Elmgate Lending in Opelika, Alabama helps Lee County, AL child care centers describe an equipment purchase, an enrollment gap or an expansion and passes the request to funding partners who decide on approval and terms.
At a glance
- Child day care services
Child day care services in Lee County, AL: 31 employers, 689 paid employees (CBP 2023)
- Child care payroll
Child day care payroll in Lee County, AL: $16.4 million (CBP 2023)
- Centers in ZIP 36801
Child day care employers with a ZIP 36801 address: 8 (ZBP 2023)
- Child care without employees
Child care businesses without paid employees in Lee County, AL: 249 (Nonemployer Statistics 2024)
Daycare Center Commercial Loans: What Opelika, AL Child Care Centers Should Know
A commercial loan for a daycare center is a business loan like any other, but partners read a center's records with its staffing in mind. Payroll is a central cost for a center, and staff-to-child ratios set how many staff a center needs for its enrollment. A request shows enrollment by month, tuition collected, and payroll.
County Business Patterns counted 31 child day care employers in Lee County, AL for 2023, with 689 paid employees and $16.4 million in payroll. Only three of the 31 had fewer than five employees, 9.7%, against 49.7% for all employers in the county (our comparison of the two shares).
Daycare Business Loans When an Opelika, AL Child Care Center Needs Classroom Furniture
Classroom furniture, cots, cribs, shelving and learning materials are equipment purchases, and a center opening a new room or replacing worn furniture can finance them together. Partners read the quote and the enrollment the new room is meant to hold.
Furniture for infant and toddler rooms is a separate line from furniture for older children: cribs, changing stations and low shelving cost differently and wear on their own schedule. A center can list each room's needs separately in the quote, so a partner sees what each room costs to equip and how many children it is set up for.
Daycare Loans: How a Lee County, AL Child Care Center Puts It to Work on Payroll
Payroll at a child care center cannot slip: ratios require staff on the floor whether or not tuition has come in. A center waiting on subsidy payments, or filling a new room, can carry payroll with a credit line or a working capital loan, paid down as tuition arrives.
- Enrollment by month for the past year.
- Tuition and subsidy deposits on the bank statements.
- Payroll reports.
- The latest tax return.
Do Daycare Centers Get Funding? Start With Enrollment Gaps
Yes, daycare centers get funding: equipment loans for vans and furniture, working capital for payroll gaps, term loans for expansions and purchases. Enrollment gaps, when a new room or a new center is not yet full, are one place where funding comes in. A center can show its waitlist, its enrollment history and the date it expects the new space to fill.
Tuition timing matters as much as enrollment. A center that bills weekly and one that bills monthly see very different gaps between payroll and deposits, and a center that takes subsidy payments may wait on them after the care is given. Setting out the billing cycle, the subsidy payment schedule and the payroll dates side by side shows a partner how large the gap runs and how often it recurs.
How Do Daycare Centers Get Federal Funding? Start With a Second Center
Federal child care money can reach centers through programs run by state agencies, such as payments for eligible families' care. Those programs set their own rules for which centers take part, and the state agency that runs them is the place to ask. That money is income to the center, not financing, but it shows up in the bank statements a partner reads.
A second center is a larger project: a lease or purchase, a build-out, licensing, furniture, vans and staff, all before the first family enrolls. Illustration only, invented figures: a $52,000 passenger van for the new center, financed at an annual rate of 9% over 60 months, would cost about $1,079 a month (our arithmetic).
Loans for Daycare Centers: Security Cameras and Licensing Upgrades
Security cameras, door access systems and other safety equipment can be financed as equipment. Licensing upgrades, changes a center makes to meet state requirements, can include equipment, building work or both, and the work on the building fits a term loan.
Nonemployer Statistics counted 249 child day care businesses without paid employees in Lee County, AL for 2024, a separate count from the 31 employer centers.
Medical practice loans and dental office loans cover two other care trades, and equipment financing, working capital loans, the Opelika, AL business page and the other industry pages add more.
By Elmgate Lending · Updated