Think about the tuition paid by parents, particularly in regard to its relationship to the salaries paid by a center. Consider a situation in which a teacher's annual salary is $27,000 and the assistant teacher's annual salary is $18,000. What a total of $45,000 a year for salaries, 15 families would each pay $3,000 a year to cover these salaries alone. Unless the center has other sources of income, tuition costs also much cover costs of equipment, supplies, food, facilities, utilities, benefits, taxes, administration, and so forth. The last child will leave the center from 10 to 12 hours after the first child has arrived, so staff members will have to be present on a staggered schedule and additional help will be needed, all of which will increase salary costs.

a. What would tuition have to be to produce a profit for the program sponsors?

b. Think about how much you will probably earn as a teacher in a child care center. If you were to earn minimum wage as a child care center teacher, working 8 hours a day, 5 days a week for 52 weeks, what would your total salary be?

c. If you were a parent earning minimum wage, how much could you afford to pay for child care?