BALTIMORE — Parents already know child care is expensive, and a new study puts a number on just how wide the gap has become.
According to LendingTree, Maryland ranks fourth in the nation for the largest gap between family incomes and child care costs. The study found families with two young children would need to earn more than $400,000 a year for child care to be considered affordable under federal guidelines.
WMAR-2 News Mallory Sofastaii asked parents whether they have had to make sacrifices because of child care costs, and the response was overwhelming. Some quit their jobs. Others downsized. Many put off having more kids. Most agreed that families pay too much, providers earn too little, and help is hard to find.
“In most states in the United States, child care costs more than the state university system,” said Laura Weeldreyer, executive director of the Maryland Family Network.
According to the Maryland Family Network, the average cost of full-time child care in Maryland for a family of four with an infant and a preschooler is $30,346. The LendingTree analysis, using U.S. Census Bureau and Child Care Aware of America data, estimates the cost even higher — $40,922 for an infant and a 4-year-old.
Federal guidelines suggest child care is considered affordable when it accounts for about seven percent of a household’s income. The LendingTree study found families would need to earn $402,708 a year nationally, and $584,600 a year in Maryland, for child care to meet that standard.
“The amount of money that you are spending on child care is money that can’t go into things like emergency funds or savings for down payments or savings for college or paying for medical bills or paying down credit card debt,” said Matt Schulz, chief consumer finance analyst at LendingTree. “It’s a really, really big deal.”
Families say they are already making tough trade-offs just to get by.
“We heard significant numbers of parents talking about foregoing medical care, not filling prescriptions, having challenges paying other bills, and again, being driven to use unregulated care,” Weeldreyer said.
Maryland invests more than some states in child care assistance, including $414 million for the Child Care Scholarship Program. But advocates say funding has remained flat and has not kept pace with demand. The state placed a freeze on new scholarships last May, with no timeline for when the program will fully resume.
“So they didn’t dismiss people from the rolls, but for anybody who was trying to get on the list — so somebody who has a baby or moves to Maryland,” Weeldreyer said. “There hasn’t been much movement off of the waitlist.”
Providers say they are feeling the strain as well.
“[Families ask] what resources do you have? And we’re like, oh. None actually. They do exist, but they’re all closed off. They’re dead ends. They’re smoke and mirrors. We can’t even provide them with anything, so it’s a big concern for a lot of us,” said Candice Schoolman, owner of Reggio & Company.
Schoolman says costs are rising, from utilities to supplies, but cutting staff pay is not an option.
“I wouldn’t use the word childcare in it at all,” she said. “If you guys would like to be long term protecting our workforce in the state of Maryland, this is an absolute crisis for right now.”
“It is more expensive to send your children to child care in this industry right now than it is to stay home and take care of your child, and I know because I have a baby,” Schoolman added.
Weeldreyer says the system is failing families and workers at the same time.
“In most states in this country, the average child care provider is eligible for public benefits programs,” she said. “But at the same time, parents are going broke. It is a broken business model that demands some sort of government intervention and support.”
As of last October, nearly 3,800 children were on Maryland’s Child Care Scholarship waitlist. Families can still apply and be added, and those already receiving assistance will continue to get help as long as they remain eligible. Click here for more information.