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Responding to
recommendations from the Childcare Study Steering Committee,
the college split the Fort Hill preschool program from
the kindergarten through grade six program of the Campus
School to create an integrated infant through preschool
program (Center for Early Childhood Education). Under
this new model the Center offers a full-day full-year
program with the option for families to limit their
attendance to the academic year and/or to half-day or
school-day durations. While Smith does not offer teacher
certification in early childhood education, the Center
does serve as a research laboratory for the departments
of education and psychology, as well as other disciplines.
The Center also serves as a feeder school for the Campus
School.
The Center is operating
seven classrooms for 2003-04 and plans to do the same
for 2004-05.
Table 1. Classroom options
 |
|
Year Schedule |
|
Day Schedule |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Acad. Year |
|
Full Year |
|
Half Day |
|
School Day |
|
Full Day |
|
Max. Enroll |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Preschool Group A |
|
X |
|
|
|
X |
|
|
|
|
|
18 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Preschool Group B |
|
X |
|
|
|
|
|
X |
|
|
|
18 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Preschool Group S |
|
|
|
X |
|
|
|
|
|
X |
|
18 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Infant Room |
|
X |
|
X |
|
|
|
X |
|
X |
|
7 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Multi-age Room (West) |
|
X |
|
X |
|
|
|
X |
|
X |
|
9 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Multi-Age Room (North) |
|
X |
|
X |
|
|
|
X |
|
X |
|
9 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Toddler Room |
|
X |
|
X |
|
|
|
X |
|
X |
|
9 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
While offering some programmatic
advantages to both the Center and the Campus School,
the new structure presents some very real financial
challenges by segmenting the most expensive components
of the college’s
children’s education efforts and limiting the
cross-program subsidization that occurred when all the
programs were under the Campus School umbrella. For
this initial year of the split (2003-04), the college
allocated a base subsidy of $241,599, including $134,093
in tuition discounts to Smith employees, to support
the program. In addition, ACRA approved a one-time subsidy
of $100,000 to assist in the transition of the Center
program and to add both a preschool summer program and
an additional (fourth) infant and toddler classroom.
Setting next year’s tuition for the Center’s
programs entailed a struggle to balance the need to
limit the college’s subsidy of the program against
already comparatively high tuition levels. The Center’s
expenses were reviewed carefully to identify areas for
reduction. In the end, we settled on tuition increases
ranging from 9.1% to 11.0% for 2004-05, depending on
the enrollment option selected. Even at that high level
of increase, the college’s direct support of the
program would need to increase by 15%, with one-time
funding, from $241,599 to $277,908. The college’s
indirect support of the program adds yet another layer
of costs, as discussed below in the finances section.
Table 2. CECE
Tuition Increases for 2004-05
|
|
2003-04 |
|
2004-05 |
|
Change |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Academic Year |
|
Summer Session |
|
Academic Year |
|
Summer Session* |
|
Academic Year |
|
Summer Session* |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Preschool |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 8 am-12:30 pm |
|
$5,850 |
|
|
|
$6,435 |
|
|
|
10.0% |
|
N/A |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 8 am-3 pm |
|
$8,890 |
|
$985 |
|
$9,870 |
|
$1.085 |
|
11.0% |
|
10.2% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 8 am-5 pm |
|
$11,250 |
|
$1,250 |
|
$12,275 |
|
$1,375 |
|
9.1% |
|
10.0% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Infant and Toddler |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 8 am-3 pm |
|
$11,285 |
|
$1,255 |
|
$12,525 |
|
$1,380 |
|
11.0% |
|
10.0% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 8 am-5 pm |
|
$14,285 |
|
$1,588 |
|
$15,715 |
|
$1,750 |
|
10.0% |
|
10.2% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
* Summer 2005 increases
are for planning purposes only. They are preliminary
and have not been announced.
At
the preschool level, other local programs, including
Hampshire Children’s Center, Woodside, Nonotuck,
Sunnyside, and Dolphin Daycare charge between $8,250
and $9,100 for academic year coverage. By comparison,
the tuition for the Center’s academic year preschool
program is $12,275. At the toddler level, local programs
charge between $9,350 and $11,000 during the academic
year. Local programs charge between $10,400 and $10,780
for academic year infant care. By comparison, the Smith
program charges $15,715 for academic year infant and
toddler care. All of the charges represent full-day
enrollment for ten months, although the start and end
times do vary slightly program-by-program.
For 2004-05, the original
revenue projection assumed a headcount enrollment of
45 preschoolers (28.4 FTE) and 34 infants and toddlers
(28.9 FTE). FTE enrollment will be higher for the academic
year, at 31.8 FTE and 30.7 FTE respectively, before
falling off for the summer. For 2003-04, Smith-affiliated
children comprise 38% of the preschool enrollment and
67% of the infant and toddler enrollment. The figures
for Smith participation are consistent with, albeit
slightly lower than, longer-term trends. Over the past
five years, Smith children have accounted for 40% of
the preschool enrollments and 73% of the infant and
toddler enrollments.
Early childhood
education is an extremely labor-intensive enterprise.
For 2004-05, the Center has budgeted for 25.6 FTE
staff, with 9.0 FTE allocated to the preschool program
and 16.6 FTE allocated to the infant and toddler program.
Preschool
classrooms typically include a teacher and two assistants
during peak enrollment periods of the day. Infant
and toddler classrooms are staffed by a teacher and
three assistant teachers. The administration consists
of a full-time director, a three-quarters time assistant
director, and an administrative assistant. In addition,
the Center shares a director of admission, nurse,
and librarian with the Campus School. The Center also
employs fractional FTE shared with the Campus School
for specialists in physical education, music, and the
visual arts as well as a psychologist. The Center rounds
out its staffing with two floating substitute positions,
and about $40,000 in summer temps and student labor.
Based on the 2004-05 budget
proposal submitted by the Center, we project a total
subsidy of $421,853 for the program. The total subsidy
is divided fairly evenly between subsides for direct
operating expenses, tuition discounts for Smith employees,
and indirect or overhead costs.
Direct Operating
Expenses. The Center has proposed direct expenses of $1,080,272
offset by gross revenues of $944,795, for a direct
operating subsidy of $135,477. There are great differences
by program. The preschool program comes within $9,000
of covering its direct costs, excluding the tuition
discounts, while the infant/toddler program has a direct
operating deficit of $126,720 without the tuition discounts.
In other words, the infant/toddler program accounts
for 94% of the direct operating subsidy. The direct
costs per enrolled FTE are $22,511 for the infant/toddler
program and $15,118 for the preschool program. These
figures compare to revenue per enrolled FTE of $18,129
for the infant/toddler program and $14,809 for the
preschool program.
Indirect Costs. The college
subsidizes the Center through its coverage of indirect
costs, such as renovation and maintenance of facilities,
utilities, custodial service, and general administrative
services, including billing and human resources. In
total, we estimate an indirect subsidy of $143,945 for
2004-05.
Layering on the indirect
costs increases the cost per enrolled FTE to $25,291
for the infant/toddler program and $17,356 for the preschool
program, suggesting a subsidy of $7,162 (28%) per enrolled
FTE for the infant/toddler program and $2,547 (15%)
for the preschool program before tuition discounts.
Tuition
discounts. The college also subsidizes the Center’s
tuition for Smith employees by 25% for the first child
and 30% for additional children enrolled in either the
Center or Campus School. The director projects a tuition
subsidy of $142,431, or 15% of gross revenues, for 2004-05.
It
is clear from the Center’s finances that the
college subsidizes not only faculty and staff enrolling
their children in the program, but also community children
in the programs. Based on an average (as opposed to
marginal) costs, community families will pay 98% of
the direct operating costs for the preschool program,
but will pay only 85% of the total costs if one considers
the indirect costs associated with the program. By comparison,
Smith families will pay approximately 64% of the preschool
program costs, factoring in their tuition rebate. Community
families enrolled in the infant/toddler program will
pay 81% of the direct costs and 72% of the total costs
of the program. Smith families will pay 54% of the real
costs of the infant/toddler program, for a subsidy of
nearly $12,000 per child.
In summary, the $802,364
in net tuition and fee revenue projected for 2004-05
will cover only 74% of the program’s
direct costs and only 66% of the program’s total
costs, including general facility and administrative
charges. The direct subsidy, including tuition discounts,
will be $277,908, which is $63,691 less than the 2003-04
subsidy. However, the 2003-04 subsidy includes $100,000
of one-time money, which means that the proposed 2004-05
budget will require one-time funding of $36,309, or
15%, beyond what is currently in the budget.
If we applied
the subsidy just to the 32.5 FTE Smith-affiliated children,
then the college’s contribution is $12,980
for each Smith child served by the program.
|
|
Overview of Current
Early
Childhood
Education Program
at Smith
Committee's Charge
and
Findings Recommendations
and Decisions |
