Child care during school

[dadmdtobe004]

Posting this in non-trads even though I am not really non-trad. I am married and will have a 1 year old child by the time I start school this August. My spouse works full time and we will not have family in the area able to help with child care. Day care is very expensive, so I was wondering what people have used for child care options? My spouse also travels about 1-2 weeks per month so we need something reliable. I have yet to find someone who has been in a similar situation that did not have a family or something help out. Any advice/experience greatly appreciated!!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Cornfed101]

Many schools will approve a COA increase for childcare expenses. This is what I will have to do (2 kids, no family near any medical school).

 

[Momof]

Agree with Cornfed, but I also think this is something to address with the school directly. They may be able to connect you with other students in a similar position - and some colleges have crèches where you may be able to enroll your child.

 

[deleted1013752]

I traveled weekly for first two years of my wife’s school - no family nearby. We had a nanny who brought her young son and gradually had the kids do more time at a preschool as they got older. We took out debt to cover the added expense for a while but eventually I made enough that we didn’t have to. Not many parents at our school but another place I’m familiar with had a solid network of homemakers who passed their kids around (LDS). Also after I finished traveling I started working from home and that has been fantastic.

 

[deleted1013752]

Definitely just googled “crèches.”

 

[esob]

The COA increase is rarely sufficient for the actual cost of full-time childcare (they increase it somewhere in the range of $600 per month for the first child, and $200 for each additional, which is probably less than half of what you need). If you don't have any real backup, you should highly consider an au pair. Med school will wreck you if you get caught out needing to do your own full-time child care several days per week. I probably spend about 12-14 hrs per week providing relief for my spouse and if I had to do any more than that it would probably begin to impact my grades.