<prompt> Human: There is a huge divide in day care providers in our area. For example, a full-time 5 day program that includes food being 250 a week compared to a part-time 3 day program that includes food for 275 a week. My SO and I have toured so many and found that the increased cost centers do have newer facilities and definitely draw more BMWs and Audis in the parent parking lot. They also have quinoa on the menu where the cheaper places are more mac n cheese. However, the state ratios of staff to kid is 1:7 across the board, both types adhere to the same nutrition standards, and all have sick, sticky kids abundant. The quality of teachers are also similar - most requiring a 2 year degree for staff or certain years of experience. The curriculums differ in style and content, but are all state certified. My question is this - how do you determine the cost-value of day care? I want my child to have the best education possible, but LO is only 2 years old. How much different can the education be at that age? Is it silly to pay extra for less days of care because of a newer facility, or that they use an app to check in with parents? I like the idea of the less expensive places because they offer more days of care for less, and that they seem a little more ethnically and socio-economically diverse, exposing my child to a variety of types of people early. However, I worry that cheaping out here could cost me non-monetarily in the long run by shorting out my kid on experiencing the more expensive special music or sports programs that some upscale places offer. TL;DR - how did you determine costvalue for daycare? Its so hard to put a monetary number on your kids care and education, but it is also hard to make sense of spending unnecessary money that could be used for enrichment activities on the weekends when the level of care is essentially the same...  <response>: This is far more of a rparenting question. 