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Financial aid resources when your school doesn't offer it
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Anonymous
| You have no idea what that means. It could mean medical bills, school loans. It's not for you to say what their financial situation is. And, somehow I doubt, you would decline any extra money that is offered to you to supplement tuition. You can anonomously deny it on this board, but somehow, I doubt it. |
Anonymous
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I too would like another family to chip in and help me send my child to a really nice school. Surely they would see how beneficial it would be for their child to be in class with mine. Sadly, no volunteers have stepped forward to date. So I decide each year whether it is worth it to me to spend my own money on a nice school.
Truthfully, I would feel really embarassed to ask another parent to pay my child's tuition. It's a pride thing. Get over yourself already. Just be thankful that you are in the position that you do not need to rely on financial assistance (or other people's money as you so artfully put it). I'm assuming if you went to college and got a graduate degree (which I would guess you did not by the nature of your shallow response), you did not need any financial assistance and that you graduated from school without any debt. This would make you the child of a rich family who does not understand what it means to be privileged. I'm sure you are loving all the assumptions I am making about you right now... |
Anonymous
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NP here. I went to college and got a graduate degree and agree with the "shallow-responsed" poster (an accusation that you leveled PP, but by no stretch proved). I too would feel embarrassed to ask another parent to pay my child's tuition, among other reasons because I have too much pride to do so.
You don't like the tuition? Don't attend private school. This isn't rocket surgery. |
Anonymous
"Rocket surgery?!" I see that graduate degree's really workin' for ya... Maybe you should've gotten some financial aid & went to a better college... |
Anonymous
See, that's where you are wrong. NP here. I borrowed my way through grad school. So did DH. And guess what? We budgeted and paid all of our loans off within 8 years of graduating. It's not rocket science, or brain surgery, or, as another poster would have it, rocket surgery to know that if you go hundreds of thousands of dollars into debt for your graduate degree, you had better be sure you have the grades and stats to get a really high-paying job or a lot of options are going to be foreclosed to you. One of them is sending your kid to private school. Signed, Budgeting Mom from a two-professional family who sends two kids to private and donates to the financial aid fund |
Anonymous
Don't even know where to begin with this - I'm not sure what rocket "surgery" means, but I'm assuming you mean rocket "science". All I can say is that I hope you don't attend my kids' school. Whether or not you would be embarrassed to accept financial aid is not the point. Taking your argument to its logical conclusion means that only the children of the elite should attend private school with tuition rates now approaching $30K per year. FWIW, a government attorney could have afforded to send a child to an elite private school 20 years ago, but due to the fact that wages have been relatively stagnant over the past few years, but tuition costs have increased disproportionately to salary increases, today a government attorney could no longer "afford" to send a child to private school without tuition assistance. I'm not sure what the quality of the education at these schools would be if they were filled with only people like you as you clearly do not attribute any educational value to socio-economic diversity. And on the graduate degree, OP was not making an accusation - she stated quite clearly that she was making an "assumption". |
Anonymous
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Don't really want to get engaged in this argument but it looks like from her post the OP apparently didn't qualify for financial aid - which is based on a standard assessment that all FA applicants go through. While you might argue with the specific formula that is used, based on other comments on this board people with incomes over $150k+ seem to qualify for some aid.
OP seems like your main choice if you don't qualify for aid is loans. But if your debt to income ratio is already high and the credit markets are tight that may not be an option for you. And if you are in the early years then accumulating years of loans may not be a wise financial decision. |
Anonymous
OP here. It's not that we didn't qualify. Unlike most private schools, this particular private school doesn't even offer FA. However, they will accept aid from outside sources, ie. loans, scholarships awarded elsewhere. So, that was my question. What outside sources could I look to to apply for aid since we can't apply through the school. |
Anonymous
Serious question - did the school's policy on financial aid factor into your decision to attend? If not, why not? Not that this is at all on point, but I'm genuinely curious - if you would qualify for financial aid, why not attend a school that offers it? |
Anonymous
| Yes, it was a factor, but we were too impressed with the school otherwise, not to accept. |
Anonymous
Scratchin' my head. How the heck did you expect to pay your child's tuition? Did your financial situation change recently? |
Anonymous
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"Shallow Responder" here. Your assumptions about me and even my views on socioeconomic diversity are inaccurate, but I feel no need to further defend myself.
My point is that parents who choose to send their kids to a really good school should also pay for it. Having college debt does not somehow give someone a free pass. Nor does having medical expenses. Does that sound cold hearted? Well, middle class families in this area have the benefit of marvelous public schools ... so not being able to attend Sidwell unless other parents help pay does not rise to the level of "safety net" as would donations to food and homeless shelters, etc. Moreover, lest you think I am bashing Sidwell and other good privates as places for only the well-heeled, I am not! I personally know MANY families that pay full freight at good privates without FA because they make it a priority. Period. Our family HHI is $125k (which I personally view as well-heeled) and we manage. If I had college debt or medical expenses, then I would not send my kid to private. Helping families with $200k plus incomes attend a school is not such a boost for socioeconomic diversity, in my opinion. I am grateful that I can send my kid to a really nice school, but my child would grow and thrive in a good public school too. FA is for low income families who do not have the benefit/ability to move out to the nice suburbs (if needed). |
Anonymous
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Anonymous
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"Marvelous Public Schools" do not serve all children the same way.
http://www.mckinsey.com/clientservice/socialsector/achievement_gap_report.pdf http://www.bethesdamagazine.com/sept08/equal.php |
Anonymous
| Of course "all middle/upper class families DO NOT have the benefit of a marvelous public school in their perspective Wards" But they have the financial ability to MOVE if necessary, or supplement with tutors, or whatever they need to do to meet their child's educational needs. What they do not require is someone else to help pay for their real or perceived needs/wants. |