Hillary Clinton Campaign Press Release - The Cost of Raising a Child in America Has Skyrocketed. Here's How We Can Make It More Affordable

Hillary Clinton is the only candidate with a plan to take on the crisis in child care costs.

Quality child care during early childhood is one of the most important investments a parent can make in their child's future, but the cost of child care in America has been rising for decades.

Too many parents are forced to make an impossible choice between paying for child care or paying for other vital family expenses.

Between 2000 and 2012, child care costs rose by nearly 25 percent—while wages have remained stagnant.

In 27 states and the District of Columbia, the annual cost of infant child care is higher than a year's in-state college tuition and fees at a public university.

How big of an expense is child care for families?

Rapidly rising child care costs and stagnant wages mean that those costs are straining family budgets. According to the Center for American Progress, the average American family with children under five spends roughly 9 percent of their monthly income on child care. But many working families are paying much more.This issue affects millions of families.

And while child care costs continue to rise, more and more families rely on care. In more than 60 percent of households with children under six, all parents (single or married) are working.

And for the 4.8 million parents who are also students, they face high child care costs on top of rising tuition costs.

Hillary will fight to make child care affordable for families—not only because it's the right thing to do, but also because it's a smart thing to do. She will:

• Increase federal funding to bring down the cost of child care for low-income families.
• Provide tax relief to help lower costs for working families.
• Double funding for the Early Head Start?Child Care partnership program.

Together, we can address the crisis in child care costs to make it easier for families to get ahead and stay ahead.