How much do you make and how much FA do you receive?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our tuition costs keep rising and it appears more and more people are getting financial aid and most of them are going on nice spring breaks and we are staying in town to work. Something is wrong with this. And for those saying that annual fund doesn't go to financial aid - you are wrong. Attend the budget meetings and you can see that yes part of your donations to the annual fund and yes even your tuition payments DO in fact go to FA. I support FA but I truly believe families should pay their tuition in full first and any money that's left can go to vacations. If this means they don't go on vacation or spring break, then so be it. That is a choice they have to make. We are making that choice as a full paying family. Why is it wrong for us to expect others to make the same choices?

Family on FA here. I see some families on FA having a lot more resources for vacations, cars, clothing, you name it .
I truly believe they have family help (grand parents, other relatives) who help paying for these things.
It is odd that you might inherit a big estate but until you do you qualify for aid.
We are out of luck in that department and truly need every dollar we get to make it work. Unfortunately,
I don't see how a school can prohibit a wealthy grandparent to fund vacations and more.

Exactly. My kids grandparents and godparents don't buy them gifts for birthdays and christmas. Instead they fund their vacations and after school activities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Exactly pp. We have one kid with $150k combined income. Pay full freight.

I think a lot of people cheat to get FA

You cant cheat to get FA. I had to submit 2 years of tax returns with all schedules to provide proof of what we stated in our application. We received 57% FA from one school and 0% from another. HHI $189K family of 4 with 2 children in private already paying $28K a year. We can't afford $66K a year to send our 2 children to private.

I'm not trying to be snarky - can you save for college or retirement at all? Is public just not an option?

We save for retirement and public is not an option. We have 2 paid off old cars and a mortgage of $350K. We have zero cc debt but hefty student loan debt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:one of the complicating issues around private school FA is that tuition remission for teachers is now taken out of the FA pot. So, a sizable portion of FA money that (I thought) was supposed help increase diversity, now supports teacher kids. Before I get flamed, I love our teachers and want them to be well compensated somehow - if it's not salary, then through tuition remission. And This wouldn't be an issue in my mind if the school made more of an effort to hire diverse teaching candidates, but the majority at our school are white and "from money." Maybe schools could separate FA for staff from the pool that is supposed to add some heterogeneity to the school...or hire more diverse staff!

The Cathedral Schools have very diverse teachers and excellent ones at that, so I fully support their children receiving financial aid, so we can attract and keep great teachers and great kids at that.

How much FA do the children of teachers at the Cathedral schools receive?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Exactly pp. We have one kid with $150k combined income. Pay full freight.

I think a lot of people cheat to get FA

You cant cheat to get FA. I had to submit 2 years of tax returns with all schedules to provide proof of what we stated in our application. We received 57% FA from one school and 0% from another. HHI $189K family of 4 with 2 children in private already paying $28K a year. We can't afford $66K a year to send our 2 children to private.

+1. I'm amazed at this notion that people can "cheat" to get FA. My HHI is $187. We are a family of 4 with 2 children (1 in private and 1 in daycare). We had to provide 2 years of returns, copies of bills, detailed written statement explaining our financial need, etc. My application was TWENTY plus pages long. No way we would could afford $35K for one child while paying $15K for daycare for the youngest. We would like to think we have pretty bright kids who will thrive in an academically challenging environment that will expose them to a diverse group of people. That's not something they can receive at our local public school. The thing is we had no problem being fully open about our financial picture to the school. I personally think some of these people gripping about being full pay with less income should be applying for aid. It makes no sense to deny yourself simple things because you are struggling to be "full pay." It's as if there some added pride to say we are "full pay." What I am proud of is I found a way to provide my children a very good education without denying them vacations, decent clothes and shoes or extra curricular activities. Life is about balance. If you are sacrificing all of that to pay $25-$35K in tuition, then you have got it wrong about what it takes to raise a well balanced, happy, healthy and thriving child.

[Anonymous]

We are a family of 4, 1 kid in daycare, 1 kid in private school. HHI of about $120k. Some savings but not nothing significant. We got financial aid offers of between $5-8k off sticker price.

[Anonymous]

Single parent 100k HHI 2 kids 1 in college 60% FA from one school 0 from another (Big 3)

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are a family of four and make about $200,000 but we also support my aging mother. Any chance of any FA?

As others have commented, it depends on your total financial picture. We are a family of 4 with HHI of 220k and we are in our second year of receiving $10K in aid. Both of us have student loans in addition to helping my mother out each month with her rent.

In other words, school parents paying full freight are subsidizing your mother. Fascinating.

FYI: The financial aid application asks if families are supporting elderly parents. Its up to the school to give us aid based on our financial situation, not you and if you feel the school is not a good steward of your money, then send your kid elsewhere and be sure to ask at the open house how they distribute aid so that you are comfortable that no one is getting subsidized, but I suspect you won't have the balls to make such comments in public. I don't view it as subsidizing my mother at all, we presented our financial picture, they determined we can pay $50k out of pocket and we do.

OK. You don't see it that way. I do see it that way. Facts speak for themselves, like it or not.

I agree with you (new poster here). Having loans and having an elderly parent to support may mean you can't afford private. I agree that it's up to the school to decide, but I would not want to pay full freight because others are supporting parents or didn't aggressively pay down loans (as others may have to get to their current ability to pay full). Private is a luxury, plain and simple. Not everyone can afford luxuries (and we don't go private, by choice, but that's another conversation).

NO, IT IS NOT. SOME KIDS CANNOT MAKE IT THROUGH THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS - THE "FACTORY MODEL" OF EDUCATION. THEY GET LOST, OVERLOOKED, DEPRESSED, BORED, YOU NAME IT....THIS IS WHY PEOPLE ARE SO DESPERATE TO GET INTO GOOD PRIVATES. THANK GOD FOR FINANCIAL AID AND FOR THE SPIRIT OF GIVING, COMMUNITY AND GENORISITY THAT IS VALUED AT MOST INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS (APPARENTLY NOT YOURS, IT'S IN THE MINORITY).

If you cannot afford 40K, you go to a 10K school like the rest of us. If you kid is bored, you supplement at home. You deal with it or you get another job to pay for it. The only kids who truly may need it are SN kids and financial aide is rarely available to them. I would love to send my kid to a 40+ a year SN school but we can't so we are at a small private, who is great, but doesn't fully get my child's needs.

Where are these 10K schools? None that I see in Rockville, Kensington, Silver Spring, Bethesda, Potomac, or Upper NW. Not everyone who lives/works in these areas is going to commute outside them ....where are you finding 10K high schools in this area???

Avalon and Brookewood are 10k schools .

Avalon is 14500

[Anonymous]

I just read this in the Q&A section of our schools website. It specifically addresses the notion that those families who are full pay are subsidizing the tuition of those on financial aid:

"As is the case in most independent schools, tuition income is simply not adequate to cover our operating expenses. This year the cost to educate each child is $5,050 more than the cost of actual tuition."

There is it in black and white. If you are full pay, your tuition dollars are NOT subsidizing the education of a child receiving FA.

[Anonymous]

I wish more people would apply for FA. We do not qualify, but my friends who do have decent salaries, own their own homes & rental properties, and take very good vacations.
I say more power to them for figuring out how to get the school to pay for their kids to go there...
I do believe most people with decent incomes and mortgages don't think of applying...
I think the key is for the savings to be in retirement $$, not in 'cash' savings...at least that's what I'm gathering...
So, go ahead and apply! Find a consultant who can help you get FA...there's got to be one out there who specializes in this, if not, there should be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our tuition costs keep rising and it appears more and more people are getting financial aid and most of them are going on nice spring breaks and we are staying in town to work. Something is wrong with this. And for those saying that annual fund doesn't go to financial aid - you are wrong. Attend the budget meetings and you can see that yes part of your donations to the annual fund and yes even your tuition payments DO in fact go to FA. I support FA but I truly believe families should pay their tuition in full first and any money that's left can go to vacations. If this means they don't go on vacation or spring break, then so be it. That is a choice they have to make. We are making that choice as a full paying family. Why is it wrong for us to expect others to make the same choices?

Family on FA here. I see some families on FA having a lot more resources for vacations, cars, clothing, you name it .
I truly believe they have family help (grand parents, other relatives) who help paying for these things.
It is odd that you might inherit a big estate but until you do you qualify for aid.
We are out of luck in that department and truly need every dollar we get to make it work. Unfortunately,
I don't see how a school can prohibit a wealthy grandparent to fund vacations and more.

Exactly. My kids grandparents and godparents don't buy them gifts for birthdays and christmas. Instead they fund their vacations and after school activities.

Wow. You must have really rich parents and friends! A birthday gift from my parents is usually a $40 Lego set, piano lessons cost 25-35 a half hour session. there is a huge financial difference between giving a toy as a birthday gift and funding after school activities.

[Anonymous]

Ivy league colleges usually cut off financial aid with household income at about $200,000 and normal assets. I imagine a family with essentially zero assets may qualify with a bit higher income, and obviously with more than one child that too is considered. But I doubt many people making this much or more get any aid or just a token amount of FA at DC privates. It simply doesn't make sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our tuition costs keep rising and it appears more and more people are getting financial aid and most of them are going on nice spring breaks and we are staying in town to work. Something is wrong with this. And for those saying that annual fund doesn't go to financial aid - you are wrong. Attend the budget meetings and you can see that yes part of your donations to the annual fund and yes even your tuition payments DO in fact go to FA. I support FA but I truly believe families should pay their tuition in full first and any money that's left can go to vacations. If this means they don't go on vacation or spring break, then so be it. That is a choice they have to make. We are making that choice as a full paying family. Why is it wrong for us to expect others to make the same choices?

Family on FA here. I see some families on FA having a lot more resources for vacations, cars, clothing, you name it .
I truly believe they have family help (grand parents, other relatives) who help paying for these things.
It is odd that you might inherit a big estate but until you do you qualify for aid.
We are out of luck in that department and truly need every dollar we get to make it work. Unfortunately,
I don't see how a school can prohibit a wealthy grandparent to fund vacations and more.

Exactly. My kids grandparents and godparents don't buy them gifts for birthdays and christmas. Instead they fund their vacations and after school activities.

Wow. You must have really rich parents and friends! A birthday gift from my parents is usually a $40 Lego set, piano lessons cost 25-35 a half hour session. there is a huge financial difference between giving a toy as a birthday gift and funding after school activities.

They don't fund it 100%. My kids also have three sets of grandparents who are all retired with pensions, and they also have three set of godparents who are eager to help out when they can.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ivy league colleges usually cut off financial aid with household income at about $200,000 and normal assets. I imagine a family with essentially zero assets may qualify with a bit higher income, and obviously with more than one child that too is considered. But I doubt many people making this much or more get any aid or just a token amount of FA at DC privates. It simply doesn't make sense.

It may not make sense but it is true. Applying for FA at private schools is VERY different than applying for FA for college. I can count at least five people off the top of my head that I personally know who fall into this category.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just read this in the Q&A section of our schools website. It specifically addresses the notion that those families who are full pay are subsidizing the tuition of those on financial aid:

"As is the case in most independent schools, tuition income is simply not adequate to cover our operating expenses. This year the cost to educate each child is $5,050 more than the cost of actual tuition."

There is it in black and white. If you are full pay, your tuition dollars are NOT subsidizing the education of a child receiving FA.

Oh please. use your brain, once you find it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have a HHI of $310k and a $500k mortgage. One child. I thought there was no way we would ever qualify for FA and didn't apply, even though it's not like we have an extra $30k lying around each year. I was talking to a friend with two kids in private school at about the same income level as us. She said her family gets FA and that only the ultra rich pay the full sticker price. I find that hard to believe and would have felt ridiculous asking for FA, but I also wonder if she's right.

You pay more so she can pay less.

Some folks are born, silver spoon in hand
Lord, don't they help themselves, y'all
But when the taxman comes to the door
Lord, the house looks like a rummage sale, yeah