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By Ann Schimke, Chalkbeat
Colorado parents may soon be able to recover some of the waitlist or application fees they’ve paid to child care programs if their children don’t land a spot within six months.
That’s one of the provisions of a bill that advanced out of the House Health and Human Services committee Tuesday, clearing its third legislative hurdle this winter. The original version of the bill would have capped waitlist fees at $25 and required child care programs to publicly post tuition and fees, but both components have been watered down since then.
Democratic sponsors of the bill said it will still provide some relief to families who pay hundreds of dollars in waitlist fees, sometimes to a dozen or more child care programs. In order to get the fees back, parents would have to make a written request to the child care programs where their children didn’t get seats. In addition, the programs would be allowed to keep part of the fees families paid — an amount that eventually will be determined by the Colorado Department of Early Childhood. Families that are offered a spot at a child care center but decline it, would not recoup any of the fees they paid.
If the bill becomes law, it will take effect Jan. 1, 2026.
Rep. Jenny Willford, one of the bill sponsors, described during Tuesday’s hearing the toll that multiple waitlist fees take on families. She said a friend shared that in her search for child care, she’d joined 16 waitlists, with most costing $100 to $200 each.
“The way that we are nickel and diming families to simply sit and wait and hope that they get a spot is not OK,” she said. “This is going to save families money, and at a time when it is so expensive to raise kids, every dollar counts.”
Besides the refund provision, the current version of the bill requires child care programs to disclose their tuition and fees when a prospective family requests pricing information, joins the waitlist, enrolls in the program, or when the provider changes the fee schedule. It doesn’t require that tuition and fees be posted publicly.
Changes to the bill came earlier in the legislative process after a number of child care providers pushed back against the original provisions, particularly the $25 waitlist fee cap. Several said their waitlist fees cover a host of expenses, such as marketing costs, technology fees, and staff time used to give tours and call families. Some said they would lose money if the fees were capped.
But shifting from a fee cap to partial refunds for families didn’t satisfy everyone. Some providers said giving refunds still takes administrative time, especially for small child care businesses.
Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues. Contact Ann at [email protected].
