High cost of UC Berkeley ECEP
Hi- we are parents of a toddler attending Berkeley’s Early Childhood Education program for the first time. The tuition for our daughter is 53% of my wife’s take home pay as a tenure track junior faculty member. I can’t imagine this has always been the case. We are concerned that the costs and forms of assistance are way out of line compared with peer institutions across the region and the country.We are looking to talk with parents who have a historical memory of ECEP’s policies and costs as the program, from what we know has only become more expensive and less flexible. (Parents we talked to enjoyed a sliding scale tuition in the early-mid 2000s, which is sadly no longer available).
We look forward to hearing from you. Thanks!
Aug 15, 2022
Parent Replies
UC centers are in the top 1/3 for price for Berkeley/Oakland/emeryville, but definitely not the most expensive. we (st Johns childcare) always have some families who are staff/faculty/stiffened because our hours are more flexible and our tuition is similar, but our tuition assistance is more flexible. The sliding scale spaces you mention are from CDE funding and it’s usually only students or single parent families who have income low enough to qualify. Just imagine how high UC childcare tuition would be if it wasn’t partially funded by UC!
We used ECEP for preschool starting in 2010. We used it for infant care a few years later. There wasn't a sliding scale that I remember (if you mean a sliding scale based solely on income), though I do think that it cost less for students than faculty/staff, but there were very few student parents there because it was still expensive. I remember it being about $24k/year, which is double what I was paying for daycare in Davis. The price did change (decrease) as we moved through the program and our child got older because the required staff-child ratio decreases. The quality of care is high, and it does include food. One reason we went with it instead of other options around the area was that it covered a full day. We couldn't believe how many daycares ended at 2ish! Princeton and Michigan look to cost about the same; Harvard is MUCH more expensive. When comparing to peer institutions, you should only compare to institutions where cost of living is equivalent to Berkeley. Do make sure that you sign up for the UC Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account. It lets you set aside pre-tax dollars to pay for child care.
The tuition seems to be inline with other well rated programs in the region, such as Waldorf, EBGIS, EB, TBS, etc. The issue rather seems to be the low take home pay paid by UC. Do not ignore the other benefits though you receive through UC. Welcome to the Bay Area and academic salaries!