Provider Cost of Quality Calculator
The Provider Cost of Quality Calculator (PCQC) helps you estimate the annual costs and revenue of operating a center or home-based child care program at different quality levels. This information can help owners and operators better understand the factors that influence costs and revenue and help the policy community design financial supports. Intended audiences include the following:
- State and territory Child Care and Development Fund Administrators and staff
- Policymakers
- Child care resource and referral agency staff
- Child care organizations and networks
- Owners and operators of child care centers and family child care homes
The following resources can help you use PCQC. They offer an overview of PCQC’s capabilities and include instructions to help you enter data.
Start Using the PCQC
*New!* Check out the updated PCQC! it features a streamlined design and a cost-per-child output, among other new features.
You can still access the legacy PCQC through this login page until December 30. Learn how to export and save your legacy PCQC scenarios before then by using this tipsheet.
Find Additional Information
*New!* User Guide for the Provider Cost of Quality Calculator explains how to use the updated PCQC.
- User Guide for the Provider Cost of Quality Calculator (February 2022)
- This guide will tell you how to use the legacy PCQC—from the basics to calculations.
- Using the PCQC to Estimate the Cost of Quality (July 2022)
- Lead Agencies can use various strategies to support the child care system—this guide shows you how to use PCQC to understand these strategies’ fiscal impact.
- The New Normal: What Is the Impact on Provider Costs? (December 2020)
- This one-pager explains how PCQC can help states, territories, and Tribes understand the costs of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) mitigation practices in early care and education settings—this resource can also inform design of financial support and incentive packages.
- Increasing Quality in Early Care and Education Programs: Effects on Expenses and Revenues (November 2015)
- The brief explains the effects of the following variables on provider financial health and viability—increased levels of quality, ratios and group sizes, and compensation increases.
- Understanding the Potential of the Provider Cost of Quality Calculator (March 2015)
- This presentation was part of the national webinar conducted in March 2015—it covers a brief history, capabilities, and a state example.
- Early Care and Education Program Characteristics: Effects on Expenses and Revenues (November 2014)
- This brief explains how the following variables affect provider financial health and viability—participation in the Child and Adult Care Food Program, program size and ages of children accepted into care, enrollment efficiency, and bad debt or uncollected revenues.