Curious About Preschool Fundraising

The cost of tuition doesn't cover the expenses the school has... that's why they fundraise. The school my girls attend does similar stuff - although contributions are always voluntary. It's just the cost of doing business with a private school. If they didn't do these things, they'd need to raise tuition.

I agree with you, I don't have much problem with fundraising when my daughter went to public school, but now that she is in privet school we are fundraising "a lot" more then in the public school.
Well, your daughter is going to change schools next year, so hopefully it would not be a lot more fundraising until then.

You pay $365 a week for 15 hours of preschool...or is it $365 a month?? Either way that is a LOT of money for a very part time situation!!! Do you have any idea what they are using this money for that you are donating? I guess it probably isn't worth worrying about since you are moving on from that school very shortly...but wow...it sounds like a sweet deal for the school to me!!

I don't remember my son doing ANY fundraising in Nursery school (3 yrs) OR Pre-K (4 yrs). Yes..they had school pictures, but seriously, other than that--nada. The activities are optional, I am assuming.

WOW.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My daughter goes to pre-school 10 hours a week, the cost is $49 a week. They have never ask us to do fund raisers or dontate to them. She loves her teachers. Seriously, I would start asking questions on why the school needs so much money.

Those commenting on preschool prices who live in completely different areas of the country can't really offer a good perspective. I live within 10 miles and pay 40% more for the same hours. $365/mo for a good program is a steal around here. And knowing some people who run a preschool (probably pretty close to this one), it's a constant financial struggle in this economy to get a full school of people actually paying so that they themselves can actually take a salary, let alone pay for "extras." I agree with the person who suggested asking them to be a little clearer about their goals, but I really doubt these are being used to pad a really "for profit" business. We have fundraisers, but they are explicitly for the PTO, which does things like the Halloween and Spring Carnivals.

I think thats CRAZY!! Is the $365.00 per week? Selling the artwork and providing snacks??? You already pay them. Again, I think it's CRAZY!

I completely understand what you are talking about!

We pay $155/month for 4 days a week 2.5 hours a day and we have had:
A Trike-A-Thon
A Silent Auction
A Bake Sale
Selling of (very expensive, plastic no less) sports cups $20 for 4 cups?
2 Picture Days
Wrapping paper Sale
Sensey(sp?) Sale-The smelly melting candle stuff
Cookie dough Sale
Pastry Sale
And 4 days when we have been asked to donate food to the *church for one thing or another...
And we are not even done with the school year yet?
*We go to a church run pre-school but do not attend the church, it's just in our neighborhood and really cute and the staff and location can not be beat! Of course, this is all 'voluntary' but still? They ask us repeatedly about each fundraiser...and it's hard NOT to contribute, ya know?

We are responsible for snacks 3 times during the school year but when it is our 'turn' we are responsible for the WHOLE WEEK (so that is 12 snack days for 15 kids) and we HAVE to provide 2 different varieties of snacks + a drink + napkins + plates each time, which can really add up!

We also have a 'party' of some kind every month, it seems, and we are responsible for bringing something. We also go on 6 field trips a year, which we have to pay for of course.

Our 'school supply list' was a whole page long and cost me $70, which included everything you could ever think of...napkins AND paper towels, baby wipes, 10 dry erase markers in very specific colors, paints (that were $10 all by themselves and EVERY kid had to buy the specific box they wanted), markers, crayons, colored pencils, glue AND glue sticks and guinea pig food and bedding---and our class doesn't even have the guinea pig?! They were just so darn specific about what exactly it was that they wanted (and DIDN'T want), it was more than a little picky.

Last year we all were asked to donate as much as we could so the school could get a new outside toy structure...which set us back a good amount, we were then asked to donate a second time because we hadn't raised enough for the one they wanted.

~I understand the need for all this stuff and I really don't have *that* much of a problem with it all but I must admit there are some weeks when I think to myself that they are bleeding us dry :)

I personally find it incredibly annoying. If it costs more than tuition, then just raise the tuition. Period. I also much prefer to bring our own snack - that way DS can eat his fruits and vegetables and his friends can eat their gummy fruit candy without any conflict at all.

BTW - you are paying a LOT for preschool. We paid $120 for 3 days a week (9 am - 6:30 pm) at our previous preschool and are currently paying about $200/wk for 5 days (8:30-6:00) at a Montessori. Which has expericence certified teachers, gym, music, Spanish and a very nice new playground.

I think part of the question is, how good is the preschool? Does it hire experienced, well-qualified teachers who would expect and who deserve higher salaries? Or does it hire inexperienced teachers and pay them as little as possible? Does it offer things (like our preschool did): A weekly visit with a speech specialist for each class, a weekly science lesson, lessons with a music teacher daily? Does it have excellent physical facilities -- not just clean but new, well-kept, well furnished? Is the playground top-notch with new and safe equipment, and is the playground regularly mulched (for safety underfoot) or even covered with the rubberized surface some have? In other words -- you may be getting a lot for the money if it's a super preschool. Even your high tuition (if that's per week, it is high) couldn't cover all that or even part of it. Our preschool didn't check all those boxes but we did have weekly speech, daily music, weekly science, and those were done by specialists who also were paid, plus many of the teachers were excellent and experienced, and I hope they were paid well. If it's just an average place with average facilities -- yes, I'd be annoyed. If it's great, and the administration does not force parent participation, I'd be fine with it. Just something to think about.

By the way, the ONLY fundraising our preschool did was one event -- an evening silent auction with all the auctioned items donated, some by parents but many of them donated by local businesses, and many items were big and got great bids. It raised tens of thousands of dollars in one night back then (but did require a lot of planning). However, that's better than a bake sale here, an art sale there, etc.

We did not have fundraisers or have to take snacks to our daughters daycare. It was and still is Nationally recognized Daycare. It was pretty expensive so they never asked about donations or fundraiser. I even remember they held Christmas Programs, Halloween carnivals, fall festivals etc.. and we were all invited at no charge or donations for any of it.

That was about 15 years ago we paid $475 a month for 5 days a week 7:00am to 5:00pm. Not sure how that computes by today's prices. They provided everything but Diapers, blankets, pillows and formula (for infants, you provided diapers till your child potty trained) . It pretty much stayed the same price even as your child got older and moved into the daycare area instead of the nursery. .. so I guess it made up for the increases needed.

I always found in Public school, posting what the goal was and what it was going towards, helped parents decide if they wanted to help/spend/donate. or to not participate. Maybe you could also suggest this.