FA - real life

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I could not look myself in the mirror if I had 3 kids, $300k/yr income, and were on financial aid.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm sorry, let me fix this for you....
You three kids, which is a luxury
Your HHI IS $300k,
AND send them to private school.

I don't know why I'm the one to break this to you, but you are living large.

Living large in a lifestyle they didn’t earn and cannot afford.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm sorry, let me fix this for you....
You three kids, which is a luxury
Your HHI IS $300k,
AND send them to private school.

I don't know why I'm the one to break this to you, but you are living large.

Living large in a lifestyle they didn’t earn and cannot afford.

Funded by the parents of their children’s classmates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We chose not to have a third kid because we couldn’t do that and send our current two to private school. We are full pay. I don’t donate because of families like you- why should you get the third kid that we chose responsibly not to have?

This is such a weird take. NP here, I had my kid (and bought my house, and got established in a career that pays what it pays) long before I realized public school would not work well for us. Most people in the aid-receiving income bracket do not plan on private school from the jump. We end up in private because we need an alternative.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just look on markets website for example.
34% of aid recipients have a HHI of above 250K. And that could be for just one child.

Yes, this is common and it’s why all of the shocked responses on here are so telling about who these posters actually are. They aren’t full-pay local parents.

We are locals. Above $250k is one thing. But $300k - $400k on financial aid just seems criminal.

So $255 is fine, $275 is fine, but $300 is a bridge too far?

[Anonymous]

Everyone so angry here (though I suspect it’s really only one person) is about to be absolutely shattered when their kids go to a top college, more than half the class is on aid, and may don’t pay a dime, including some “Pellionaires,” who are also getting federal aid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Everyone so angry here (though I suspect it’s really only one person) is about to be absolutely shattered when their kids go to a top college, more than half the class is on aid, and may don’t pay a dime, including some “Pellionaires,” who are also getting federal aid.

College aid is completely different.

First of all, K-12 is offered completely free through public schools. Private is a luxury option.


Financial aid at private schools in the DMV is largely funded by tuition paid for by the other parents. There is no large endowment to cover these expenses. The full pay families are paying the majority of the financial aid budget. For a luxury education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just look on markets website for example.
34% of aid recipients have a HHI of above 250K. And that could be for just one child.

Yes, this is common and it’s why all of the shocked responses on here are so telling about who these posters actually are. They aren’t full-pay local parents.

We are locals. Above $250k is one thing. But $300k - $400k on financial aid just seems criminal.

So $255 is fine, $275 is fine, but $300 is a bridge too far?

Yeah $300k-400k is too much for financial aid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everyone so angry here (though I suspect it’s really only one person) is about to be absolutely shattered when their kids go to a top college, more than half the class is on aid, and may don’t pay a dime, including some “Pellionaires,” who are also getting federal aid.

College aid is completely different.

First of all, K-12 is offered completely free through public schools. Private is a luxury option.


Financial aid at private schools in the DMV is largely funded by tuition paid for by the other parents. There is no large endowment to cover these expenses. The full pay families are paying the majority of the financial aid budget. For a luxury education.

You can go to community college and transfer to a public four-year for a fraction of the price of private. A tiny fraction. Private college is absolutely as luxurious as private undergrad. And private college aid funds living expenses too.

Many top privates have substantial endowments. And many colleges that don’t have huge endowments are doing insane and inequitable discounting through sophisticated enrollment management algorithms.

[Anonymous]

I read this thread and there has to absolutely be a troll who has frequented other threads about FA. I can’t imagine so many different rude posters. If not, can you share where you send your kids, so I make sure to cross those schools off my list?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everyone so angry here (though I suspect it’s really only one person) is about to be absolutely shattered when their kids go to a top college, more than half the class is on aid, and may don’t pay a dime, including some “Pellionaires,” who are also getting federal aid.

College aid is completely different.

First of all, K-12 is offered completely free through public schools. Private is a luxury option.


Financial aid at private schools in the DMV is largely funded by tuition paid for by the other parents. There is no large endowment to cover these expenses. The full pay families are paying the majority of the financial aid budget. For a luxury education.

You can go to community college and transfer to a public four-year for a fraction of the price of private. A tiny fraction. Private college is absolutely as luxurious as private undergrad. And private college aid funds living expenses too.

Many top privates have substantial endowments. And many colleges that don’t have huge endowments are doing insane and inequitable discounting through sophisticated enrollment management algorithms.

Not the same at all. Roughly 90% of K-12 students attend public school. Completely free. Financial aid is really not needed for K-12.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everyone so angry here (though I suspect it’s really only one person) is about to be absolutely shattered when their kids go to a top college, more than half the class is on aid, and may don’t pay a dime, including some “Pellionaires,” who are also getting federal aid.

College aid is completely different.

First of all, K-12 is offered completely free through public schools. Private is a luxury option.


Financial aid at private schools in the DMV is largely funded by tuition paid for by the other parents. There is no large endowment to cover these expenses. The full pay families are paying the majority of the financial aid budget. For a luxury education.

You can go to community college and transfer to a public four-year for a fraction of the price of private. A tiny fraction. Private college is absolutely as luxurious as private undergrad. And private college aid funds living expenses too.

Many top privates have substantial endowments. And many colleges that don’t have huge endowments are doing insane and inequitable discounting through sophisticated enrollment management algorithms.

Not the same at all. Roughly 90% of K-12 students attend public school. Completely free. Financial aid is really not needed for K-12.

Majority of Americans have no college degree at all…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would like to tell the OP that I fully support your receipt of FA, given your income and number of children.

It’s upon the school to decide how aid is allocated, not upon the individual family to decide whether to apply to private school.

I’m also so glad FA awards are not made public.

You sound like a rational, caring, hardworking parent. I’m sorry for what some others are saying here.

+1

[Anonymous]

We are a family making less than 300k who didn’t apply for FA because we were scared it would keep our two kids from getting in. It is a major sacrifice and affects our quality of life every day, and I’d imagine scares off many people from the middle of the “barbell” that has been described as making up the student population at DC private schools - kids are either super rich or super poor. The barbell was very apparent to us when we got there and frankly provides a less quality student population than we were used to at other schools. Schools use FA as a social engineering tool and if they want to use it to accept more kids from the middle of the barbell, good for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everyone so angry here (though I suspect it’s really only one person) is about to be absolutely shattered when their kids go to a top college, more than half the class is on aid, and may don’t pay a dime, including some “Pellionaires,” who are also getting federal aid.

College aid is completely different.

First of all, K-12 is offered completely free through public schools. Private is a luxury option.


Financial aid at private schools in the DMV is largely funded by tuition paid for by the other parents. There is no large endowment to cover these expenses. The full pay families are paying the majority of the financial aid budget. For a luxury education.

You can go to community college and transfer to a public four-year for a fraction of the price of private. A tiny fraction. Private college is absolutely as luxurious as private undergrad. And private college aid funds living expenses too.

Many top privates have substantial endowments. And many colleges that don’t have huge endowments are doing insane and inequitable discounting through sophisticated enrollment management algorithms.

Not the same at all. Roughly 90% of K-12 students attend public school. Completely free. Financial aid is really not needed for K-12.

About 73% of college students attend a public university, including community college, which is significantly cheaper than a private university. If this bothers you at the K-12 level it’s going to infuriate you at the tertiary level too.