Families can opt to participate in the school program alone, or add before-care (beginning at 7 a.m.) and/or after care (ending at 5:30 p.m.) for an additional cost. Child care is also available on some of the dates that school isn’t in session for an additional cost.
TUITION
Each family will be provided with a tuition estimate detailing their academic tuition charges for the school year.
Academic tuition for the school year is divided into 20 biweekly payments, beginning in August and ending in May. Academic tuition will not be adjusted for absences.
Please talk with Myra (myra.fawbush@carle.com) or Danielle (danielle.chalfant@carle.com) if you have questions about your child’s tuition rates.
CHILD CARE
Because family need for child care often varies throughout the year, families will be required to reserve needed care by the first of the month prior. For example, any care needed during the month of September must be reserved by August 1.
Child-care costs will be divided across that month’s payments. Families that use child-care services will make payments August through June. Child-care charges will not be adjusted for absences.
DISCOUNTS
Discounts are available for siblings, as well as children/grandchildren of Carle employees. This 10% discount will be applied to tuition charges, in addition to child-care costs. In the event a family qualifies for both discounts, please note that the discounts are applied sequentially, rather than concurrently. For example, given a tuition charge of $40, the first discount would forgive $4 ($40- $4=$36) and the second discount would forgive ten percent of the remaining tuition ($36–$3.60=$32.40). So effectively, the combined limit of the discount is about 19%.
PAYMENT OPTIONS
Tuition bills can be paid through Tuition Express for any Carle Auditory Oral School family. Contact Myra (myra.fawbush@carle.com) for assistance signing up for this convenient payment option. For some families, Tuition Express isn’t a reasonable option. If this is the case for your family, please complete the Exception Request Form attached to the Tuition Policy. Once your request for exception has been approved, payment will be required by the start of each month, beginning in August and continuing through May for academic tuition; August - June for child-care charges; and July for summer camp charges.
LATE PAYMENTS
In an effort to keep the books up to date and be accountable to the many charitable donors that keep our school running, tuition payments will be expected by the date due. Per the tuition policy, children will be temporarily suspended if the account falls more than two weeks past due. See the tuition policy for more information.
Our program serves two distinct populations of children: children who are deaf and hard of hearing and children with typical hearing.
Our founding mission is to work with families to support children who are DHH in using hearing technology to learn spoken language, academic readiness and socialization skills through listening so that they can interact independently and contribute to their families and communities. The program was designed with these specific goals in mind and includes a variety of support services and components to fulfill that mission. Deaf educators, speech language pathologists, enrichment teachers, occupational and physical therapists, social workers, audiologists and physicians work together to provide this support for a small group of children who are DHH. Another part of our mission is to ensure that each child who is deaf and hard of hearing has the opportunity to engage in the program, regardless of the family’s financial status.
One of the components of our program that helps children who are deaf and hard of hearing to achieve these outcomes is being surrounded by students with typical hearing who are using developmentally appropriate speech, language and social interaction skills, creating a language rich environment. This environment was created to help foster communication, interaction and play skills in our children who are DHH. Early on in the process, we learned that the small class sizes, hands-on learning opportunities and passionate dedicated staff created an extremely positive learning environment for children with typical hearing as well. In our small classrooms, children with typical hearing have the opportunity to be heard, to include everyone in their play, to notice the strengths and accomplishments of children who learn differently, and to be exposed to experiences and concepts that set the stage for a lifelong love of learning. As a result, we’re blessed to have strong network of families of children with typical hearing that choose to partner with us in their child’s education each year. Tuition costs for children with typical hearing are comparable to other private, specialized early childhood programs in the region. Child Care Resource Service can help to reduce the cost of attendance for families that qualify for the state program. Additionally, CAOS tuition and child care fees are eligible for reimbursement through Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account programs.
Children who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing
Costs for children who are deaf and hard of hearing are determined by looking at the intensity of recommended services, as well as the family size and family income information. Additionally, we know that there are many extra medical, travel, insurance and medication costs associated with providing the necessary services and supports for children who are deaf and hard of hearing. Because of this, cost of attendance ranges from about $20 or less every two weeks to several hundred dollars every two weeks depending upon the family’s ability to make payments. Our mission is to work with families to support their children who are deaf and hard of hearing to develop spoken language through listening and we endeavor to ensure that family finances do not play a significant role in that decision.
We ask that families complete the Funding Source Identification and Request form, submit a copy of their most recent tax return and schedule a time to talk with the program director so that an individualized cost estimate for attendance can be created.
Funding Source Identification and Request form
Children with Typical Hearing
Carle Auditory Oral School’s academic program runs for 11 months per year and includes 200 school days. Annual tuition for this 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. program is $10,190 per year and is payable in 20 bi-weekly installments of $509.50 between the beginning of August and the end of May. Tuition doesn’t include child-care costs if applicable.
Child Care
Families have a variety of options for child care at CAOS. Our child care programs are led by our Enrichment Teachers, serve all ages of students and include a variety of learning and play activities. Prior to the start of each month, families receive a child care reservation form for the following month. Families have two weeks to return the form reserving needed care for the following month. Any care not reserved by this deadline is pending availability and is billed at the regular rate, plus an additional $1 per child care need.
Child Care Reservation Sheet Sample
COSTS FOR CHILD CARE SERVICES
Before Care
Available between 7 and 9 a.m. each full day of school.
$7.51 per day
$8.51 per day for care requested after the first day of the previous month.
After Care
Available between 3 and 5:30 p.m. each full day of school.
$11.13 per day
$12.13 per day for care requested after the first day of the previous month.
Choose Your Own Hours Care
Choose Your Own Hours care (CYOH) was added a couple of years ago to support families who have consistent, predictable schedules who need a short period of care before and after school but aren’t planning to make use of the full before or after care time slot. For example, if a family needed to drop their child off 45 minutes before school starts, and pick them up 1 hour after dismissal, they could reserve 2 hours of choose your own hours care for $10.10, rather than paying for full before care and full after care for $18.64. If they can commit to these drop-off and pick-up times, using CYOH care can save a family a significant amount. However, it should be noted that early drop-off and/or late pick-up would result in a full drop-in charge for before care and/or after care.
$5.05 per hour
$6.05 per hour for drop-in
Child Care when School isn’t in Session and Summer Camp
Please see the school calendar for the dates that childcare/summer camp care are available when school is not in session. These services are available from 7 a.m. through 5:30 p.m.
$55.16 per day
$55.16 per day for drop-in
Please contact us with any questions you may have about child care scheduling and costs.