What it costs, and what that gets you
Published rates, in full, with the extras named rather than discovered. Childcare is expensive and pretending otherwise on a website helps nobody.
Rates by room
| Room | Ages | Full time | Part time | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Infants | 6 wks – 12 mo | $2,480 / mo | — | Full time only. Continuity matters most in this room. |
| Toddlers | 12 – 24 mo | $2,290 / mo | — | Full time only. |
| Twos | 2 – 3 yrs | $2,090 / mo | $1,410 / mo | Part time is three fixed days (Mon/Wed/Fri). |
| Preschool | 3 – 4 yrs | $1,910 / mo | $1,290 / mo | Part time is three fixed days (Mon/Wed/Fri). |
| Pre-K | 4 – 5 yrs | $1,860 / mo | $1,255 / mo | Part time is three fixed days (Mon/Wed/Fri). |
Tuition is billed monthly in advance and is the same twelve months a year — it is not pro-rated for holidays, closures or absence, because the staffing cost does not change. Rates are reviewed once a year in June and any change takes effect the following January, with six months' notice.
Included
- All meals and snacks — breakfast, a hot lunch and an afternoon snack, cooked here
- Nappies, wipes and sun cream
- All studio and outdoor materials, including the waterproofs we keep as spares
- Bedding, laundered here
- Your child’s documentation folder, and the photographs in it
- Two parent–educator conferences a year, plus any others you ask for
Charged separately
- A $75 non-refundable application fee, charged when you join the waitlist
- A deposit equal to two weeks of tuition, held and applied to your final month
- Field trip transport for Pre-K, roughly $60 a year
That is the complete list. There is no materials levy, no annual fee, no fundraising obligation and no late-collection charge.
Five steps, from a tour to a first day
Come and see it
Tours run Tuesday and Thursday at 9:30am, while the rooms are full and working. We do not tour on a quiet afternoon, because a quiet afternoon tells you nothing.
Bring your child if you like. Allow an hour.
Join the waitlist
A $75 application puts you on the list for a named room and a named start month. The list is ordered by application date, with priority for siblings of enrolled children and for staff families.
We tell you honestly where you sit and what it has historically meant. Infant places are the tightest — twelve to eighteen months is normal.
An offer, and a decision window
When a place comes up we call you, and you have five business days to decide. Declining does not lose your position for a later month.
We never pressure a decision inside the window, and we do not hold auctions.
Enrollment paperwork
Immunisation records, your authorised-pickup list, emergency contacts, any allergy or medical care plans signed by your physician, and a meeting with your child’s room lead.
Nothing can be finalised without a signed allergy action plan where one applies.
Settling in
Three graduated visits across the fortnight before the start date: an hour with you, a morning without you, then a full day. Infants get longer if they need it.
You are welcome to sit in the room for the first visit. Most parents do.
Subsidies and support
Roughly a fifth of the children here are funded in one of these ways. Nobody in a room knows which, including the educators.
Oregon Employment Related Day Care (ERDC)
Oregon’s ERDC program subsidises child care for eligible working families. Meadow accepts ERDC and holds places for it. Eligibility and copay are set by the state, not by us.
Preschool for All (Multnomah County)
Multnomah County’s Preschool for All program funds tuition-free preschool places for three- and four-year-olds. Application is through the county, and places are allocated by the county rather than by centres.
Dependent Care FSA
Tuition is an eligible dependent-care expense. We issue statements and our tax identification number on request, at any time.
Meadow’s own sliding scale
We hold four places a year at a reduced rate, funded from the operating budget. Applications are reviewed by the board twice a year and are confidential — room staff are not told.
Eligibility for the two state and county programs is decided by them, not by us, and their rules change. Talk to us anyway — we can usually tell you within five minutes whether it is worth applying.
If it is not right
Thirty days' written notice, and your deposit covers the final two weeks. There is no exit penalty, no minimum term and no obligation to give a reason.
If you are leaving because something went wrong here, we would like to know — a leaving conversation is the most useful feedback a centre ever gets, and it is the one nobody has any incentive to soften. But it is not a condition of anything, and your child's documentation folder goes home with you either way.
Book a tour before you join the list
We would rather you saw the building first. The $75 application fee is non-refundable and there is no sense paying it for a place you have not stood in.