NH childcare costs to be evaluated as Market Rate Survey opens to providers

This week, two surveys that will help assess what New Hampshire parents pay for children to attend early care and education programs and what those programs spend providing care will open. 

The Market Rate Survey and the Narrow Cost Analysis “help illustrate what it really takes to provide childcare in New Hampshire,” according to the UNH Carsey School of Public Policy. The Market Rate Survey analyzes what providers charge families for care, and the Narrow Cost Analysis looks at what providers spend on things like materials, meals, rent, utilities and more to provide childcare. 

The surveys are administered every three years as the state prepares to submit a new Child Care and Development Fund plan to the federal government on how it will spend childcare subsidies. The results help set rates for the New Hampshire Child Care Scholarship Program, develop the next subsidy plan, and inform state and advocacy planning efforts on what is needed to have a successful childcare system. 

The surveys were last administered in spring 2024 through a Colorado-based consulting firm. There was a 53.2% response rate from 393 childcare providers, a rate less than what the federal government requires for an approved survey. New Hampshire had to be issued a waiver to allow the results to be used in subsidy and scholarship cost planning. 

This year, the state Department of Health and Human Services partnered with the Carsey School, which runs the New Hampshire Early Care and Education Research Consortium, to develop the survey and improve the response rate. 

Officials from the Bureau of Child Development and Head Start Collaboration and the Carsey School said the surveys were designed to create a “user-friendly” experience for childcare providers, allowing them to complete both surveys at once through their pre-existing profiles on the N.H. Connections Information System. Responses will be kept confidential and used only for their intended purpose. 

Despite the Executive Council withholding approval of the contract for months due to cost issues, the survey will open on schedule Oct. 1. It closes to providers on Nov. 15, with a report on the findings expected next spring.