Enrichment · Life Skills · Family budget

Every year of care,
priced before
it arrives.

List the stages of care your child will need and what each costs today. The calculator lays them out year by year, grows the prices, and shows the total and the year that will squeeze the budget most.

Project my costsWhat you get

The child care projection

The worked example is made up: one child from an infant room in 2027 through three years of before and after school care, with prices growing 3% a year. Nothing you type leaves this browser.

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What you get

Enrichment · Life SkillsFree

What you finish with
A year-by-year projection of one child’s care with the stage, the cost and the running total, the total and average a year, the most expensive year and its share of household income, and pointers to federal and state help. It prints as a one-page plan and downloads as a spreadsheet.
Who it is for
Expecting and new parents, families planning a budget or a return to work, and teachers of personal finance and family and consumer sciences.
Format
Browser calculator for a phone, tablet or computer, by touch or keyboard. Up to 18 years of care. Prints a plan; downloads a spreadsheet (.csv); export and import a file.
Access
Free. No account, no sign-in and nothing to install. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The Life Skills space in Caveat Enrichment.
Support
Questions, a correction or a request: team@caveatacademic.com.

How to use it

  1. Type the first year of care and a yearly price increase.
  2. Add each stage in order with today’s monthly cost, the months a year it is paid and how many years it lasts.
  3. Add household income if you want to see care as a share of it.
  4. Read the year-by-year projection and the hardest year.
  5. Print the plan or download the spreadsheet.

Project my costs

How the projection works

Today’s price, grown each year until that year arrives.

Preschool in the worked example: the fourth and fifth years of careToday’s price$12,600$1,050 × 12 months2030, year 4$13,768× 1.03³2031, year 5$14,181× 1.03⁴Preschool, years 4 and 5Today’s price$12,600$1,050 × 12 months2030$13,768× 1.03³2031$14,181× 1.03⁴
Today’s preschool price of $12,600 a year, grown 3% a year: $13,768 in 2030 and $14,181 in 2031.

The arithmetic

Stages run one after another from the first year. Each year’s cost is the stage’s monthly price today times the months a year it is paid, grown by the yearly increase for every year since the start: the fourth year of care is multiplied by 1.03 three times at 3%. The total adds the years; the share of income divides the most expensive year by the income you entered, before any tax help.

Lowering the cost

The federal Child and Dependent Care Credit returns part of what working families pay for care, and an employer’s dependent care flexible spending account lets you pay for care with money that is not taxed; the limits and rates change, so check IRS Publication 503 for the year. Families with lower incomes may qualify for help from their state through the Child Care and Development Fund, and Head Start and public preschool are free where available.

Sources

  1. Internal Revenue Service, Publication 503, Child and Dependent Care Expenses: the credit and the dependent care benefits exclusion, with each year’s limits.
  2. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families. Child Care and Development Fund and childcare.gov: finding and paying for child care by state.
  3. U.S. Department of Labor, Women’s Bureau. National Database of Childcare Prices (dol.gov/agencies/wb): child care prices by county and age group.
  4. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Head Start (eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov): free early learning for eligible families.

The worked example is made up. Projections use today’s prices and the increase you choose; actual prices will differ. This is not tax advice. Your figures stay in this browser. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.