Financial Aid

[Anonymous]

The schools don't take into account other children's private school education, that makes no sense bc it's not mandatory, it's a personal elective choice. They take into account other aspects but not if your other children are in private

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The schools don't take into account other children's private school education, that makes no sense bc it's not mandatory, it's a personal elective choice. They take into account other aspects but not if your other children are in private

Is the mortgage on that enormous house mandatory? A lot of expenses are not necessary.

[Anonymous]

I’m not aware of any schools that provide financial aid earlier than K. Once both kids are in elementary or lower school you may qualify for a small allotment.

[Anonymous]

In general, financial aid at independent schools is prioritized for older kids who demonstrate something that the school wants. You can have stellar test scores, award winning artists and musicians, top athletes, etc.

Giving financial aid to kids in elementary school does not have the same impact, since these kids do not bring much to the table yet. Why give them financial aid when the kid may be a dud and also the parents are presumed to need financial aid for a much longer period of time, the remaining duration of a K-12 education.

Financial aid at independent schools is usually prioritized for high school age kids, with some for middle school, and much much less for elementary school age kids.

Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m not aware of any schools that provide financial aid earlier than K. Once both kids are in elementary or lower school you may qualify for a small allotment.

Most independent schools that have pre-k will start providing aid in pre-K. GDS, Sidwell, etc

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In general, financial aid at independent schools is prioritized for older kids who demonstrate something that the school wants. You can have stellar test scores, award winning artists and musicians, top athletes, etc.

Giving financial aid to kids in elementary school does not have the same impact, since these kids do not bring much to the table yet. Why give them financial aid when the kid may be a dud and also the parents are presumed to need financial aid for a much longer period of time, the remaining duration of a K-12 education.

Financial aid at independent schools is usually prioritized for high school age kids, with some for middle school, and much much less for elementary school age kids.

Good luck.

While this is true to an extent, you will find plenty of FA for children of faculty and aid to students who help flesh out the elementary class so it's not all just wealthy kids from the same neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In general, financial aid at independent schools is prioritized for older kids who demonstrate something that the school wants. You can have stellar test scores, award winning artists and musicians, top athletes, etc.

Giving financial aid to kids in elementary school does not have the same impact, since these kids do not bring much to the table yet. Why give them financial aid when the kid may be a dud and also the parents are presumed to need financial aid for a much longer period of time, the remaining duration of a K-12 education.

Financial aid at independent schools is usually prioritized for high school age kids, with some for middle school, and much much less for elementary school age kids.

Good luck.

While this is true to an extent, you will find plenty of FA for children of faculty and aid to students who help flesh out the elementary class so it's not all just wealthy kids from the same neighborhood.

Financial aid to children of faculty is more of an employment benefit and the rules are different for regular applicants.

Financial aid to help flesh out the elementary school class is very limited since you can assemble a diverse elementary school class on very little aid and save the financial aid budget for older applicants who can actually set themselves apart.

[Anonymous]

Most schools don't give aid to young kids. they don't have to and there is no value add to them (what can 3 and 6 year olds bring to a school?) and they're then stuck with those kids only paying half price or whatever for 12 years. That ties up a lot of money with kids who may end up being mediocre.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most schools don't give aid to young kids. they don't have to and there is no value add to them (what can 3 and 6 year olds bring to a school?) and they're then stuck with those kids only paying half price or whatever for 12 years. That ties up a lot of money with kids who may end up being mediocre.

Agree with everything you said. Any aid to young kids is probably just faculty children getting aid as an employment benefit, which should be in a separate category but for optics is probably reported as financial aid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The schools don't take into account other children's private school education, that makes no sense bc it's not mandatory, it's a personal elective choice. They take into account other aspects but not if your other children are in private

This may vary from school to school. Out school’s aid platform asked about tuition costs for other students in private. I don’t know to what extent it is considered, but they did ask about it.

[Anonymous]

You can apply and see. I don’t know any that would give significant aid for an income that high. I know $ doesn’t go far in this area, but $200 is not low income.

Private school is a luxury. Middle to upper middle class people send their kids to public or Catholic schools.

[Anonymous]

As a person above me said, there really is no way to know until you apply. The FA application is very detailed, similar to applying for a mortgage. All of the information goes into a software program and the system more or less decides what it thinks you can afford.

Personally, my spouse and I make ~$250K and receive FA for one child at a private in DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most schools don't give aid to young kids. they don't have to and there is no value add to them (what can 3 and 6 year olds bring to a school?) and they're then stuck with those kids only paying half price or whatever for 12 years. That ties up a lot of money with kids who may end up being mediocre.

Agree with everything you said. Any aid to young kids is probably just faculty children getting aid as an employment benefit, which should be in a separate category but for optics is probably reported as financial aid.

My family is only one data point, but my kid started receiving FA in pre-K (at a school that goes through 8th grade) and has continued to receive the same level of aid over the years. He isn’t checking any DEI boxes for the school. Schools want to attract families that they think will be a good fit, and FA is a huge way to do that.

[Anonymous]

Except for the last two posters, I think this thread is full of a lot of people who have no idea what they are talking about. You have no idea if or how much aid you will get until you apply. Look at schools' FA info and 990s to see their FA budgets. The schools with larger budgets are more likely to offer a better FA package. Some schools will share the HHI range for families receiving FA. Our HHI is slightly lower than yours with only one child in a tuition-based program, and we have been receiving a very generous package since K. Our school does ask whether we have other kids in tuition-based programs, so having two kids may impact the FA offered.

Just apply and see what happens. I would also suggest looking at your local Catholic or other lower tuition schools so you have an option if you do not get FA at your chosen school. Also, since FA is required to attend, apply to more schools than you think you need to, so you could potentially have options. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Can you share which school you received financial aid from?