Your website hides tuition, so parents who could afford you assume they cannot
Most daycare websites say "call for rates." Parents read that as expensive and move on. Why a starting price on your site brings more tours, and how to post it.
A parent finds your center on Google at 9 p.m. with a baby asleep on her shoulder. She taps through to your website, looks for what it costs, finds "please call for tuition rates," and closes the tab. She will not call tomorrow. She will tour the center down the road that showed her a number.
This is one of the most common mistakes we see on daycare websites. Owners hide tuition because they worry the price will scare people off. In practice, the missing price scares off more of them.
Why owners hide it
The reasons are understandable:
- Rates differ by age group and schedule, so one number feels misleading.
- You want the parent to tour first, because the tour is where you win.
- You worry a competitor will undercut you.
- Subsidies, sibling discounts and registration fees make the real number complicated.
All true. None of it changes how the parent reads the page. To a tired parent comparing three centers, "call for rates" means one of two things: it is expensive, or it is a hassle to find out. Either way, the next tab wins.
What it costs you
Parents rarely call to ask a price they suspect is out of reach. They just leave. You never see those lost families, so the problem feels invisible.
The ones who do call often call during work hours, when your director is in a classroom. If nobody answers, they do not leave a voicemail. The missed calls guide covers how much of your inquiry volume disappears this way, and the calculator shows what one lost enrollment is worth over a year. For a full-time infant spot, that is often $10,000 or more in tuition.
There is also a quieter cost. When you hide the price, the families who tour are a mix of people who can afford you and people who cannot. Your director spends an hour on a tour that was never going to enroll.
The fix: a starting price per age group
You do not need to publish your whole rate sheet. You need one honest number per program so parents can rule you in.
A simple table works:
| Program | Ages | Full-time weekly tuition starts at |
|---|---|---|
| Infants | 6 weeks to 12 months | $___ |
| Toddlers | 1 to 2 years | $___ |
| Twos | 2 to 3 years | $___ |
| Preschool | 3 to 5 years | $___ |
Below it, one paragraph covers the rest:
"Part-time schedules, sibling discounts and state child care assistance are available. There is a one-time registration fee of $___. We will go through your exact tuition on your tour."
That is it. Parents who can afford you now book the tour. Parents who cannot have saved both of you an hour.
Say what the price includes
A number alone invites comparison on number alone. Next to the table, list what is included in plain words: meals and snacks, diapers or not, curriculum, the teacher to child ratio for each room, your hours. If you provide meals and the center down the road does not, that is worth $30 to $50 a week to a parent, and they will not know unless you say so.
The tuition and tours guide covers how to present price on the tour itself, including how to handle the parent who says "that is more than I expected."
What about the competitor problem
Your competitors can already learn your rates. A staff member, a parent or a quick phone call will tell them. Hiding the price only hides it from the parents you want.
Where else the price should show up
Once it is on your website, put it in two more places:
- Your Google Business Profile. Add each program as a service with the starting price. Many parents never reach your website. The Google profile guide walks through the setup.
- Your tour confirmation text. "Looking forward to seeing you Tuesday at 10. As a reminder, toddler tuition starts at $___ a week." Fewer no-shows from sticker shock.
AI search tools also pick up prices that are written in plain sentences. When a parent asks ChatGPT "how much is daycare near me," a site with a clear starting price is far more likely to be quoted. The AI search guide covers this.
The bigger website picture
33.2% of child care centers in our data have no website at all. Centers with a website have a median of 10 Google reviews, against 2 for those without one. Having a site already puts you ahead of a third of the market. Making it answer the first question every parent has is the cheapest improvement left. The website essentials guide lists the other pages that matter, and the benchmark report shows where you stand on reviews.
This week
- Write down your lowest full-time weekly rate for each age group.
- Add the table and the one paragraph to your tuition or programs page.
- Add the same starting prices to your Google profile services.
- Track tours booked for the next 30 days and compare.
If you want your tuition page and Google profile updated for you, the free 14-day trial covers any one service, no card: text or call (385) 213-2802.
Steven has spent the last several years running growth campaigns for local service businesses, child care centers and daycares among them, and builds the benchmark datasets on this site from public Google listings. About the editor