Are we paying twice for college?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
+1. Just think about the numbers. You said there are about 100 students in a graduating class, correct? Do you really think all 100 of those students will be getting a full-ride to college? Is that private school really that amazing of a school and able to create such brilliant and amazing students who get full-rides to college? The top schools in the country aren't even able to do that.

In what state do you live?

I live in North Alabama.

So what are the parents paying for when they pay for private school like that? A chance for a better college? A better education?

In Alabama? They are paying not to be in school with brown people. The South still educates it's white kids in private schools. Public schools are for low class whites (though they'd use a different term) and minorities.

Depends where in Alabama you are talking about though. Huntsville has highly educated transplants from all over the country, which changes the feel of the city.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1 on getting away from black students.

I've never been to Alabama so excuse me for stereotyping, but I really don't think of your state as an educational powerhouse. More like bottom of the list so it's probably not too hard to imagine the public schools in Alabama aren't the greatest schools out there and maybe the private school really is much better than the public schools. I seriously doubt a small-town, North Alabama elite private school really is that good (at least compared to the elite private schools up here).

What college are the graduates getting scholarships to? I guess I could see them getting good scholarships to the lower ranked state schools in Alabama.

Overall, yes, the schools in Al are not that good probably, but we do have access to a decent public schools system. The nearest two high schools had 35 National Merit semi-finalists this year. One of them ranks 73rd in the country (and #1 in the State of Alabama) in national merit data. They rank very high on all the school rankings websites.


The private school has the following stats:
10-20% of seniors are typically named National Merit Finalists, Semifinalists and Commended Scholars. In the Class of 2016, there were 100 graduates, 8 National Merit Semifinalists and 6 Commended Scholars. 54 went to in-state colleges, 43 will attend 37 different colleges located in 19 states. Every student who sought merit-based aid received it. They don't disclose which colleges and how much aid was received.

SAT
Critical Reading (Middle 50% Range) - 570-750
Math (Middle 50% Range) – 570-690
Writing (Middle 50% Range) – 520-650
SAT Total (CR+M) - 1,110-1,340

ACT (Middle 50% Range) 24-30; Composite: 27.3



The best public high school (400-500 graduates) had these stats:

Average ACT Composite: 24.4
SAT:
Verbal mean: 582
Math mean: 583
Mid 50%: 21—29 Mid 50%: 1010—1310


I'm not sure how to read this data. My kid is in elementary school so we have a long way until SATs.

I can probably guess which schools you're talking about, and, yes, contrary to DC-centric thinking, there are good high schools in northern Alabama, and lots of middle to upper-middle class kids go to public school. In fact, large private schools are a relatively new thing there. If you live in a good district, I would argue that your child is better off in public school down there. A comparable bright "unhooked" kid from a public school in Alabama has a much better chance of getting into Harvard than a kid from Sidwell/St. Albans, etc. I can't say whether or not the argument about scholarships is true, but I suspect that it would be true (if it is) of those kids, even if they went to public school. Geographic diversity is a thing that colleges look at. Wyoming or Alaska is even better.