Rex says
Money math without the spreadsheet headache. Plug in your numbers and I'll show you exactly where the dollars land.
Try a scenario
Click to load — tweak from there.Inputs
Result
Cost per enrolled child
$286
Enrollments produced per month
6.3
Gross tuition per enrollment
$32,500
Contribution margin per enrollment
$9,750
Margin-to-acquisition-cost ratio
34.1
Months to pay back acquisition cost
0.8
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How to use this
- 1Enter monthly marketing spend.
- 2Enter inquiries per month.
- 3Enter inquiry-to-tour rate.
- 4Enter tour-to-enrollment rate.
- 5Enter monthly tuition per child.
- 6Enter average months a family stays.
- 7Enter contribution margin on tuition.
- 8Read your cost per enrolled child on the right — it updates as you type.
- 9Hit Share to keep the scenario or send it to someone.
About this calculator
Filling seats is the whole game in childcare, because fixed costs barely move between eighty and one hundred percent enrollment while revenue moves a lot. This calculator turns your marketing spend into two numbers that matter: cost per enrolled child, and the ratio of that cost to the lifetime value of the enrollment. Lifetime value in childcare is unusually high and unusually easy to compute, because tuition is predictable and average tenure is measured in years, not months. A family that enrolls an infant at twelve hundred a month and stays three years is worth more than forty thousand dollars in gross revenue, so a four hundred dollar acquisition cost is trivially justified. Most operators badly underspend on marketing because they compare the cost to one month of tuition instead of the full enrollment. The calculator walks the funnel from spend to inquiries to tours to enrollments, so you can also see which stage is broken. If inquiries are plentiful and tours are not converting, the problem is your tour experience or your waitlist responsiveness, not your ad budget. If inquiries are scarce, spend more or fix your local search presence, since most childcare searches are hyperlocal and map-pack driven.
Worked example
Using the values the calculator loads with:
Inputs
- Monthly marketing spend: 1800
- Inquiries per month: 40
- Inquiry-to-tour rate: 45
- Tour-to-enrollment rate: 35
- Monthly tuition per child: 1250
- Average months a family stays: 26
- Contribution margin on tuition: 30
Results
- Cost per enrolled child: $286
- Enrollments produced per month: 6.3
- Gross tuition per enrollment: $32,500
- Contribution margin per enrollment: $9,750
- Margin-to-acquisition-cost ratio: 34.1
- Months to pay back acquisition cost: 0.8
What each field means
Inputs
- Monthly marketing spend
- The monthly marketing spend used in the calculation. Starts at 1800 so you have a working example on load.
- Inquiries per month
- The inquiries per month used in the calculation. Starts at 40 so you have a working example on load.
- Inquiry-to-tour rate
- The inquiry-to-tour rate used in the calculation. Starts at 45 so you have a working example on load. Accepted range: 0–100.
- Tour-to-enrollment rate
- The tour-to-enrollment rate used in the calculation. Starts at 35 so you have a working example on load. Accepted range: 0–100.
- Monthly tuition per child
- The monthly tuition per child used in the calculation. Starts at 1250 so you have a working example on load.
- Average months a family stays
- The average months a family stays used in the calculation. Starts at 26 so you have a working example on load.
- Contribution margin on tuition
- The contribution margin on tuition used in the calculation. Starts at 30 so you have a working example on load. Accepted range: 0–90.
Results
- Cost per enrolled child
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars and shown as the headline result. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Enrollments produced per month
- Returned as a decimal number. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Gross tuition per enrollment
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Contribution margin per enrollment
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Margin-to-acquisition-cost ratio
- Returned as a decimal number. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Months to pay back acquisition cost
- Returned as a decimal number. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
FAQ
What is a reasonable cost per enrollment?
Most centers land between $150 and $600 depending on market density and whether they rely on paid search. Because contribution margin per enrollment usually runs well over $8,000, almost any figure under $1,000 is defensible. The mistake is capping spend at a low number while classrooms sit half full.
Why use contribution margin instead of gross tuition?
Adding one child to an existing classroom that is under ratio capacity adds almost no staffing cost, so the margin on that seat is high. Adding a child that forces a new teacher is a different calculation. Use the higher margin when you are filling existing seats and a lower one when the seat triggers a hire.
My inquiries are fine but tours do not convert. What now?
Look at response time and tour quality. Families typically contact three to five centers in the same week and often enroll with whoever answers first and offers a specific start date. Same-day callbacks, a named point of contact, and a firm offer at the end of the tour usually move tour-to-enroll conversion by ten points or more.
Is paid advertising even necessary?
Many centers fill from word of mouth and a strong local map listing alone. Paid spend earns its keep when you are opening a new room, entering a new area, or filling the harder-to-sell age groups. Track the funnel by source, because the channel that produces the most inquiries is often not the one that produces the most enrollments.
How should waitlists factor into this?
A waitlist lowers your effective acquisition cost to nearly zero for the seats it fills, but only if you maintain it. Stale waitlists convert poorly because families place a child at whichever center offers a spot first. Contact waitlisted families quarterly so the list stays real rather than a list of people who enrolled elsewhere a year ago.
Accuracy and limitations
- Results are estimates before tax, fees, and inflation unless an input explicitly covers them.
- Rates are treated as fixed for the whole period — variable-rate products will drift from this projection.
- This is educational maths, not financial advice. Check anything contractual with the lender or your accountant.
Related tools
Classroom Enrollment Breakeven Calculator
Find the minimum enrolled children a classroom needs to cover its costs.
Enrollment Waitlist Conversion Value Calculator
Estimate the tuition revenue sitting in your childcare or school waitlist.
Classroom Utilization Rate Calculator
Measure how much of your licensed capacity is actually generating revenue.
Cite this calculator
Writing about this topic? Grab a citation — every link helps keep these tools free.
RevenueLab. (2026). Preschool Marketing Cost Per Enrollment Calculator. Retrieved from https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/preschool-marketing-cost-per-enrollment
<p>Source: <a href="https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/preschool-marketing-cost-per-enrollment" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Preschool Marketing Cost Per Enrollment Calculator — RevenueLab</a> (2026).</p>
Source: [Preschool Marketing Cost Per Enrollment Calculator — RevenueLab](https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/preschool-marketing-cost-per-enrollment) (2026).