What if you can't afford private school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This whole situation makes me so angry. Because I can't afford private school, my child is getting left behind, along with all the other public school children. My DD's teacher is great and doing her best but DD still cries every day because she hates DL. And she's not retaining any of the information being taught online. It will take years to catch up from this catastrophe. But private school kids don't have to deal with any of this. One day my child will have to compete with them for spots at schools, for jobs, etc. How is this a fair system?

P.S. If someone says "just cut the coffee/gym/cable out of your life, it's easy to find a random $25,000 in your budget" I'm going to have an aneurysm.

Ok, rant over.

OP, I think you underestimate the sacrifices middle-class families make to send their kids to private school. Even for Catholic schools, which are generally less than the $25k you cite, few just have that money laying around. They've planned for it and are doing things like living in small houses/apartments in areas with not-so-great public schools, couponing/thrifting for everything, skimping on retirement/college savings. I witnessed this first hand. Heck my grandparents died in Medicaid beds without a penny to their name- but I bet they'd say that putting 9 kids through Catholic school was worth it!

FWIW, I had a number of family members and friends who attended Catholic school for part or all of their ES-HS education, and we all turned out about the same. Some schools are very good while others aren't any better than the nearby public school. Families who enroll in Catholic school during normal times are generally doing it for more than the academics.

Real middle class are not going to $25K schools as they are only earning $40-70K a year. And, even so, many don't have that kind of money.

We had neighbors who went to the Big 3 and we all have the same professions, went to the same colleges and it made no difference. There are benefits to private schools depending on the child/family but in the end, smart kids will do well regardless.

Of course they’re not going to the Sidwells and other expensive schools. Plenty of parochial schools are on the order of $10k per year and offer financial aid on top of it. Lots of middle class families who do this in PG county. But yes, still out of reach for many.

Do you understand what middle class means? If you make $70K a year, minus taxes, health care, and other things, your take home is $50K. Except on financial aid, no real middle class person is on private as even $10K assuming someone has two kids would be near impossible. And, the expensive privates don't want real low income or real middle class.

(PP from further up) I'm not originally from this area, but know plenty of "real" middle class people like you describe from my hometown that sent their kids to catholic schools on that sort of salary. The difference being, if you are not too picky you can still buy a $100k house there. $70k HHI is considered "middle class" in areas with widely differing COL, so what's feasible in lower COL areas is less feasible in the DMV. But they were certainly sacrificing in other areas to make it happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This whole situation makes me so angry. Because I can't afford private school, my child is getting left behind, along with all the other public school children. My DD's teacher is great and doing her best but DD still cries every day because she hates DL. And she's not retaining any of the information being taught online. It will take years to catch up from this catastrophe. But private school kids don't have to deal with any of this. One day my child will have to compete with them for spots at schools, for jobs, etc. How is this a fair system?

P.S. If someone says "just cut the coffee/gym/cable out of your life, it's easy to find a random $25,000 in your budget" I'm going to have an aneurysm.

Ok, rant over.

OP, I think you underestimate the sacrifices middle-class families make to send their kids to private school. Even for Catholic schools, which are generally less than the $25k you cite, few just have that money laying around. They've planned for it and are doing things like living in small houses/apartments in areas with not-so-great public schools, couponing/thrifting for everything, skimping on retirement/college savings. I witnessed this first hand. Heck my grandparents died in Medicaid beds without a penny to their name- but I bet they'd say that putting 9 kids through Catholic school was worth it!

FWIW, I had a number of family members and friends who attended Catholic school for part or all of their ES-HS education, and we all turned out about the same. Some schools are very good while others aren't any better than the nearby public school. Families who enroll in Catholic school during normal times are generally doing it for more than the academics.

Real middle class are not going to $25K schools as they are only earning $40-70K a year. And, even so, many don't have that kind of money.

We had neighbors who went to the Big 3 and we all have the same professions, went to the same colleges and it made no difference. There are benefits to private schools depending on the child/family but in the end, smart kids will do well regardless.

Of course they’re not going to the Sidwells and other expensive schools. Plenty of parochial schools are on the order of $10k per year and offer financial aid on top of it. Lots of middle class families who do this in PG county. But yes, still out of reach for many.

Do you understand what middle class means? If you make $70K a year, minus taxes, health care, and other things, your take home is $50K. Except on financial aid, no real middle class person is on private as even $10K assuming someone has two kids would be near impossible. And, the expensive privates don't want real low income or real middle class.

(PP from further up) I'm not originally from this area, but know plenty of "real" middle class people like you describe from my hometown that sent their kids to catholic schools on that sort of salary. The difference being, if you are not too picky you can still buy a $100k house there. $70k HHI is considered "middle class" in areas with widely differing COL, so what's feasible in lower COL areas is less feasible in the DMV. But they were certainly sacrificing in other areas to make it happen.

What is the point of paying private schools while doing DL?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This whole situation makes me so angry. Because I can't afford private school, my child is getting left behind, along with all the other public school children. My DD's teacher is great and doing her best but DD still cries every day because she hates DL. And she's not retaining any of the information being taught online. It will take years to catch up from this catastrophe. But private school kids don't have to deal with any of this. One day my child will have to compete with them for spots at schools, for jobs, etc. How is this a fair system?

P.S. If someone says "just cut the coffee/gym/cable out of your life, it's easy to find a random $25,000 in your budget" I'm going to have an aneurysm.

Ok, rant over.

OP, most privates are not going in-person 5x a week. So take some consolation there that just switching to Private is probably not going to resolve learning concerns brought on by DL. At best it would likely be a hybrid, and it seems awfully expensive of a decision to choose to move just for a couple of days of in person instruction. But if your worry is more long term, consider Private and look into applying for financial aid. While the timing is probably too late for FA for the fall, you could consider applying to Private the following school year. If you think you can swing tuition at a smaller parochial school where tuition would be in the $10k range, it’s worth it to call the schools now and see which ones have spots open for your daughter’s rising grade this fall. My point is don’t count yourself out just yet if Private is something you want to do for your child. DL is the pits, you’re not alone. Best of luck to you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This whole situation makes me so angry. Because I can't afford private school, my child is getting left behind, along with all the other public school children. My DD's teacher is great and doing her best but DD still cries every day because she hates DL. And she's not retaining any of the information being taught online. It will take years to catch up from this catastrophe. But private school kids don't have to deal with any of this. One day my child will have to compete with them for spots at schools, for jobs, etc. How is this a fair system?

P.S. If someone says "just cut the coffee/gym/cable out of your life, it's easy to find a random $25,000 in your budget" I'm going to have an aneurysm.

Ok, rant over.

OP, I think you underestimate the sacrifices middle-class families make to send their kids to private school. Even for Catholic schools, which are generally less than the $25k you cite, few just have that money laying around. They've planned for it and are doing things like living in small houses/apartments in areas with not-so-great public schools, couponing/thrifting for everything, skimping on retirement/college savings. I witnessed this first hand. Heck my grandparents died in Medicaid beds without a penny to their name- but I bet they'd say that putting 9 kids through Catholic school was worth it!

FWIW, I had a number of family members and friends who attended Catholic school for part or all of their ES-HS education, and we all turned out about the same. Some schools are very good while others aren't any better than the nearby public school. Families who enroll in Catholic school during normal times are generally doing it for more than the academics.

Real middle class are not going to $25K schools as they are only earning $40-70K a year. And, even so, many don't have that kind of money.

We had neighbors who went to the Big 3 and we all have the same professions, went to the same colleges and it made no difference. There are benefits to private schools depending on the child/family but in the end, smart kids will do well regardless.

Of course they’re not going to the Sidwells and other expensive schools. Plenty of parochial schools are on the order of $10k per year and offer financial aid on top of it. Lots of middle class families who do this in PG county. But yes, still out of reach for many.

Do you understand what middle class means? If you make $70K a year, minus taxes, health care, and other things, your take home is $50K. Except on financial aid, no real middle class person is on private as even $10K assuming someone has two kids would be near impossible. And, the expensive privates don't want real low income or real middle class.

(PP from further up) I'm not originally from this area, but know plenty of "real" middle class people like you describe from my hometown that sent their kids to catholic schools on that sort of salary. The difference being, if you are not too picky you can still buy a $100k house there. $70k HHI is considered "middle class" in areas with widely differing COL, so what's feasible in lower COL areas is less feasible in the DMV. But they were certainly sacrificing in other areas to make it happen.

The cheapest house we found was for $360K and needed/needs everything done to it. And its under 1000 square feet. That's not a realistic lifestyle here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, yes, you are correct. Most can’t afford private school, and those who have to stay in public school will be at a disadvantage. This is how:

-they are stuck with a curriculum that is slow, boring, tedious and that imparts very little knowledge or content until middle school.
-they are stuck with schools that have reduced instructional time
-they are stuck with schools that have low expectations for kids
-they are stuck with schools that have too many kids in the class
-they are stuck with schools that have too many bad teachers
-they are stuck with schools that have administrators who forgot their primary mission is to educate children

People don’t realize how much better private schools are at educating kids until they make the change themselves.

YES YES YES