And we thought the cost of preschools in Singapore was high?
Parents, be thankful you don’t send your kids to pre-school in NYC or you’ll be up to your eyes in preschool loans!
Pre-school education these days comes at an expensive price.
Pre-school education in Singapore comes with a hefty price tag. More and more parents of young children are often complaining about how expensive early education is in the country. But because they understand its importance, they will just have to work harder to be able to pay for their children’s education.
But if you think schools in Singapore are expensive, you clearly haven’t heard about the situation in NYC.
Costly education
To date, pre-school education is most expensive in New York when compared to other cities around the world. In fact, going to preschool in that city will cost a lot more money than going to the state college. According to a data report, parents of small children spend about $14,009 on public preschool education and $30,000++ on private pre-kindergarten classes a year while a state college student spends only about $6, 213 in a year. But what’s more surprising is that preschool education in other states in America is also more expensive than going to their respective public colleges.
RELATED: Are preschool teachers underpaid in Singapore?
Parents in NYC turn to government scholarships and preschool loans to help with the cost.
Government alternative
Normally, parents in NYC send their children in public schools and most of them rely on the government’s scholarship programs. But because of the limited slots of these programs, more than 8,000 children (based in a 2011 data report) weren’t accommodated. Their parents had no choice but to shell out the required amount of money to send their children to school. The expense of sending children to preschool is definitely taking a huge toll on parents and is greatly affecting their financial status.
Preschool loans?
To address this alarming issue of expensive preschool education, NYC City Councilor Speaker and mayoral candidate Christine Quinn is proposing a program that’s offers lowered interest preschool loans to middle class families that are sending their kids to preschool.
New York City’s Administration for Children’s Services already supports preschool education of impoverished families but there hadn’t been a program to help average-earning families until now.
Preschool Loans are not for everyone. Learn more about the qualifications on the next page.
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Preschool Loans Qualifications
In the first year of implementation, the city’s loan program aims to help about 40 families. The loans will be offered at 6% interest on the initial year.
In order to qualify for one of these preschool loans, interested families should have an income of $80,000 to $200,000 annually and a minimum credit score of 620. And because the loan will be processed by the Neighborhood Trust Financial Partners, the applicants also need to set an appointment for financial counseling with the said company.
The loan proceeds will be released directly to the preschool instead of the parents to prevent misuse.
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Parents feel that preschool loans are not the solution to high costs as it adds to more debt.
Views on preschool loans
While preschool loans offer financial respite in the insanely high cost of preschool education, a lot of parents do not find it advantageous. Contrary to college loans that help a lot students get a degree and find a high-paying job afterwards, preschool loans only subject parents to additional debt. Parents claim that preschool loans are not the solution. The government should significantly lower the cost of education or offer it for free for all families.
Are you favorable of acquiring preschool loans just to send your children to school? Tell us what you think about this. Here’s one video about a mother who’s not satisfied with her child’s preschool despite paying a whopping $19,000 a year:
