    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: How are child care centers handling tuition payments when having to close due to COVID

    Posted 03-13-2021 11:47 AM
    Hi @Amber O'Neal,

    I'm so sorry you're going through this. I have seen many programs offer families a discount over several months (3-6 months) in lieu of refunding payments or not charging tuition for COVID closures. For instance, if you're closed for 2 weeks and would need to offer families a $500 refund, you could instead tell them that you'll discount each month's tuition by $100 for the next five months instead. That way you still collect tuition in the interim to pay regular expenses, etc. Some programs also modified their enrollment agreements this Fall stating that families will still be responsible for full tuition for any closures of 5 days or less, but will be discounted for any closures beyond 5 days. Feel free to message me if you want to talk through your scenario.

    Best,
    Erin


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    Erin Murray
    Education Consultant
    Moorestown, NJ
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    Original Message