{"id":161558,"date":"2026-03-12T17:30:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T17:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/161558\/"},"modified":"2026-03-12T17:30:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T17:30:07","slug":"private-nyc-preschool-to-up-tuition-by-20-blames-mamdanis-free-pre-k-expansion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/161558\/","title":{"rendered":"Private NYC preschool to up tuition by 20%, blames Mamdani’s free pre-K expansion"},"content":{"rendered":"

A private Manhattan day care is set to hike prices by up to 20% \u2014 and blames the tuition spike in part on the city\u2019s \u201cdestabilizing\u201d universal preschool expansion<\/a>, The Post has learned.<\/p>\n

Manhattan Schoolhouse, an Upper East Side chain of daycare centers serving kids ages 3 months to 5 years old, shocked families in a January email update asking for nearly $4,000 per month in tuition costs for the 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. program, a 20% increase from the previous year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis increase represents the equivalent of a $16,000 pre-tax raise for a working parent\u2014an impossible amount for most families to absorb in a single year,\u201d fumed one dad, who declined to provide his name due to fears of retaliation.<\/p>\n

Manhattan Schoolhouse, an Upper East Side chain of daycare centers serving kids ages 3 months to 5 years old, shocked families in a January email update asking for 20% more in tuition starting this September. Google Maps<\/p>\n

The tuition increase was announced just weeks before the unveiling of Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s \u201c2-K for All\u201d plan<\/a>, as the administration moves forward on Hizzoner\u2019s campaign promise to provide free child care for kids ages 6 weeks to 5 years.<\/p>\n

Critics, including teachers, have warned that the city<\/a> is growing its universal childcare programs without addressing pay inequities between educators at public and private schools \u2014 like Manhattan Schoolhouse \u2014 contracted to run pre-K and 3-K through the city Department of Education.<\/p>\n

The city\u2019s expansion of child care seats \u2014 and its recruitment of educators for higher-paying gigs \u2014 is \u201cdestabilizing\u201d to her small business, said Manhattan Schoolhouse co-founder and CEO Kamila Faruki.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe teachers who are working for DOE, their salaries are much higher, so we are competing with them,\u201d she told The Post. \u201cBecause of the way it\u2019s structured, we lose a lot of good teachers \u2026 there\u2019s so many programs that closed because they couldn\u2019t keep up with this.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat it does [mean] is we will have to increase the salaries of our teachers,\u201d she added, and \u201cthe cost has to go somewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

Similar concerns have been raised by early childhood providers across the city \u2014 both private and public \u2014 according to City Council Member Jennifer Guti\u00e9rrez, chair of the subcommittee on early childhood education.<\/p>\n

Providers \u201crepeatedly raised concerns about the different financial pressure they are under as the system expands\u201d during a recent subcommittee hearing, she told The Post.<\/p>\n

The tuition increase was announced just weeks before the announcement of Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s 2-K for All plan. Andrew Schwartz \/ SplashNews.com<\/p>\n

\u201cOur committee will continue elevating these concerns, and pressing the administration to respond to providers who are feeling this pressure and looking for real solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0competitive Upper East Side daycare lauded for its \u201caffordable\u201d pricing is slated to hike its tuition for some parents by 20% this upcoming school year \u2013 with its co-founder partially blaming the cost jump on competition with the city\u2019s ambitious universal preschool expansion, The Post has learned.<\/p>\n

Faruki said her business is also facing skyrocketing operating costs, as well as doubling liability insurance and even a 20% food price hike in the last year.<\/p>\n

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\u201cAll these costs were going up double-digits, and we were really trying to keep as minimal a cost increase as possible,\u201d Faruki said, claiming Manhattan Schoolhouse has priced itself 30\u201335% below competitors.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year is where we said \u2018this has become unsustainable,’\u201d she sighed, \u201cand we have to really change.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nearly 100 families signed a petition against the price increase and called for a town hall to discuss it with Manhattan Schoolhouse leadership, according to documents reviewed by The Post \u2014 but school officials instead sent a Feb. 13 \u201cfinalized\u201d rate, lowering the price tag for some by a measly $100.<\/p>\n

Google Maps<\/p>\n

The \u201cdevastating\u201d 11th hour move also made it far too late for families to even consider another child care option in a neighborhood filled with lengthy, competitive waitlists, parents said.<\/p>\n

\u201cDay care is not a luxury, this is not like renting a yacht,\u201d one Manhattan Schoolhouse mom said. \u201cIt\u2019s the cheapest option because we can\u2019t afford a nanny \u2026 and there\u2019s only one other day care in this specific part of the Upper East Side.<\/p>\n

\u201cBottom line, they\u2019re f\u2014ing over the Upper East Side,\u201d she said, \u201cbecause we don\u2019t have a choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c[To spend] $30,000 to 40,000 a year, that\u2019s devastating to families,\u201d another mom said. \u201cNot only is there no justification for that, but they\u2019re not making anything better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Danielle Avissar, an Upper East Side mom with two children in Manhattan Schoolhouse\u2019s universal child care program under the DOE said she pays over $30,000 a year on after-school care alone \u2014 and is expected to pay $300 more starting next school year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reality is that, if you\u2019re a working parent and you have a career, you\u2019re going to have to pay [more], or you\u2019re going to have to find a caretaker,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really unfortunate, but I hope that New York is not going to end up just being a place for wealthy, rich people \u2026 but also parents and families who are fighting to stay every single day.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A private Manhattan day care is set to hike prices by up to 20% \u2014 and blames the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":161559,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[68,75,57,9,197,56,63,65,64,51259,10780,466,58],"class_list":["post-161558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-exclusive","tag-manhattan","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city-life","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-preschools","tag-school","tag-upper-east-side","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161558"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161558\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}