Preschool sticker shock!! How much do you pay?

[scoobers]

I decided to check into one of the local Montessori Preschools. (It is actually one which goes all the way up through High School.)

The price took me aback though. First, they REQUIRE 5 days. You can go for 5 half days and it's $801/mo. If you were to go for 5 full days it is $1306/mo (8 hrs).

Does that seem pricey? For preschool? Are they really that great? What do you all pay if you don't mind me asking?

Thanks!

[Flor]

Wow. Our 1/2 day, 4 day a week preschool is 323 a month. At four years old they go full day and it's around $500 a month. When I went to private high school 10 years ago, it was about 1000 a month but they offered lots of aid.

[sophmama]

Montessori's around here cost $650+ for 3 half days/week.

[Drummer's Wife]

we're homeschooling now but when DD was 3 she attended a Montessori school 5 days a week for 3 hrs a day and the tuition was $350. I believe it's gone up now though. Oh and they were always asking for donations (like $100 per month!) but if you couldn't afford it you could volunteer instead.

I loved, loved, loved her school but sadly we couldn't afford it more than the one year. Luckily there are public-charter montessori schools in the area for elementary BUT they are hard to get in and of course continuous Montessori is ideal so basically if you can pay for the first few years, your kid is set.

[mightymoo]

DD's montessori school is $6100/yr for half days (five days a week), so I guess $610 per month for the 10 months she's going. If she went full time, it would be $10,800/year (1080/mo).

I looked at a couple other montessori schools a few towns either direction from us and one was just slightly less expensive, the other slightly more, but both pretty comparable.

[goodcents]

ours is $3200 for the year which includes 4 full days (9-2:45) and 1 half day 9-11:45. this was a welcome relief. in nyc we paid almost $13000 for full day daycare/preschool when she was 2 (8-4)

[ltr]

Our montessori school is only 1/2 day and offers 2, 3, 5 days. DS goes 3 days at $270/month. It a little over $100 month more than the traditional preschool he came from, but to us it's worth it. I believe the Montessori philiosphy is the right choice for my son, especially for the preschool years. Also, I could not be happier with his teacher! I picked him up from school yesterday and when we drove off he said, " I love school."

[LeAnnie]

Ours is $7400, per yr-cha-ching: 1/2 day 5 days a week required
It is a great school.That's the east coast for ya. dh keeps pondering a move back to the midwest, everything out here costs an arm& leg. my dd just started there-she is almost 5.