What constitutes enough money for private school

[Anonymous]

I know I am going to get flamed for this, but I really am curious. My husband and I are expecting our first this summer and currently live in the District. Our plan is to move to Bethesda to take advantage of the public schools there. We really don't feel like we could afford the privat school route. This is where I get flamed- we make a little over $500K per year. I feel like that's not chump change but still wonder how we would find an extra $40K per year and save anything additional after mortgage, student loan payments, 401K etc. Am I crazy that it seems like you need a lot more money than we have to send your kids to DC private schools? Or maybe I'm just a really bad money manager....

[Anonymous]

I can't imagine why you think you couldn't afford private school on that salary. You must have an enormous mortgage or other expenses. My husband and I make close to 400K and we send two kids to private school, but we bought our house ten years ago and so have a tiny mortgage and no other debt (saving for retirement and college are non-negotiable). But I know others who do it on less.

[Anonymous]

You need to downsize your mortgage ... you make enough that you should be able to afford it no problem.

[Anonymous]

There was a similar discussion recently: http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/7733.page#40836

[Anonymous]

We make well over 500k but have a huge mortgage - so it is tough, in that sense. I wish we had not bought at "the top of the market" and before kids. Of course - this is a high income and we can afford it. Unfortunately, the more you make the more you spend.......(at least with us!)

[Anonymous]

You are right -- prepare to be flamed!! But not by me. Everyone has their own personal financial situation and expense comfort level, so while $500k sounds like a lot to me and perhaps others, it is irrelevant what our opinion is. If you feel that the schools where you plan to move are excellent, and especially if you find that to be true from first-hand experience once you actually have a child attending, then go for it! The most important thing you can do for your child educationally is to be involved with his/her learning right from the start and ongoing. And I mean that in a gentle, loving, nurturing way -- not flashcards! Money for private school provides a nice environment and excellent instruction if you choose well, but it does not provide the ONLY path to success! Our family income is $120K and we spend about 20 percent of that on private tuition -- but my father and father-in-law were both teachers, so our family has an unusually strong interest in schooling as a priority. Make your own choices -- don't let others do it for you. Best wishes.

[Anonymous]

OP Here- Actually right now we don't have a high mortgage, we live in a two bedroom condo in DC. But, we would really like a house. We are looking in the $800-$900K range, which would put our mortgage somewhere between $600 and $750K, which runs somewhere between $5K and $6K a month. Add on student loans at $1.5K a month and two car payments totaling $750K a month and it starts to add up. Plus we will still need a nanny for any hypothetical second child, what's that run$3.5K a month? That doesn't leave a lot left over for additional savings. I would like to retire early so maybe that's where the money is going... I would hate to stop saving an additional 4K a month... Flame away.

[Anonymous]

We have the same expenses and make less than you... but you answered your own q. You can't retire early on that salary plus send 2 kids to private school ... nice dream though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP Here- Actually right now we don't have a high mortgage, we live in a two bedroom condo in DC. But, we would really like a house. We are looking in the $800-$900K range, which would put our mortgage somewhere between $600 and $750K, which runs somewhere between $5K and $6K a month. Add on student loans at $1.5K a month and two car payments totaling $750K a month and it starts to add up. Plus we will still need a nanny for any hypothetical second child, what's that run$3.5K a month? That doesn't leave a lot left over for additional savings. I would like to retire early so maybe that's where the money is going... I would hate to stop saving an additional 4K a month... Flame away.

We are in a similar situation financtially with two kids in private school now. About 500 annually. We save nothing. We basically live paycheck to paycheck paying our mortgage, car, student loans, food, and 401k.

[Anonymous]

I think you could afford private school on that salary. But you have a ton of time before you are actually going to be paying tuition. You also don't know yet what type of kid you have, whether you will have one or two kids, how you will actually deal with the balance of work/child care and what your salaries will look like when you actually get to that point. We were in the same position essentially when we were having our first: living in condo and not sure how things would end up and whether we could afford private school, etc. Ended up buying nice but small house in DC and figured we'd address those issues later. It turned out that we actually have increased our income a lot since then and paid down lots of student loans so that by the time the school decision actually happened it was totally doable. We now have two in private school. Also remember that if you are doing a nanny, by the time both kids start paying full freight private school tuition you have usually cut down from a full time to part time nanny care. Once you have been paying nanny plus some form of preschool, the switch to the full tuition is not that much of a change financially. I have seen lots of folks in that income range buy in Bethesda or CC thinking they would take advantage of the public schools and then end up deciding to go to private schools any way. If you would really prefer to live in town, I would try that out. You can always move to Bethesda later if you need to. (We are on our third house since my 9 year old was born).

[Anonymous]

OP, you should move. We are in a similar financial situation as you are, but we have a much smaller mortgage. People will tell you that 500k is a lot, but after taxes, it aint that much. We will have our kids in private school for only 3 years each. Then that is it.

[Anonymous]

What if you stayed in the condo a bit longer and just tossed extra money at your student loans? That way one large debt would be gone (or diminished) before you took on a huge mortgage. Also, you might have a better idea of what your child/ren are like at that point and can find a neighborhood and school that suits them well.

FWIW, we bought our place about 3.5 years ago -- it wasn't cheap but it wasnt top of the market and i made a good amount of money on a small place that I sold. But with two of us making about $450k/year, I really do not feel like we can pay for years upon years of private school, either. We managed to pay off our law school loans shortly after buying our house and just after our son was born, which really helped. What used to be the loan payment just went to the nanny share instead!! As long as we stay in the district, our kids will go to Catholic school. If we can come up with the money to move to MoCo, I will GLADLY send them to public.

[Anonymous]

I feel your pain but it is doable. Pay off your cars first and consolidate your student loans (if you havent yet). Then consider an au apir instead of a Nanny for child #2. You should be able to swing it. We have a $6k mortgage, no car payments (own 3 cars), no student loans, an au pair, and send 2 to private school. Its doable and its not that bad. Its a matter of priorities. Figure out what can go (expensive clothes and shoes for you, extravagent vacations) and then pay for what is most important (private school IMHO). Use the good DC public schools for K-3 if you have to pay stuff off first, and then get into the private school gig for 3rd or 4th.

[Anonymous]

But there's not a lot of openings in grades 3-4 ... if you're going to go private, better to do it from the get-go. I also don't agree that you should be paying off your student loans -- if you consolidated when the rest of us did you should only be paying 4 or 5% interest max and those funds would be better served elsewhere. One thing you didn't talk about is whether you anticipate any signifiant increase in income down the road (assuming you don't retire early)? I think you need to meet with a financial advisor to figure out what is best for you.

[Anonymous]

We earn around 175k combined and are sending DC to a school that will cost slightly over 27k including after care. We have a beautiful house with a big fat mortgage that we currently have on the market because our DC is worth the sacrifice. We'll downsize by about 350k and make the numbers work. We also like to dine out a lot that we will cut back on. In the long run, our child is our #1 priority and I will make it work on a 175k salary.