SBA 504 Child Care Center Feasibility Study in Indiana

What SBA's own loan files show about SBA 504 lending to child care center projects in Indiana, and what a feasibility study for an SBA 504 loan there has to test.

What Indiana records for SBA 504 child care center lending

Across FY2017 and FY2026, SBA backed 28 loans in the 504 program to child care center projects in Indiana, worth $33.4 million in gross dollars. Standing: 20 for the Indiana SBA 504 child care center approvals, and 6 of 39 across Indiana's own classes. Centre size: $1.0 million. Compared with child care center (SBA 504) loans nationwide, Indiana runs at 1.32x on that median, a heavier ticket size. From $591,250 up to $1.5 million sits half of the approvals across Indiana. Franchised applicants account for 28.6% of the 28 loans. Indiana child care center lending blends into its parents across 28 loans: nothing in Indiana clears the distinctness margin, so the lender, county and timing sections below carry what sets Indiana apart.

Who lends, where, and when for Indiana child care center projects

This certified development companies holding the most Indiana child care center loans are Indiana Statewide Certified Development Corporation with 17 loans worth $22.7 million. The Indiana child care center ranking tracks whoever holds each Indiana loan; the originator of those 17 loans can differ. By county, Hamilton with 8, Marion with 4, Lake with 3 and Allen with 2 lead the child care center approvals in Indiana. By year, Indiana child care center approvals peaked at 7 loans, worth $11.1 million, in FY2025, alongside FY2026 at 5 loans and $8.6 million; the series opened alongside 0 loans in FY2017.

Indiana: cancellations, charge-offs and one child care center coding limit

We hold back the Indiana child care center cancellation rate, because few Indiana loans sit in the cohort; read this Indiana gap as withheld, not as zero child care center cancellations. Losses get no rate for Indiana child care center: the FY2017 to FY2021 disbursed Indiana cohort holds too few loans, so the Indiana figure stays also withheld plus never means zero for child care center. Readers should take these Indiana rates as floors, not as final results. One coding limit applies Indiana child care center figures: in-home providers can't be separated from center-based care because the code also includes in-home child care, so Indiana's total can include each.

Testing an Indiana child care center loan application

With 504, an Indiana child care center project is financed in parts: a certified development company supplies one Indiana piece, a separate child care center lender supplies another, and the Indiana borrower supplies the rest; the child care center study should show how the combined Indiana structure is covered. Enrolment for an Indiana child care center depends on how many of children of care age and employed households nearby, beside existing capacity. Licensing standards on room ratios, playgrounds and security systems set child care center budgets in Indiana. Debt service coverage for Indiana child care center must be shown at the $1.0 million median and also near $1.5 million, the top end of the Indiana middle half, alongside a slower child care center scenario beside each. Appraisal of child care center real estate across Indiana rests on mature fill and the rent the net income carries. Indiana Statewide Certified Development Corporation's 17 loans show which Indiana child care center projects that lender has funded, yet say nothing about what Indiana Statewide Certified Development Corporation will ask of an Indiana child care center borrower; that remains for the lender to say.

Loan Analytics reads the 28 Indiana approvals as SBA's Indiana records, not a forecast for a given project; the study Daniel Smith, MAI, signs for a child care center tests Indiana conditions directly, and Indiana approvals assure nothing.

SBA 504 child care center loans in Indiana

Loans approved, FY2017 to FY202628
Gross dollars approved$33.4 million
Median loan$1.0 million
Middle half of loans, from$591,250
Middle half of loans, to$1.5 million
Franchise share of loans28.6%
Rank among states for SBA 504 child care center loans, by number of loans20
Rank of child care center among classes in Indiana6 of 39
Median loan against the national SBA 504 median for the class1.32x

Cancellation and charge-off

Cancelled after approval, FY2017 to FY2024 approvals (a floor) not reported: fewer than 30 loans in the cohort
Charged off to date, FY2017 to FY2021 disbursed loans (a floor) not reported: fewer than 30 loans in the cohort

Both rates are floors. SBA withholds the status of open loans, so a loan counts as charged off only once SBA reports it; a rate needs at least 30 loans in its cohort and is otherwise not reported.

SBA 504 child care center loans approved in Indiana, by fiscal year

02468FY2017FY2018FY2019FY2020FY2021FY2022FY2023FY2024FY2025FY2026Loans, FY2017: 0Loans, FY2018: 1Loans, FY2019: 1Loans, FY2020: 3Loans, FY2021: 4Loans, FY2022: 1Loans, FY2023: 4Loans, FY2024: 2Loans, FY2025: 7Loans, FY2026: 5
Fiscal yearLoansDollars
FY20170$0
FY20181$490,000
FY20191$1.4 million
FY20203$2.7 million
FY20214$3.6 million
FY20221$106,000
FY20234$3.8 million
FY20242$1.5 million
FY20257$11.1 million
FY20265$8.6 million

Most active SBA lenders

SBA 504: lenders by loans approved (the current holder of each loan, as SBA reports it)
LenderLoansDollars
Indiana Statewide Certified Development Corporation17$22.7 million

Where the loans are, by county

CountyLoans
HAMILTON8
MARION4
LAKE3
ALLEN2
BOONE2
HOWARD2
PORTER2
DELAWARE1
JENNINGS1
KOSCIUSKO1

Family child care homes cannot be separated from centers. Shared code: 624410 also holds in-home child care.

Source: U.S. Small Business Administration, 7(a) and 504 loan-level FOIA files (data.sba.gov), as of 2026-09-30; Loan Analytics loan-outcome cell SAP-IN-C36-504.

Loan Analytics prepares the feasibility study a lender reads before it commits: for a child care center project in Indiana, financed under SBA 7(a), SBA 504, USDA Business and Industry or a conventional bank loan. Tell us the project and the lender's deadline, and we reply with scope, timeline and fee.

Request Scope & Timeline

Start with the data.

Contact Us