Why is child care so expensive? Owners share unique costs and challenges of the business

Experts say the business of child care faces unique limitations and challenges including teaching ratios that drive up staffing costs, lacking options for increasing revenue, and lacking state support

Child care can cost parents in Michigan as much as some college tuition annually. Yet, the owner of your child’s school may be taking home no pay and their teacher is likely not making much more than $15 an hour.

How does that figure?

The business of child care is complicated. Early education professionals say both parents and policymakers often don’t fully recognize the extent of their conundrum.

For child care businesses, state-mandated teacher to child staffing ratios mean paying teacher salaries and benefits dominate the majority of their budgets, while capped capacity in classrooms m