Private School for Middle Class income (middle class in DC terms)?

[Anonymous]

We are by no means national average middle class. Our combined income is just over 200K, but in this city, unfortunately that's not incredibly wealthy by any means. We are beginning to look at private school options (we live in the District), but I can't seem to wrap my head around how much it costs to go to private school (public is unfortunately not an option unless we roll the dice with the lottery). I know financial aid exists, but I can't imagine a family income of 200K would get a lot of help.

I guess, what I'm asking is could someone tell me about private school options for the middle class, or something that price range is more reasonable? Does this exist?

[Anonymous]

Parochial schools. Some of the Montessori schools. Friends Community... Am I missing any, fellow posters?

[Anonymous]

There have been threads in the past on this topic, so you might want to scan through the topics and read some that are relevant. Your options are basically (1) sacrifice in other areas to make room in your budget for private (which is easier if you have 1 child, less so if you have 2 and probably impossible if you have 3; (2) go public, move if necessary; (3) check out parochial schools, which tend to cost a fraction of what private schools do since the Catholic church subsidizes them.

The more "affordable" private schools off the top of my mind are Concord Hill in Chevy Chase, which is preschool-3rd grade ($22,000); Primary Day, preschool-2nd grade ($18,000), Grace Episcopal in Kensington, preschool-5th ($19,000) and Stone Ridge in Bethesda, which is all girls, independent Catholic (not parochial) preschool-12th ($20,000-25,000).

[Anonymous]

Try applying to a lot of schools for financial aid.

[Anonymous]

200k should definetly get you financial aid.

[Anonymous]

Not if you have equity in your home. Speaking from experience here and a lot lower income when we applied for aid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are by no means national average middle class. Our combined income is just over 200K, but in this city, unfortunately that's not incredibly wealthy by any means. We are beginning to look at private school options (we live in the District), but I can't seem to wrap my head around how much it costs to go to private school (public is unfortunately not an option unless we roll the dice with the lottery). I know financial aid exists, but I can't imagine a family income of 200K would get a lot of help.

I guess, what I'm asking is could someone tell me about private school options for the middle class, or something that price range is more reasonable? Does this exist?

You will be full pay at any private school that you apply to, if DC is admiited. THAT is the hard part, truly. expect to pay 35 K a year ( as it goes up every year a bit) and extra for after care. fwiw, Maret is the best private school bargain in the city for price/quality. I think they are priced at 27K/year, but don't know about next year. Best of luck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:200k should definetly get you financial aid.

NOT. This from a family w/ HHI 80K who pay 45% tuition

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not if you have equity in your home. Speaking from experience here and a lot lower income when we applied for aid. :-(

Equity in your home won't get you squat if your debt to income ratio is too high to qualify for a loan.The 1990's -2000's credit glut is OVER.

[Anonymous]

We are just about $200,000 and they told us we could afford $100,000 a year in tuition. Ha! Go parochial or move to the suburbs where there are adequate publics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are just about $200,000 and they told us we could afford $100,000 a year in tuition. Ha! Go parochial or move to the suburbs where there are adequate publics.

I'm sorry, but your " HA" gives the impression that you are surprised by the PFS analysis. Is that the impression you mean to give? Really? You make almost a a quarter of a million dollars EVERY year and you think you should be given financial assistance . Seriously, why?

[Anonymous]

Our HHI is $160K, our house is deeply upside down, and I didn't even think of applying for financial aid. We can make it work. There won't be a lot of perks and vacations but it didn't feel right to apply.

[Anonymous]

Schools are all over the map on FA. Some people will post that they make under $100K and get nothing, but this could well be because the school they chose offers very little financial aid and/or has no endowment.

The better known schools tend to offer more financial aid, and many of them make a commitment to having at least SOME middle class (for DC) families in their midst, so as to avoid the imbalance of having 95% very wealthy kids plus a few very very poor families.

We make less than you but more than $100K (two professional nonprofit jobs) and have 2 children in a very well known school. We get a significant amount of financial aid, although our household budget is still very bare bones after paying for school.It's so bare bones, in fact, that I don't know many people our age, with our level of education, who would choose this lifestyle. Which is why so few middle class families end up at these schools!

That said, I don't think you'll end up with any offers of aid if you have $200K income and only one child attending.

[Anonymous]

A HHI of $200K is maybe in the top 25% in the area, perhaps more. Average HHI in Montgomery and Fairfax is $80-$95K. You need roughly HHI of $500K to be in the top 1%. So, private schools have priced themselves out for upper middle class/lower upper class families. If private schools were able to control their expenses or program creep, the competition to get into these schools would increase dramatically.

[Anonymous]

Why public school is not an option?