Child Care Costs are Off the Charts for Milwaukee Families

Alexandra and her partner pay $1,200 per month for their daughter’s child care. That is more than the average cost of rent, mortgage, or in-state tuition in Milwaukee.

“I would just hope that at some point changes get made where parents can get additional help, whether it’s from the government or assistance programs,” said Alexandra. “There are other countries that have more support in those areas, and I think that should be a thing.”

Alexandra is a consultant and part-time instructor at UWM. She and her partner, a commercial painter, never imagined they would be spending most of their budget on childcare. But as rates soar, this is a reality for many parents in Milwaukee.

Alexandra is not her real name. Because of her position at UWM, she asked that her name be withheld for this story.

State Programs Subsidize Cost

The Wisconsin Shares child care subsidy program pays a portion of child care costs, but only for families who qualify. The program now funds up to 80% of costs, which is up from 35% in 2021.

“Increasing the Wisconsin Shares subsidy program rate from the 35^th to the 80^th percentile was a critical step in helping both Wisconsin parents and child care providers,” said Gina Paige, communications director for the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families, via email.

For child care providers, the department hopes the increase in government assistance will encourage new child care centers to open and improve the availability of care.

For parents, the increase will reduce the out-of-pocket portion and expand access to higher-quality care, which often costs more.

“If there are 100 providers in a city, under the previous rate, families using Wisconsin Shares would only be able to afford 35 providers,” said Paige. “Under the new rate, they can afford 80, providing them with access to more options.”

But parents must meet certain criteria to qualify for the program. First, they must participate in an approved activity such as employment, a combination of employment and school/training, or attend high school if the parent is under 20 years old.

Next, the parent(s) must have an income that is at or below 185% of the Federal Poverty Level, which depends on the family’s group size.

For instance, a family of three like Alexandra’s must have a monthly income at or less than $3,550 before taxes to be eligible for the program. Her family would continue to be eligible for the funds until their income reached $5,931, which is 85% of the State Median Income.

Families who don’t meet any of the criteria are left to foot the entire child care bill.

“I feel like their income bracket that you need to be within is pretty low considering the cost of child care,” Alexandra said. “I’m lucky enough that we’re a two-income household, but there are plenty of people who aren’t.”

In August 2022, the Wisconsin Shares Program paid out $19,255,306 in subsidies to help 20,100 children attend day care in Milwaukee at a reduced cost. But according to the last U.S. census, there were 928,059 children under five years old in Milwaukee County alone.

UWM Parents Have Campus Option

Being a college student alone doesn’t satisfy the criteria to receive child care subsidies from the Wisconsin Shares program. However, the UWM Children’s Learning Center offers discounts to UWM students.

Currently, it costs a UWM student $1,245 per month to send their infant to the Children’s Learning Center and $1,088 per month for toddlers who attend full-time. Pricing continues to decrease as the child gets older.

Discounts for these costs are available through segregated fees and the Child Care Access Means Parents in School (CCAMPIS) program.

“Mainly, the money that we get from segregated fees essentially goes right back to the students in the form of child care subsidies,” said Liz Smith, director of the UWM Children’s Learning Center.

The segregated fees received through the UWM Student Association allow the Children’s Learning Center to offer student parents a sliding fee scale with a 5% to 15% discount. The exact discount depends on income.

Additionally, UWM students can apply for the CCAMPIS grant to deepen the discount even further. The CCAMPIS grant helps support low-income parents enrolled in postsecondary education by providing funding for campus-based child care services.

Because eligibility for this grant is also determined by income, students must apply for the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FASFA) to be considered for the funds. Some families were even able to receive a 100% discount. 

“Because we had some access funding with lower enrollment, we were able to give the families who were here and were receiving that CCAMPIS discount a 90-100% discount on their child care,” said Smith. “So, we had several families in the last couple of years receiving child care and were not paying a fee because it was supported by that grant funding.”

Low enrollment was due to staffing shortages and issues surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In addition to the discounts offered to students, the Children’s Learning Center decided not to increase fees this year, even amid inflation.

“We made an intentional decision not to increase our fees,” Smith said. “We haven’t done a fee increase for five years.”

The absence of a fee increase was made possible by the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families’ Child Care Counts program. The Child Care Counts funding has supported both operational costs and salary increases for students and teachers at the Children’s Learning Center.

“The grant has made a significant difference in allowing us to not increase fees for the year,” Smith said. “We would have needed to do that in the last year and a half or cut back on things, which we have not had to do because of that funding.”

However, the Children’s Learning Center is looking to implement their first increase in five years beginning in 2023. The exact rate increase has not been determined yet.

Over the summer, Nicholaus Wiberg and his wife paid just over $1,300 a month combined for their 6-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son to attend the Children’s Learning Center. Now that school is back in session, they pay $800 combined for before- and after-school care in the Greendale School District, which is slightly subsidized by their taxes.

“That’s actually really reasonable,” said Wiberg. “I know it sounds like a lot but when you shop around, it’s actually really reasonable compared to what’s available out there.”

For Wiberg, a self-employed, full-time student at UWM and his wife, a union organizer, these child care expenses still have implications on their finances.  

“We cut back on everything,” said Wiberg. “We went on a vacation this year and it was the first time we’ve done that in like six years. Child care really does cut into everything.”

A Milwaukee Provider Tries to Help

Because Alexis McCarty can’t offer discounts at her day care, As We Grow Family Child Care, LLC., she uses compassion as a tool to help parents navigate the high cost of child care.

McCarty, who graduated from UWM in 2016, works with parents if they are unable to afford the fees.

“One parent couldn’t really afford tuition, so I just kind of worked with her based off her circumstances,” McCarty said.

As We Grow Family Child Care, located on the west side of Milwaukee, costs $1,000 a month for toddlers and $1,040 a month for newborns for full-time care. McCarty did not raise prices this year either.

“I just felt like the parents were going through what they were going through,” McCarty said. “I have a lot of private-pay kids so that also played a role for me personally.”

This year, Wiberg and his wife will have paid over $9,000 on child care alone. Next year, they’re preparing to pay a minimum of $10,500.

“You really do just have to take it one step at a time,” Wiberg said. “You can’t get overwhelmed with the big picture. It’s nice to have a big picture and be able to frame it and hang it on the wall and be done with it. But it just doesn’t happen that way. You really do just have to take things one step at a time.”