Sound off - Ivy grads & high income earners who chose public schools over privates

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DH went to an Ivy for grad school.

Our kids started at a private school for preschool. We left after K. A good school, but just not worth the $. We are now at a Title 1 public elementary in APS and are very, very happy.

HHI is well above 400K depending on his bonus.

PP here. I have to say when I hear this, I am surprised. Not so much that you could be happy at APS, because I do think APS has great options but that you could afford to send your kid either to private or a low FARMS/top test score public school but chose public school anyway and had the faith it would work out.

I am an Ivy grad, but our HHI is not stratospheric, around $300k. Presently have one in private K and another a few years out. We know we'll find the tuition for two unmanageable, so we are keen to shift to a top-tier public schools. We happen to be mapped to a Title 1 school, which is not an option we would consider. We will seek lottery options or move before we pull our kid out of private. My anecdotal view is that tuition has dramatically outpaced inflation, so the professional Ivy grads at privates are diminishing (excluding top-tier law, finance etc.). I went to private myself, but it would take a far greater share of HHI today to send a kid to private school than it did for my parents in the early 1990s.

I'd still invest in Ivy or other top-tier college tuition without hesitation, but relative to top-tier public schools (especially for elementary) I think the value proposition for private school is diminishing for many professionals given the opportunity costs....if money was no object, I'd likely not hesitate and keep the kids in private throughout.

We're in the same boat. It's not anecdotal that tuition increases have outpaced inflation. They have. By a nearly double. I looked at the numbers.

[Anonymous]

DH and I attended ivy league grad schools and have a HHI of $800k. We attended public and plan to send our kids to public. We are Asian. Most Asian-Americans send their kids to public.

[Anonymous]

If this opt out is true, who is sending their kids to private?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If this opt out is true, who is sending their kids to private?

Super rich and "wanna bees".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If this opt out is true, who is sending their kids to private?

We opted for public for preschool - 5th grade. The public school offered an immersion language program that isn't available elsewhere. We both attended Ivies for undergrad and grad and went to private schools from K-12. DC is actually the only one who ever attended public school in our family. From middle school onward, DC will go to the same private schools that other family members attended.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If this opt out is true, who is sending their kids to private?

It's the folks who think they are buying success for their kids. You know, the ones who think it'll be "life-changing" (vs. their already affluent public school) or think that they'll become "besties" with the Obamas if they send their kid to Sidwell! LOL

Affluent Ivy-educated parent often understand the value of a kid working hard and realize the value that a good public can bring. Confident, smart parents with good public school options know what they've got. Sometimes the poseurs need to spend lots of money to realize the education is basically the same.

[Anonymous]

Harvard/Stanford degrees and HHI ~ $1M, Whitman cluster schools for both kids. We've been very happy with the MCPS public school system so far.

[Anonymous]

Ivy grad & local public school grad (Whitman) - current DCPS for our kids. If you look at the raw numbers almost all the top public & private schools in the area end up having similar numbers of kids who get into the top colleges (eg. 4-10 at each Ivy & top tier). Would say had an easier time adjusting to a 'competitive' college than lots of the private school kids who weren't used to the shark tank academic competition at a place like Whitman.