Average child-care costs exceed in-state college tuitions nationwide

The Washington Post covered the New America Care Report:

If paying for child care has come to feel for many American families like putting a child through college, there’s a reason for that.
The average annual cost of full-time, center-based child care in the United States now exceeds the average annual cost of in-state tuition, according to a “Care Index” released Tuesday by New America, a think tank in Washington, D.C. That amount, of $9,589 per child, represents nearly a fifth of annual median household income and 85 percent of the yearly median cost of rent.
Despite the high costs, day-care workers are paid poverty wages, turnover is high, and only a small percentage of centers are nationally accredited, a marker of quality.
“The short version,” the report said, “is that the early care and learning system isn’t working. For anyone.”