College vs. Daycare Costs

"Childcare costs more than some local universities.
The annual tuition at TSU is $7,776.
The tuition at MTSU is $8,080.
The average cost of care for an infant in Nashville is $8,523 a year, and that's just for one child." - Cathy Gordon WSMV News 4 February 25, 2019

I can't believe this narrative still exists. Let's break it down. Being conservative with the numbers given in this article.

$7776/12 hours per week/32 weeks for 2 semesters = $20.25 per instruction hour for tuition.

VERSUS

$8523/10 hours per DAY/5 days per week/50 weeks per year = $3.41 per instruction hour for daycare.

Many children are in care for longer and many providers do not take time off, for an even lower per hour daycare cost.

$3.41 and $20.25 are not exactly the SAME cost.

Then lets look at what is involved in instruction - college classes to ADULTS who have FULL responsibility on what they do, where they go, getting their own food and bodily functions taken care of, and on their own as to whether they even come to class or bother to learn.

Daycare - an individual solely responsible to keeping small humans ALIVE, fulfilling every single one of their emotional, physical and mental needs and teaching them basic life skills like how to eat, dress, poop on the potty. Providers deal with bodily fluids on a regular basis, teething, tantrums, and so many other things for $3.41 per hour. Not even babysitting wages which are $10-15/hour these days.

Additionally, only about half of the $3.41 goes into the pocket of the daycare provider, the other half goes towards your child's food, toys, bedding, art and craft supplies, etc. So a daycare provider is only making a net income of $1.70/hour/child. Quite a bit less than any college professor, and not nearly as much as any college administrator.

Really? Same cost/same service? Uh, NO.

What we should be asking is why does college tuition costs $20.25 per instruction hour when students are often in large classes, rather than $3.41 per hour for an infant in a group of 4-6 with personalized loving care.
Tags: child care, daycare, college, tuition, costs, comparison, preschool, state, university