Gross Salary and Private School Survey

[Anonymous]

We are deciding whether we can actually afford private school. I know that each family is different and that straight gross salary does not tell all. But it is a start. I apologize for the nosy question, but this could actually help us in deciding whether we are being realistic or foolhardy. So, if you send your kids to private school at one of those fancy 25k or therabouts schools, please post your gross family salary. Of course, we especially want to hear from those middle-income (relatively speaking) families which is where we fit in.

Thank you.

[Anonymous]

I am interested in this too.

[Anonymous]

Our gross income is about $275K give or take. I am self employeed and recently started a business so I make projections, but they are not always accurate (math is not my strong point.) My husband also just got a raise. When we signed on in March, we were at about $240K or so.

We are sending our first to private school next year in the district and it's definitely tight.

We have a budget and we both have to stick to it. We recently started doing something different with our money and it has really helped. After accounting for mortgage, phones, electric, car, groceries, gas, milk delivery, veggie delivery, savings, tuition, gym, and all those regularly monthly costs my husband and I have figured out an amount of $ that can be spent each week for "fun stuff" and I take that amount out of the bank. It definitely "hurts" to spend cash and I end up hording it. In the month and a half since we've started I have already saved up $600.00 or so. 1/4 is going to savings and the other 3/4 goes into my "furniture fund" or "vacation fund." I used to go to Target and blow $150 on silly things or take the kids out to lunch 3X a week and money was just flying out the door. I don't do that anymore and it has helped us tremendously. We sat down at the end of June to tally it all up and I was SO proud of myself. We usually go $300-$400 over and it felt so good to be so far under. I highly recommend it!

Education is the #1 priority for us. We have friends who live in million dollar homes who actually have told us that they chose the house over private school tuition for their children and that is fine and dandy, but not something we would ever do.

My parents sent me and my brother to a top independent school in the northeast for PK-12 grades. They were not fortunate to have the gift of a good education as their parents were incredibly poor. To this day, my dad says that it's the best money they ever spent and they do not regret it for one minute.

I hope this helps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our gross income is about $275K give or take. I am self employeed and recently started a business so I make projections, but they are not always accurate (math is not my strong point.) My husband also just got a raise. When we signed on in March, we were at about $240K or so.

We are sending our first to private school next year in the district and it's definitely tight.

We have a budget and we both have to stick to it. We recently started doing something different with our money and it has really helped. After accounting for mortgage, phones, electric, car, groceries, gas, milk delivery, veggie delivery, savings, tuition, gym, and all those regularly monthly costs my husband and I have figured out an amount of $ that can be spent each week for "fun stuff" and I take that amount out of the bank. It definitely "hurts" to spend cash and I end up hording it. In the month and a half since we've started I have already saved up $600.00 or so. 1/4 is going to savings and the other 3/4 goes into my "furniture fund" or "vacation fund." I used to go to Target and blow $150 on silly things or take the kids out to lunch 3X a week and money was just flying out the door. I don't do that anymore and it has helped us tremendously. We sat down at the end of June to tally it all up and I was SO proud of myself. We usually go $300-$400 over and it felt so good to be so far under. I highly recommend it!

Education is the #1 priority for us. We have friends who live in million dollar homes who actually have told us that they chose the house over private school tuition for their children and that is fine and dandy, but not something we would ever do.

My parents sent me and my brother to a top independent school in the northeast for PK-12 grades. They were not fortunate to have the gift of a good education as their parents were incredibly poor. To this day, my dad says that it's the best money they ever spent and they do not regret it for one minute.

I hope this helps. [/quote

May I ask what you spend on your mortgage payment? This information is very helpful. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our gross income is about $275K give or take. I am self employeed and recently started a business so I make projections, but they are not always accurate (math is not my strong point.) My husband also just got a raise. When we signed on in March, we were at about $240K or so.

We are sending our first to private school next year in the district and it's definitely tight.

We have a budget and we both have to stick to it. We recently started doing something different with our money and it has really helped. After accounting for mortgage, phones, electric, car, groceries, gas, milk delivery, veggie delivery, savings, tuition, gym, and all those regularly monthly costs my husband and I have figured out an amount of $ that can be spent each week for "fun stuff" and I take that amount out of the bank. It definitely "hurts" to spend cash and I end up hording it. In the month and a half since we've started I have already saved up $600.00 or so. 1/4 is going to savings and the other 3/4 goes into my "furniture fund" or "vacation fund." I used to go to Target and blow $150 on silly things or take the kids out to lunch 3X a week and money was just flying out the door. I don't do that anymore and it has helped us tremendously. We sat down at the end of June to tally it all up and I was SO proud of myself. We usually go $300-$400 over and it felt so good to be so far under. I highly recommend it!

Education is the #1 priority for us. We have friends who live in million dollar homes who actually have told us that they chose the house over private school tuition for their children and that is fine and dandy, but not something we would ever do.

My parents sent me and my brother to a top independent school in the northeast for PK-12 grades. They were not fortunate to have the gift of a good education as their parents were incredibly poor. To this day, my dad says that it's the best money they ever spent and they do not regret it for one minute.

I hope this helps.

My husband and I are in the same boat. We make about $260,000, and have 2 kids in private school in D.C. It's a huge financial strain, and we live in a small house. My parents also had very little money, but sent me to a great private school in the northeast from 6-12th grade. I want to do the same for my children. To me, the education is much more valuable than a big house.

[Anonymous]

We are at about $300 k, and live in MC. We are going to do private school only for the first few grades. That's all we can afford. The public hs is excellent. Also, OP, if you live in DC, you might find that you'll only need private schools for a few years as the publics get better. That could be as soon as 3 or 4 years from now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our gross income is about $275K give or take. I am self employeed and recently started a business so I make projections, but they are not always accurate (math is not my strong point.) My husband also just got a raise. When we signed on in March, we were at about $240K or so.

We are sending our first to private school next year in the district and it's definitely tight.

We have a budget and we both have to stick to it. We recently started doing something different with our money and it has really helped. After accounting for mortgage, phones, electric, car, groceries, gas, milk delivery, veggie delivery, savings, tuition, gym, and all those regularly monthly costs my husband and I have figured out an amount of $ that can be spent each week for "fun stuff" and I take that amount out of the bank. It definitely "hurts" to spend cash and I end up hording it. In the month and a half since we've started I have already saved up $600.00 or so. 1/4 is going to savings and the other 3/4 goes into my "furniture fund" or "vacation fund." I used to go to Target and blow $150 on silly things or take the kids out to lunch 3X a week and money was just flying out the door. I don't do that anymore and it has helped us tremendously. We sat down at the end of June to tally it all up and I was SO proud of myself. We usually go $300-$400 over and it felt so good to be so far under. I highly recommend it!

Education is the #1 priority for us. We have friends who live in million dollar homes who actually have told us that they chose the house over private school tuition for their children and that is fine and dandy, but not something we would ever do.

My parents sent me and my brother to a top independent school in the northeast for PK-12 grades. They were not fortunate to have the gift of a good education as their parents were incredibly poor. To this day, my dad says that it's the best money they ever spent and they do not regret it for one minute.

I hope this helps.

My husband and I are in the same boat. We make about $260,000, and have 2 kids in private school in D.C. It's a huge financial strain, and we live in a small house. My parents also had very little money, but sent me to a great private school in the northeast from 6-12th grade. I want to do the same for my children. To me, the education is much more valuable than a big house.

You sound like us! I thought we were the only ones out there. What's your mortgage?

[Anonymous]

We are about $215k in DC, similar situation in terms of stretching and similar philosophy that educating our kids to the best of our abilities is the highest priority.

[Anonymous]

Hi-
I am the 11:23 poster. Our mortgage is $3,800 a month. This is by far our greatest expense. We bought and sold in 2005 aaargghh. We live in a good sized colonial (in my opinion- I know others will see it as tiny) and we overpaid for it, but the good part is that it was totally remodeled down to new roof and windows, kitchen, bathrooms, etc. so our maintenance on it has been minimal. All we have done is painted. There are so many things I would love to do with the house like add a screened in porch but that's just not in the cards right now and I am ok with it.

I guess I should also add that we are in our earlyish 30's, so we are hoping that we have not topped out on gross income and have built that into our overall economic plan.


Earlier, I forgot to add that we also only have one car. My husband takes 2 buses and the metro to work everyday in Fairfax. Part of it is trying to be "green." The other part is that a 2nd car just isn't in the cards for us right now. When he took the job, the offices were downtown, but what can you do?

I am so glad that there are more people like us out there. I have to admit that I am a bit nervous about being at an indpendent school and feeling "different" from other families. Wouldn't it be great if we all were sending our kids to the same school?

Cheers!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi-
I am the 11:23 poster. Our mortgage is $3,800 a month. This is by far our greatest expense. We bought and sold in 2005 aaargghh. We live in a good sized colonial (in my opinion- I know others will see it as tiny) and we overpaid for it, but the good part is that it was totally remodeled down to new roof and windows, kitchen, bathrooms, etc. so our maintenance on it has been minimal. All we have done is painted. There are so many things I would love to do with the house like add a screened in porch but that's just not in the cards right now and I am ok with it.

I guess I should also add that we are in our earlyish 30's, so we are hoping that we have not topped out on gross income and have built that into our overall economic plan.


Earlier, I forgot to add that we also only have one car. My husband takes 2 buses and the metro to work everyday in Fairfax. Part of it is trying to be "green." The other part is that a 2nd car just isn't in the cards for us right now. When he took the job, the offices were downtown, but what can you do?

I am so glad that there are more people like us out there. I have to admit that I am a bit nervous about being at an indpendent school and feeling "different" from other families. Wouldn't it be great if we all were sending our kids to the same school?

Cheers!

It's amazing that people in the same boat - making over 250K per year - can feel "different" (basically poor). But I suppose that's the reality of the private school tuition situation. I take it you are new to the school? Which one?

[Anonymous]

I read these post and really began to get nervous about private school tuition. Our gross income is 125,000 and we too have decided to send DC to a top independent school in the city. It is going to be very difficult. I wish we had the other 125,000 families bring into their homes because it may not seem like such a burden. We are willing to make the sacrifce because like so many others education is our number one priority.

[Anonymous]

I'm the 12:52 poster. Our mortgage is about $3500. We have only one car, which is paid off. It takes alot of sacrafice, but you can make it work. You can also ask about financial aid.

[Anonymous]

Our HHI is $125k. We only have one child, which is probably why private school is difficult but doable. We also knew very early (when DC was 2 months) that we wanted to go private, so we saved, saved, saved in advance and now use that savings as our own little "scholarship" fund. We live in a small townhouse in a less desirable part of Fairfax, but it seems worth it to us to do this for our child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our HHI is $125k. We only have one child, which is probably why private school is difficult but doable. We also knew very early (when DC was 2 months) that we wanted to go private, so we saved, saved, saved in advance and now use that savings as our own little "scholarship" fund. We live in a small townhouse in a less desirable part of Fairfax, but it seems worth it to us to do this for our child.

PP: I am not asking to be flamed just really want to know because our situtations are identical. Does your family receive financial aid? We have decided that private is an opition for our OC (Only Child) but unlike you we did not start saving early. Considering applying for aid but not sure if we will qualify. Also do you mind sharing where your DC attends school - christian school, DC independent school, or catholic school? This will help me determine which type of private education we should consider as we began our search in a couple of months.

Thanks in advance

[Anonymous]

21:41 here. No, we do not receive financial aid. DC attends independent school in VA, tuition is $21k. Good luck to you, PP!