Can we afford private school?

[Anonymous]

Private school cost after aid and grandparent contributions is $10k per year per kid for K-6; will double to $20k for grades 7-12.

Three kids. Gross HHI of $185k on upward trajectory. Mortgage costs $30k per year. No car loans or other major expenses.

[Anonymous]

How many kids? Honestly, it's a personal choice for how you want to prioritize your funds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How many kids? Honestly, it's a personal choice for how you want to prioritize your funds.

Three kids.

[Anonymous]

Would they all go to the school right now, or are some younger?

If it's all of them, on $185K, no way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Would they all go to the school right now, or are some younger?

If it's all of them, on $185K, no way.

+1

Absolutely no way! Redirect the $$$ for private school towards saving for college. Because if you are on the "Upward trajectory" you will be in the sweet spot many call "the donut hole" or higher. You won't get much for college. And by the time your kids attend college, in-state will be $50-60K/year per kid. You will need $600K minimum to send all 3 kids to college, possibly much more.

There is no way you can pay for private K-12 and still save for college.

[Anonymous]

You are not even slightly close to affording that. Don't count your upward trajectories before they hatch.

[Anonymous]

It can be done. But it will be tight and not fun. No breathing room at all. But if you value the education then go for it.

[Anonymous]

There is no way you can afford private school for 3 kids unless grandparents pay for all of the tuition, not just 10k. Private school tuition is 30-50k unless you are thinking Catholic school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It can be done. But it will be tight and not fun. No breathing room at all. But if you value the education then go for it.

You can "value education" and not put your families finance in peril.
They cannot really afford it. That money will be better used for college.
If your public schools are that bad, then find a more affordable private, because you have 3 kids.

IMO, it's much more important to be able to afford college. If you value education, your kids will go far in K-12 in a decent public. 95% of the success is due to the parental attitude and involvement at home.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like you might be better off moving to a good public. The more kids you have, the better a deal public can be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is no way you can afford private school for 3 kids unless grandparents pay for all of the tuition, not just 10k. Private school tuition is 30-50k unless you are thinking Catholic school.

No, the tuition is $10k *after* the grandparents' assistance is factored in. That's the amount they're not paying, that we would pay, per child.

[Anonymous]

Even at the price of just $10k per year per child, do you think we can't make it work?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Even at the price of just $10k per year per child, do you think we can't make it work?

You can't afford it, if it's all three at once and you also want to save for retirement and college and high school.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for the honesty. What if we sent just one kid to private school, and the other two went to public school at least for K–6th grade?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thank you for the honesty. What if we sent just one kid to private school, and the other two went to public school at least for K–6th grade?

You can probably afford that if you're okay with making some tradeoffs. But you haven't told us your current assets or the ages of your kids so it's hard to say for sure.