Private School Possible with Household Income <$80K

[Anonymous]

Um, to the 2002 poster, I dont think you meant to come off so obnoxious but come on. There are plenty of men not making $80K a year, and it isn't always possible to "just make more." This board is so snooty. Some blue collar workers don't make that. My DH, who's mid-career, certainly doesn't. Maybe he doesn't have a college degree. You never know.....Sheesh

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is the likelihood of receiving financial aid (and enough of it) at DC private high schools to make attending possible?

We are a 2-parent, 1-income family with an elementary age child at home. I know some schools impute a salary for the non-working parent (though I never in my life made as much as some of the annual tuition costs).

Anyone have a story / financial aid award amount to share? Thank you!

So one parent is not working and the expectation is that the other parents paying full freight and making donations on top should subsidize the parent who is not working?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP I’m calling BS on not being able to earn the tuition of private school. Bank of America bank tellers start at $25/hour. That’s $52k per year. If you’re qualified enough to homeschool your kid, you’re qualified enough to be a bank teller. Costco workers make average of $55k.

Totally agree! OP my sister has a child with Down's syndrome and on top of that my sister iS nearly deaf. No one had sympathy for her. She has a job and my niece has a job bagging groceries. I have zero sympathy for you. Get a job.

You sound charming and a horrible aunt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why cannot you just go to public school ????

What ever happened to diversity, inclusion and equity?

DEI doesn't mean every single person who wants to go to private school gets to go to private school for free. Free school is public school. Private schools and their aid budgets are funded by other parents paying full tuition plus contributing to the annual fund. Whether that's right or fair is beside the point. That's the reality.

Diversity and inclusion means you have a huge range of students. Families making under $80K should be far more deserving of a family making $200-300K who claims poverty because of their housing and other lifestyle choices. Its funny how these schools and families preach what they don't practice.

I think it depends. If the 80k family has only 1 income because mom chose to stay at home, while the 200 HHI is a two income family with parents that work long hours or multiple jobs, why is the 80k HHI family more deserving?

Each case is unique and choosing easy and flexible jobs or choosing ti stay at home should be accounted for in the FA equation

At $200K, that family can afford a lot more including child care and help. So, if the SAHM goes out and earns $40k, and 1/3 goes to taxes, and all that good stuff, and earns $25K, then how much of that goes to child care. Often it doesn't pay to work. They earn to much for government help but not enough to pay for child care and housing.

Why is mom only going to make 25k working full time in the DC area? You are better off being a nanny… they easily make 45k+. Or teachers (60k). Or a real estate agent? Do you have a degree OP? You should be able to make more…

Do you understand how taxes work? 40k turns into 25k when the HHI is already 200k.

OP said the HHI was $80k, not $200k, so less tax bite if OP got a job. Also-OP's kid is high school age so no child care needed. Her DH works so presumably no healthcare deductions needed. If I were OP, I'd look for a job at a private school that offers free or greatly reduced tuition for her child. OP has not explained why working is not an option--they could have a valid reason.

You really think her working and bringing home a little will make a difference to a wealthy school. Let’s be real. These schools promote segregation and don’t want low income.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why cannot you just go to public school ????

What ever happened to diversity, inclusion and equity?

DEI doesn't mean every single person who wants to go to private school gets to go to private school for free. Free school is public school. Private schools and their aid budgets are funded by other parents paying full tuition plus contributing to the annual fund. Whether that's right or fair is beside the point. That's the reality.

Diversity and inclusion means you have a huge range of students. Families making under $80K should be far more deserving of a family making $200-300K who claims poverty because of their housing and other lifestyle choices. Its funny how these schools and families preach what they don't practice.

SAHM and homeschooling usually *is* a lifestyle choice.

I would definitely choose to quit my job and stay home if it meant we could get financial aid to send my kids to private for free! Suspect many others would also be interested in that sweet deal.

How would u pay your rent, groceries, and all your other expenses. Nobody is going to purposely not have income just to get free tuition.

I only have to work so that I can send my kids to private school. If we did not have to pay for 3 kids private a school education, my DH’s salary would be more than enough.

Having three kids was a choice you made. And, three kids are expensive. You probably could have stopped at one and then been a SAH and paid for private.

Yes, it was my choice (made before considering private school). That said, we would not be abLe to afford private school tuition for 12 years on my DH’s salary alone. We pay 40k+ per kid. So even with 1 kid I would have to work… just like you OP

I'm another mom who only works to pay private school tuition. I make around $80K and pay $50K for one of kids to attend private high school (We have two kids and my husband's salary covers the other tuition).
My entire years' salary gets signed away to the school. I try not to think about it when my kid is making me crazy. lol.
I could easily stay-at-home if not for this $50K school bill that we choose to pay for our kid.

They live off your income. Your husband has a very large income to support your family and pay for private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP I’m calling BS on not being able to earn the tuition of private school. Bank of America bank tellers start at $25/hour. That’s $52k per year. If you’re qualified enough to homeschool your kid, you’re qualified enough to be a bank teller. Costco workers make average of $55k.

Totally agree! OP my sister has a child with Down's syndrome and on top of that my sister iS nearly deaf. No one had sympathy for her. She has a job and my niece has a job bagging groceries. I have zero sympathy for you. Get a job.

You sound charming and a horrible aunt.

YOP you are a freeloader.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP I’m calling BS on not being able to earn the tuition of private school. Bank of America bank tellers start at $25/hour. That’s $52k per year. If you’re qualified enough to homeschool your kid, you’re qualified enough to be a bank teller. Costco workers make average of $55k.

Totally agree! OP my sister has a child with Down's syndrome and on top of that my sister iS nearly deaf. No one had sympathy for her. She has a job and my niece has a job bagging groceries. I have zero sympathy for you. Get a job.

You sound charming and a horrible aunt.

YOP you are a freeloader.

I have never gotten any help so good try.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Hello, everyone. Thank you for all of your insights and opinions. OP here ...

I can imagine there are several scenarios where households may be 2-parent, 1-income like ours. I see there was some speculation that in all cases this would be a parent "staying-at-home" or just not working (a choice I also made while my kids were little as a low-income earner who found childcare unaffordable and a poorer substitute given our particulars). That's one possibility. But others include: care of a child with illness/special needs, dependent adult, out-of-work parent, sick parent, parent who works outside the home without receiving an income (volunteer/intern), and likely others. In our case, we our longtime, pre-pandemic homeschoolers ... so I've been working years without getting paid

As I mentioned previously, I've never made an income (in my previous non-profit / education roles) as much as many of these private high school tuitions. So, I was mainly wondering how others made it work. If it's realistic even with aid. What the imputed wage of a non-working parent might be. Thanks to all of you who provided some useful insider knowledge there.

Others suggested Catholic schools as a less-expensive alternative. We are considering those as well, though we are not Catholic. From reading other threads, it seems that could limit admission / aid in some cases.

Best wishes to everyone searching out the right path for their kiddos next year! If anyone has more helpful information / experiences to offer, we would love to benefit from your words of wisdom.

Thank you!

No. I have never seen a SAH parent be exempt for "volunteering" or having an internship.
Homeschooling is optional. You chose it for your child. Staying home to provide an optional alternative education for your child, who doesn't seem to have special needs that would warrant this, is not sufficient reason to forego an income.
I have colleagues who are full-time adjunct professors and earn $25K/year. I know of preschool teachers who earn $35K/year. Having a low-paying career is not a valid excuse to stop working to earn an income.

This. If you chose a low income field and chose to homeschool due to personal choice, they won't have much sympathy. We all make choices and you could choose to get a job.

You realize that kind of income are for professionals with masters degrees doing the jobs we as a society need done - teachers, social workers, fire fighters, nurses, police, etc. By the time you take out child care, even making $40-60K doesn't pay. For me, day care was $2200 for one child. So, by the time I paid day care, taxes, union dues and all the extras, I'd end up owing. Plus, health issues made it hard to work. And, caring for a SN child, then later another family member with dementia. I couldn't afford a nanny to take my child to services and an aid to handle an abusive family member.

If you have real SN reasons to homeschool that's one thing. If you're doing it because you want to, I don't think anyone would find that compelling. The number of people who can't afford private school because they've spent time and money caring for family is vast. They can't all get admitted with FA.

It's unclear to me why you don't have a job now.

I don't have a job now because my spouse's income has slowly gone up to the point where we are comfortable and we live very modestly so its a non-issue. And, if you actually read the post, I now have some pretty significant health issues. But, you really think my going back to work, starting at the bottom, making $40K a year (with 35%+extra) will really make a difference. By the time its all done, if I net $20K. Then, pick up/drop off and other things would be an issue and if we paid someone to do it, we'd spend more on child care/driver than I'd bring home.

I wouldn't homeschool and right now my kids are in virtual. We do private school summer school as I'm no longer able to tutor my kids. We looked into privates, could possibly full pay as we are close to having our house paid off but are hesitant because of our kids exposed to people like you whose look down on us for where we live, how much our house is worth/size, etc.

If anything families who earn $80K or under, far more deserve the financial aid. Its appalling to hear schools scream about diversity when that only means skin color and they are giving high income families who are living above their means the financial aid instead. Many people earn that and have masters and doing important jobs, including teaching your kids. You want all to quit, to earn more money. Then who will teach your kids?

No. Not if they only make $80K because one parent chooses not to work. If you have "health issues," get a work from home job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why cannot you just go to public school ????

What ever happened to diversity, inclusion and equity?

Get a job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why cannot you just go to public school ????

What ever happened to diversity, inclusion and equity?

DEI doesn't mean every single person who wants to go to private school gets to go to private school for free. Free school is public school. Private schools and their aid budgets are funded by other parents paying full tuition plus contributing to the annual fund. Whether that's right or fair is beside the point. That's the reality.

Diversity and inclusion means you have a huge range of students. Families making under $80K should be far more deserving of a family making $200-300K who claims poverty because of their housing and other lifestyle choices. Its funny how these schools and families preach what they don't practice.

I think it depends. If the 80k family has only 1 income because mom chose to stay at home, while the 200 HHI is a two income family with parents that work long hours or multiple jobs, why is the 80k HHI family more deserving?

Each case is unique and choosing easy and flexible jobs or choosing ti stay at home should be accounted for in the FA equation

At $200K, that family can afford a lot more including child care and help. So, if the SAHM goes out and earns $40k, and 1/3 goes to taxes, and all that good stuff, and earns $25K, then how much of that goes to child care. Often it doesn't pay to work. They earn to much for government help but not enough to pay for child care and housing.

Millions of families are doing it anyway. OP can too. Or continue to SAH and send her kid to public. "Everyone else who's working their azzes off pay my way so I can continue to SAH" is not an option.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why cannot you just go to public school ????

What ever happened to diversity, inclusion and equity?

Get a job.

I don’t need one. Sorry you do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Um, to the 2002 poster, I dont think you meant to come off so obnoxious but come on. There are plenty of men not making $80K a year, and it isn't always possible to "just make more." This board is so snooty. Some blue collar workers don't make that. My DH, who's mid-career, certainly doesn't. Maybe he doesn't have a college degree. You never know.....Sheesh

There are tons of ways to make more than $80K in the DMV. If her husband wants two major luxuries (private school and a SAH wife) then he can start working for it. Almost every blue collar job I know allows overtime. My neighbor is a MCPD officer (DC cop) and he almost doubles his salary with overtime. I'm a nurse and I can also make a ton of extra money if I chose to work overtime. Sure, I have to give up my free time on nights and weekends to do so but if I had a SAH spouse and wanted a luxury item like private school, you better believe I would be doing so. Plus there are tens of thousands of people in the DMV who are hustling doing things like Uber, Door Dash, etc. The vast majority of these people are doing this in addition to a regular job.
OP just wants others to pay for her luxuries. Hopefully the schools hold the hard line on this (and I have no doubt that they will). This type of diversity (the grifting kind) is not welcome in private schools.

[Anonymous]

PP again:
MCPD should read "MPD"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Um, to the 2002 poster, I dont think you meant to come off so obnoxious but come on. There are plenty of men not making $80K a year, and it isn't always possible to "just make more." This board is so snooty. Some blue collar workers don't make that. My DH, who's mid-career, certainly doesn't. Maybe he doesn't have a college degree. You never know.....Sheesh

There are tons of ways to make more than $80K in the DMV. If her husband wants two major luxuries (private school and a SAH wife) then he can start working for it. Almost every blue collar job I know allows overtime. My neighbor is a MCPD officer (DC cop) and he almost doubles his salary with overtime. I'm a nurse and I can also make a ton of extra money if I chose to work overtime. Sure, I have to give up my free time on nights and weekends to do so but if I had a SAH spouse and wanted a luxury item like private school, you better believe I would be doing so. Plus there are tens of thousands of people in the DMV who are hustling doing things like Uber, Door Dash, etc. The vast majority of these people are doing this in addition to a regular job.
OP just wants others to pay for her luxuries. Hopefully the schools hold the hard line on this (and I have no doubt that they will). This type of diversity (the grifting kind) is not welcome in private schools.

+1

I think people are reacting to OP saying she doesn't need a job because "they live modestly" and "DH income is enough" but then she wants a luxury good that is beyond their means and wants someone else to subsidize her choice.

[Anonymous]

It really comes down to math, OP. Private schools get all their funding from parents. If a school wants to be able to give full FA to a significant number of truly low-income students, they have to simultaneously admit more full-pay students to make up the difference. If you end up with a school that is 95% full pay and 5% free kids, how do you think that social dynamic plays out without any "middle" to balance it out? Also, it's still going to be hard to end up as one of that 5% - you're going to have to really stand out, whether for diversity, special talents, etc.

If the FA is spread out among a wider range of incomes ($150-300k seems middle at my school), you get a greater mix of kids and more FA kids overall. To the question of "deserving" - my spouse and I work in government and a non-profit, making about $250k. We didn't apply for any aid at our $40k school because we manage our budget to be able to make the payments, though it's a squeeze. We would rather the FA money go to a deserving family in which both parents (or a single parent) are working and doing the best they can to pay and just need some extra help. Not a family with a SAHM (for no compelling reason), which is something we never got to have because have been working hard for 20 years straight. Sorry, just being honest.