Should You Put Tuition Rates on Your Daycare Website?

Should I put tuition rates on my daycare website? Providers argue about this one at every meetup, and both camps are convinced the other is leaving money or families on the table. The honest answer is that this is a judgment call, not a rule, and the right choice depends on your rates, your neighbourhood, and how much you like phone calls.

So let’s argue both sides properly, then look at the middle paths, because the middle is where most providers actually end up happy.

The case for publishing your rates

It filters out mismatches before they cost you time. A family whose budget is half your rate will find that out eventually. The only question is whether they find out from your website in ten seconds or from you after an enquiry, a phone call, and maybe a tour. Every mismatch your pricing page turns away quietly is an evening you didn’t spend writing a polite “I’m afraid we’re outside your range” email.

It saves the calls you dread. If you keep rates off the site, a chunk of your enquiries become the same conversation: warm greeting, a few questions about your program, then “and what do you charge?” followed by a pause you can hear. Publishing the number moves that moment to a webpage, where nobody has to manage anyone’s reaction in real time.

Transparency reads as confidence. Families comparing providers notice who says the number and who doesn’t. A clearly stated rate suggests you charge what you charge, you know what your care is worth, and there’s no negotiation coming. For many parents, that certainty is itself a comfort. Hiding the number can read, fairly or not, as “it depends who’s asking.”

The case for keeping rates off the site

Your rates probably aren’t one number. Infant care and preschool care cost you different amounts to provide, and most providers price them differently. Add part-time schedules, sibling arrangements, and before-and-after options, and “our rate” becomes a table with footnotes. A single published number will be wrong for most families who read it, and a full matrix can overwhelm the very page that’s supposed to be welcoming.

Neighbours compare. Publish your rates and you’ve published them to everyone: the provider three streets over, the parent who signed at last year’s rate, the acquaintance who thinks childcare should cost what it did in 2009. None of this is a reason to be ashamed of your pricing. It’s just a fact that a public number invites public comparison, and some providers would rather have those conversations one family at a time.

Subsidy situations complicate the sticker price. In many regions, what a family actually pays depends on subsidy programs, and the gap between your listed rate and their real cost can be large. A published rate can scare off exactly the families a subsidy would bring within reach, because they never call to learn what the number means for them.

You lose the conversation. This is the argument providers feel most strongly. A rate on a webpage is a number in a vacuum. A rate at the end of a tour is a number attached to your reading corner, your backyard, and the way you talked about naps. Some families who would balk at the webpage say yes in your kitchen, not because anything changed, but because they now know what the number buys.

The middle paths, which is where most providers land

You don’t have to choose between the full menu and total silence. Three formats keep most of the benefits of each side.

The starting-at range. “Full-time care starts at $X per week” or “rates range from $X to $Y depending on age and schedule.” This filters serious mismatches, spares you the awkward call, and still leaves room for the real conversation. It’s the most popular compromise for a reason: it tells the truth without pretending one number fits every family.

The fee policy without the number. Publish how your pricing works rather than what it is: rates depend on age and schedule, invoices go out monthly, a deposit holds a spot, subsidies are welcome and here’s how that works. Families learn you’re organized and fair, which is half of what a pricing page communicates anyway, and the number itself waits for the conversation.

The respectful contact-for-rates. If you’d rather share nothing, say so warmly and give the next step: “Rates depend on your child’s age and schedule. Send an enquiry and I’ll reply with current pricing within a day.” The difference between this and a bare “contact for rates” is the promise. Naming a response time turns a closed door into an invitation.

How to decide for your program

Ask yourself three questions. Are your rates simple enough to state without a footnote? If yes, publishing gets easier. Are you fielding repeated price calls that go nowhere? If yes, the site should be doing that filtering for you. Do subsidies or wide age-based differences mean the sticker price would mislead? If yes, lean toward a range or a policy page.

And whatever you pick, revisit it once a year. The right answer when you have one opening and a waitlist is different from the right answer when you’re filling three spots in September.

Presenting your choice on the site

Wherever you land, presentation does the remaining work. Give pricing its own clearly labelled section or page so nobody hunts for it. Put the decision-shaping facts beside the number or in place of it: ages served, schedule options, what’s included (meals, supplies, outings), and how deposits work. Date nothing, so a rate change doesn’t leave a stale “as of last September” on the page. And end the section with the same next step no matter what you published: an enquiry form, so the family’s second question starts a conversation instead of a search.

One note on tools, since your website builder shapes what’s easy here. In CubbyBook, the sections of your site are yours to fill, so a rates table, a starting-at line, or a friendly contact-for-rates paragraph are all just words you type into your pricing section and publish. CubbyBook has no billing or payment features, so rates on your site are information for families, not invoices; whatever you publish, you keep collecting payment the way you already do.

There’s no universal answer, and anyone who tells you publishing rates always wins (or always loses) enrollments is guessing. What is universal: families reward clarity. Say something about money on your site, even if it’s only how to ask, and make the next step obvious.

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