According to a recent study, the annual cost of child care exceeds the annual tuition at a public university in almost every community in the United States. The cost of child care is especially burdensome for young middle-income families who do not enjoy tax credits available to the upper-income bracket and earn too much to qualify for state subsidies. Some argue that the United States should adopt a publicly funded system for early childhood care or universal preschool for young children, while others favor tax cuts to allow parents to decide how to spend their money.
See "More expensive than college", Neal Learner, The Christian Science Monitor, July 15, 2001