Please don't be offended- What should your HHI be around to consider sending DC to private school?

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]What is simply out of wack here is that families making $200K plus a year are questioning whether they can send their children to private schools. I am not questioning their questioning but private schools should take note that their history of tuition increases has resulted in the current state. A family with a HHI in excess of $200K is in the top 5% (??) in the country and earns at least 4 times the national average. Such a family should be able to afford private school without begging for FA. Private schools need to get their act together!![/quote]

Blame the World Bank and the IMF and their 25K per child subsidy for private school that they provide to anyone who takes a post in DC. They set the tone and the Privates could easily fill there schools entirely with the staff of WB and IMF and never have to give FA if they did not care about economic diversity. After all, these people provide plenty of ethnic and racial diversity. Could be worse: you could be an Afghan Doctor in Kabul who makes less than the driver of his IMF neighbor.

I agree. We make about $240,000 and do get some financial aid. We have three children and now send just two to private because we just can't afford to send the third anymore. Unfortunately we bought right before the housing crash so our mortgage is kind of high. We live pay check to pay check and are constantly worried about money.[/quote][/quote]

I read somewhere in another post that World Bank and IMF don't provide private school subsidies anymore. Is this true?

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We make about $240,000 and do get some financial aid. We have three children and now send just two to private because we just can't afford to send the third anymore. Unfortunately we bought right before the housing crash so our mortgage is kind of high. We live pay check to pay check and are constantly worried about money.[/quote][/quote]

I don't get this either - how are you getting FA with that income?

[Anonymous]

We make $600K and have decided not to send to private, at least starting in K. Will probably send to private in HS.

The main reason is that we have three kids. So $100K per year (adding extra "fundraising" requirements, etc), starting at K through 12, is $1.3m before we even get to college.

We live in MoCo, so we opted for public for now. We love the school. If someone could provide absolute proof that my kids could get a better education in the privates than in their current school, that would be an entirely different story.

And it is clear to me that wherever you go, it is up to the parents to make the real difference in their kids' education.

We are also older parents and its probably hits home to use more than others (bc our parents are now elderly) how critical it is to have sufficient savings for retirement, not just to have money for personal fun, but to enjoy things with our kids (family vacations, second homes for the family to gather) and to avoid being a burden to them down the road.

We also have seen friends who were making seven figures in their 30s and 40s now making half that or less. You just never know what can happen to your job.

FWIW.

[Anonymous]

PP here -- one more thing. Before people make the assumption that we must have a high mortgage or be blowing our money on other things, that is not true. Mortgage is less than $3K per month (we paid down the mortgage significantly and refinanced). We have no credit card or other debt. Have a Honda minivan and a 10 plus year old Mercedes.

[Anonymous]

I agree. We make about $240,000 and do get some financial aid. We have three children and now send just two to private because we just can't afford to send the third anymore. Unfortunately we bought right before the housing crash so our mortgage is kind of high. We live pay check to pay check and are constantly worried about money.

Would you mind naming the school? We have 2 DC's in private and our HHI is $230,000. We applied for FA and were laughed out the room.

Two tuitions = $60K max, leaving you $160K to live on. I think you'll be OK.

[Anonymous]

[b][quote]I read somewhere in another post that World Bank and IMF don't provide private school subsidies anymore. Is this true?[/quote][/b]

I think WB stopped but know that IMF still does.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Two tuitions = $60K max, leaving you $160K to live on. I think you'll be OK.

Take out about 38% tax...right? So that's more like $90 to live on - and presumably there are child care expenses to cover breaks and the summer...

[Anonymous]

"I always sigh when I read these "MoCo is a safe harbor" fantasy posts. While many of the high schools and most of the magnets there are great, most of the elementaries are actually pretty grim -- big, over-crowded, drill-and-kill schools. I have *so* many friends who moved to MoCo for the schools without doing any real research first and then went private (bitterly!) after a year or two."

I always sigh when I read such laughable hyperbole. "MOST" of the elementaries are "grim"? Huh? Just curious, how do you have such knowledge of most elementaries in MCPS? Also, I highly doubt that the educated, affluent parents in Bethesda/Chevy Chase/Potomac/Silver Spring/Rockville would keep their children in "grim" schools.

FWIW, we switched from private to public MCPS elementary and have been thrilled.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I agree. We make about $240,000 and do get some financial aid. We have three children and now send just two to private because we just can't afford to send the third anymore. Unfortunately we bought right before the housing crash so our mortgage is kind of high. We live pay check to pay check and are constantly worried about money.

Would you mind naming the school? We have 2 DC's in private and our HHI is $230,000. We applied for FA and were laughed out the room.

Two tuitions = $60K max, leaving you $160K to live on. I think you'll be OK.

Oh that's right. We don't pay any tax and we have no other expenses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I agree. We make about $240,000 and do get some financial aid. We have three children and now send just two to private because we just can't afford to send the third anymore. Unfortunately we bought right before the housing crash so our mortgage is kind of high. We live pay check to pay check and are constantly worried about money.

Would you mind naming the school? We have 2 DC's in private and our HHI is $230,000. We applied for FA and were laughed out the room.

Two tuitions = $60K max, leaving you $160K to live on. I think you'll be OK.

Oh that's right. We don't pay any tax and we have no other expenses.

Everyone else also pays taxes and has expenses. The difference
for you is that you have gobs and gobs of money left over
afterwards.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One last shot in the DC vs. 'burbs wars. I lived in NW DC for almost fifteen years (started out in Dupont Circle and moved to Woodley Park). We had a beautiful house in a fabulous location, but had to move because dh absolutely refused to live in the District one moment longer. Paying a premium in taxes for a completely incompetent city government was the last straw. First of all, the poster who claimed that real estate prices are "appreciably higher" than other locations around the DC area has obviously not priced real estate anywhere else lately. Herndon? yes. Old Town Alexandria, or North Arlington? No. Furthermore, most parts of NW DC are really quite suburban in character. It's not bad, but it's definitely not "urban." Last, but not least, my commute downtown is shorter now that I live in Virginia. Take it from someone who used to be in this category -- the only reason people stay in DC is because they don't know any better.

And where do your kids go to school? Public?

Private.

I hope it's not private in DC. Its people like you we gripe about. You moved to the suburbs now stay there.

No worries. The private school is also in the "suburbs." Having escaped the District, why in the world would I drag my child back in every day? And thank you for eliminating any last shred of doubt that the last line of my original post was too harsh an assessment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One last shot in the DC vs. 'burbs wars. I lived in NW DC for almost fifteen years (started out in Dupont Circle and moved to Woodley Park). We had a beautiful house in a fabulous location, but had to move because dh absolutely refused to live in the District one moment longer. Paying a premium in taxes for a completely incompetent city government was the last straw. First of all, the poster who claimed that real estate prices are "appreciably higher" than other locations around the DC area has obviously not priced real estate anywhere else lately. Herndon? yes. Old Town Alexandria, or North Arlington? No. Furthermore, most parts of NW DC are really quite suburban in character. It's not bad, but it's definitely not "urban." Last, but not least, my commute downtown is shorter now that I live in Virginia. Take it from someone who used to be in this category -- the only reason people stay in DC is because they don't know any better.

And where do your kids go to school? Public?

Private.

I hope it's not private in DC. Its people like you we gripe about. You moved to the suburbs now stay there.

No worries. The private school is also in the "suburbs." Having escaped the District, why in the world would I drag my child back in every day? And thank you for eliminating any last shred of doubt that the last line of my original post was too harsh an assessment.

First of all everyone pays taxes. You think living in Va you get some special return on your tax dollars? No you still pay for cities like Richmond, you still send millions of dollars down to Southern Va and can't even get new roads in NoVa. You have to pay a car tax and a tax on food and medicine. Your state is still getting screwed on ABC liquor, sorry to burst your ignorance is bliss attitude as if your tax dollars give you streets of gold, because they don't even give you new lanes on 66.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP here -- one more thing. Before people make the assumption that we must have a high mortgage or be blowing our money on other things, that is not true. Mortgage is less than $3K per month (we paid down the mortgage significantly and refinanced). We have no credit card or other debt. Have a Honda minivan and a 10 plus year old Mercedes.

so you make 600K, have less than no expenses and think 100K/year for 3 kids will stretch you? You must be saving 200-300K/year right now in some form or another!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP here -- one more thing. Before people make the assumption that we must have a high mortgage or be blowing our money on other things, that is not true. Mortgage is less than $3K per month (we paid down the mortgage significantly and refinanced). We have no credit card or other debt. Have a Honda minivan and a 10 plus year old Mercedes.

so you make 600K, have less than no expenses and think 100K/year for 3 kids will stretch you? You must be saving 200-300K/year right now in some form or another!!!

I'm sure there's a bit less after the required trips to visit family on the west coast, Disney, Europe and the Beach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Two tuitions = $60K max, leaving you $160K to live on. I think you'll be OK.

Take out about 38% tax...right? So that's more like $90 to live on - and presumably there are child care expenses to cover breaks and the summer...

My husband works at the IMF and I work at the WB. Yes IMF still does and WB provides a mobility premium which can be used to pay fees but it us only given for 10 years.