Use this calculator to help estimate the annual cost and revenue for full- or part-time care at the program and per-child level.
For example, the PCQC can help you answer:
The PCQC lets you create scenarios showing different provider types, manage those scenarios, and print reports of your work. If you create an account, you can save multiple scenarios so you can compare them. National and state-specific data from sources such as the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) are built into the tool as default values, but you can adjust values as needed for your local area. You can also find more information in the user guide, which you can always find in the top right corner of your screen.
This is the information you will need:
You can use the data collection template to organize your information first or enter your data directly into the PCQC.
The Provider Cost of Quality Calculator was developed by the Office of Child Care’s National Center on Early Childhood Quality Assurance with funds from Grant #90TA0002-05-02 for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Child Care and Office of Head Start. This resource may be duplicated for noncommercial uses without permission.
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The PCQC calculates wages for assistants by multiplying your state or territory’s minimum wage by the number of hours worked per year.
If you would like to use a different amount such as a living wage, enter that amount here.
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Enter the full-time weekly subsidy and private tuition rates for each age group.
For CACFP either the family child care provider is eligible or some of the children in care must be eligible.
Enter the percentage of children for whom meals and snacks are paid at Tier I and Tier II.
Many states have Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) that set the standards for quality improvement. These systems help improve the quality of child care and early learning programs. Regardless of if your state has a QRIS, you can use the PCQC levels to model changes you may have considered for your program.
There are five quality levels available for you to model as well as a baseline level. The baseline level shows quality related information you have entered up until now. You can go to each level and either copy your baseline information into that level and make a few adjustments to your data, or by entering new numbers from scratch in each level.
Quality criteria that require more of a home provider’s time can include curriculum planning, training, or talking with families about children’s progress. Think about the number of hours needed for these and other quality related activities that you do in addition to the hours spent caring for children.
At lower QRIS levels, you may only need an hour or two per week. At higher levels of quality, you might need an extra 4-6 hours per week for extra quality activities.
There are two ways you can make sure your salary is included in your calculations:
Option 1: Compare your net revenue to the annual salary of a center director. The Salary Data spreadsheet under the Resources tab lists the average salaries for center staff in all states. You can also convert your net revenue to an hourly wage by dividing your net revenue by the total hours you work per year.
Option 2: You can add your salary into the PCQC’s calculations by navigating to the staff cost section under the personnel cost tab and entering the salary you want to pay yourself under additional staff cost.