We registered our son at a pre-school in Feb. of this year.

We registered our son at a pre-school in Feb. of this year. The school will start from Sep. 1. We signed the contract with the school when we registered. The contract stated that if we withdraw from the program after June 1st before Sep. 1st, we need to pay $75 withdraw fee and a month tuition fee which is $920 as penalty (plus $70 registration fee, $130 campus fee and $175 instructional resources fee all non-refundable). We signed the contract anyways because we were told that they had a 2-3 years waiting list and it was hard to get a spot. In the middle of July, we got a spot from a different daycare (usually daycares give a month notice to the parents if they have a spot) and decided to withdraw from this pre-school. When I called them requesting withdrawing, they said that they will charge us the withdraw fee and one month tuition fee. The school administrator I talked to saying that it was summer time and everybody was on vacation, they were not able to find another kid to fill in this spot. The next day, I talked to another admin in the school that we can find a kid to fill this spot so that our withdrawing wont’ cause any loss for them, but the admin said that if we do this, it is not fair for the kids on the waiting list. Based on what they said, they will have a kid to fill this spot anyways because they have a long waiting list. The thing that is not ethically correct is that my son will not go their pre-school for even one day, we still have to pay about $1400 to them ($75 withdraw fee+$920 tuition fee+$75 registration fee + $130 campus fee + $175 instructional materials). Questions are: Should we pay the penalty? If we don’t pay, what would be the worse consequence? Thank you very much. Judy