FA - real life

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher who left a Big 3 school after over a decade of service because we could not afford to send our children there, suffice it to say that there is a lot about this that pisses me off.

Teachers should get to send their kids there for free.

At our school they automatically get half off tuition, and their teacher salary does not count in the financial aid calculations. We have a lot of faculty and staff where both parents work at the school, so their children are covered completely. This is only for full time positions.

As an only child who was a lifer at one of these schools, I do resent families like OPs. My mom took a second job, and annual tuition was a big role in my parent's decision to only have one child. (This was in the 80s/early 90s - DC publics were just generally pretty bad, and we needed to live there for work reasons). We now have our children at a k-12 in dc, and I hate donating to anything that goes to the general FA fund. I will donate all day long to faculty and staff enrichment, new buildings, scholarships for specific segments, etc, but it is families like the OP that I do not want to support. I like how OP claims to be poor by saying her children share a room. Well OP, guess what - my boys share a room, and my girls share a room, yet I am able to contribute to their school. If I couldn't, then I certainly would do something to up my income to be able to or move somewhere with public schools I was comfortable with. OP also claims that she still needs to pay for childcare in the summer. Well then her children are definitely young enough that really almost any public elementary would be fine. These are not specialized high schoolers who need something they can't get at their local public. OP at the very least, keep them off FA until they are older and can be left alone at home during the summer, saving you that money.

OP is likely paying upwards of 100k per year to the school. There is no absence of "support."

That’s what is lost in all of this faux outrage. These are tuition discounts, but the families are still paying through the nose.

Of course, all of these angry posters are much poorer than OP, don’t actually have kids at DC privates, or aren’t involved in their family’s finances in the slightest, so they don’t understand this point at all.

The families are choosing to pay through the nose.

And paying discounted tuition is not supporting the school; it’s buying the product.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think one of the reasons people might be upset about this is jealousy. When my spouse and I started looking at private schools for our child (when she was about 3) we made about what OP currently makes. We realized that we could only afford to have one child in the DC area if we wanted to put them through private K-12 and also pay for undergrad. So we decided not to have another kid.

We only have one child because we never thought that others should (or would!) subsidize the expense of us having more. Guess it turns out we’re the suckers. So, yeah, OP’s post upsets me on a pretty deep level.

What if you already had 2 or 3 kids when you decided to go to private schools? By the time we decided public was not working for my eldest, we already had 3 kids….

Then you make lifestyle choices to afford it or go to public.

+1 living a large lifestyle funded by FA is unethical without a doubt

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher who left a Big 3 school after over a decade of service because we could not afford to send our children there, suffice it to say that there is a lot about this that pisses me off.

Teachers should get to send their kids there for free.

At our school they automatically get half off tuition, and their teacher salary does not count in the financial aid calculations. We have a lot of faculty and staff where both parents work at the school, so their children are covered completely. This is only for full time positions.

As an only child who was a lifer at one of these schools, I do resent families like OPs. My mom took a second job, and annual tuition was a big role in my parent's decision to only have one child. (This was in the 80s/early 90s - DC publics were just generally pretty bad, and we needed to live there for work reasons). We now have our children at a k-12 in dc, and I hate donating to anything that goes to the general FA fund. I will donate all day long to faculty and staff enrichment, new buildings, scholarships for specific segments, etc, but it is families like the OP that I do not want to support. I like how OP claims to be poor by saying her children share a room. Well OP, guess what - my boys share a room, and my girls share a room, yet I am able to contribute to their school. If I couldn't, then I certainly would do something to up my income to be able to or move somewhere with public schools I was comfortable with. OP also claims that she still needs to pay for childcare in the summer. Well then her children are definitely young enough that really almost any public elementary would be fine. These are not specialized high schoolers who need something they can't get at their local public. OP at the very least, keep them off FA until they are older and can be left alone at home during the summer, saving you that money.

OP is likely paying upwards of 100k per year to the school. There is no absence of "support."

That’s what is lost in all of this faux outrage. These are tuition discounts, but the families are still paying through the nose.

Of course, all of these angry posters are much poorer than OP, don’t actually have kids at DC privates, or aren’t involved in their family’s finances in the slightest, so they don’t understand this point at all.

The families are choosing to pay through the nose.

And paying discounted tuition is not supporting the school; it’s buying the product.

By this logic, full pay parents are also not supporting the school but just buying the product, so wtf are people complaining about? The only ones supporting the school in this view are the mega donors, and it is clear from the vacuous and provincial comments here that none of those are present.

[Anonymous]

What I have seen at our school, families with multiple children getting substantial FA taking vacations to Europe where families like ours that are full pay for two kids can't afford to take the number of vacations the families on FA take or got to places like the FA families do. That I think is unfair.

[Anonymous]

I am the above Poster for what is worth we donate to the school too. Not a lot but a few thousand dollars so help the children who truly need it get it but what I have seen in the past few years we will not be donating going forward.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher who left a Big 3 school after over a decade of service because we could not afford to send our children there, suffice it to say that there is a lot about this that pisses me off.

Teachers should get to send their kids there for free.

At our school they automatically get half off tuition, and their teacher salary does not count in the financial aid calculations. We have a lot of faculty and staff where both parents work at the school, so their children are covered completely. This is only for full time positions.

As an only child who was a lifer at one of these schools, I do resent families like OPs. My mom took a second job, and annual tuition was a big role in my parent's decision to only have one child. (This was in the 80s/early 90s - DC publics were just generally pretty bad, and we needed to live there for work reasons). We now have our children at a k-12 in dc, and I hate donating to anything that goes to the general FA fund. I will donate all day long to faculty and staff enrichment, new buildings, scholarships for specific segments, etc, but it is families like the OP that I do not want to support. I like how OP claims to be poor by saying her children share a room. Well OP, guess what - my boys share a room, and my girls share a room, yet I am able to contribute to their school. If I couldn't, then I certainly would do something to up my income to be able to or move somewhere with public schools I was comfortable with. OP also claims that she still needs to pay for childcare in the summer. Well then her children are definitely young enough that really almost any public elementary would be fine. These are not specialized high schoolers who need something they can't get at their local public. OP at the very least, keep them off FA until they are older and can be left alone at home during the summer, saving you that money.

OP is likely paying upwards of 100k per year to the school. There is no absence of "support."

That’s what is lost in all of this faux outrage. These are tuition discounts, but the families are still paying through the nose.

Of course, all of these angry posters are much poorer than OP, don’t actually have kids at DC privates, or aren’t involved in their family’s finances in the slightest, so they don’t understand this point at all.

The families are choosing to pay through the nose.

And paying discounted tuition is not supporting the school; it’s buying the product.

By this logic, full pay parents are also not supporting the school but just buying the product, so wtf are people complaining about? The only ones supporting the school in this view are the mega donors, and it is clear from the vacuous and provincial comments here that none of those are present.

Paying full tuition is supporting the school. So is donating. Getting financial aid is being a drain on the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher who left a Big 3 school after over a decade of service because we could not afford to send our children there, suffice it to say that there is a lot about this that pisses me off.

Teachers should get to send their kids there for free.

At our school they automatically get half off tuition, and their teacher salary does not count in the financial aid calculations. We have a lot of faculty and staff where both parents work at the school, so their children are covered completely. This is only for full time positions.

As an only child who was a lifer at one of these schools, I do resent families like OPs. My mom took a second job, and annual tuition was a big role in my parent's decision to only have one child. (This was in the 80s/early 90s - DC publics were just generally pretty bad, and we needed to live there for work reasons). We now have our children at a k-12 in dc, and I hate donating to anything that goes to the general FA fund. I will donate all day long to faculty and staff enrichment, new buildings, scholarships for specific segments, etc, but it is families like the OP that I do not want to support. I like how OP claims to be poor by saying her children share a room. Well OP, guess what - my boys share a room, and my girls share a room, yet I am able to contribute to their school. If I couldn't, then I certainly would do something to up my income to be able to or move somewhere with public schools I was comfortable with. OP also claims that she still needs to pay for childcare in the summer. Well then her children are definitely young enough that really almost any public elementary would be fine. These are not specialized high schoolers who need something they can't get at their local public. OP at the very least, keep them off FA until they are older and can be left alone at home during the summer, saving you that money.

OP is likely paying upwards of 100k per year to the school. There is no absence of "support."

That’s what is lost in all of this faux outrage. These are tuition discounts, but the families are still paying through the nose.

Of course, all of these angry posters are much poorer than OP, don’t actually have kids at DC privates, or aren’t involved in their family’s finances in the slightest, so they don’t understand this point at all.

The families are choosing to pay through the nose.

And paying discounted tuition is not supporting the school; it’s buying the product.

By this logic, full pay parents are also not supporting the school but just buying the product, so wtf are people complaining about? The only ones supporting the school in this view are the mega donors, and it is clear from the vacuous and provincial comments here that none of those are present.

Supporting the school as described by the PP who donates above the tuition amount. Keep up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What I have seen at our school, families with multiple children getting substantial FA taking vacations to Europe where families like ours that are full pay for two kids can't afford to take the number of vacations the families on FA take or got to places like the FA families do. That I think is unfair.

+1 this is very common. Also see the financial aid families leasing new Mercedes every few years and renovating their houses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What I have seen at our school, families with multiple children getting substantial FA taking vacations to Europe where families like ours that are full pay for two kids can't afford to take the number of vacations the families on FA take or got to places like the FA families do. That I think is unfair.

How do you know who is getting aid?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher who left a Big 3 school after over a decade of service because we could not afford to send our children there, suffice it to say that there is a lot about this that pisses me off.

Teachers should get to send their kids there for free.

At our school they automatically get half off tuition, and their teacher salary does not count in the financial aid calculations. We have a lot of faculty and staff where both parents work at the school, so their children are covered completely. This is only for full time positions.

As an only child who was a lifer at one of these schools, I do resent families like OPs. My mom took a second job, and annual tuition was a big role in my parent's decision to only have one child. (This was in the 80s/early 90s - DC publics were just generally pretty bad, and we needed to live there for work reasons). We now have our children at a k-12 in dc, and I hate donating to anything that goes to the general FA fund. I will donate all day long to faculty and staff enrichment, new buildings, scholarships for specific segments, etc, but it is families like the OP that I do not want to support. I like how OP claims to be poor by saying her children share a room. Well OP, guess what - my boys share a room, and my girls share a room, yet I am able to contribute to their school. If I couldn't, then I certainly would do something to up my income to be able to or move somewhere with public schools I was comfortable with. OP also claims that she still needs to pay for childcare in the summer. Well then her children are definitely young enough that really almost any public elementary would be fine. These are not specialized high schoolers who need something they can't get at their local public. OP at the very least, keep them off FA until they are older and can be left alone at home during the summer, saving you that money.

OP is likely paying upwards of 100k per year to the school. There is no absence of "support."

That’s what is lost in all of this faux outrage. These are tuition discounts, but the families are still paying through the nose.

Of course, all of these angry posters are much poorer than OP, don’t actually have kids at DC privates, or aren’t involved in their family’s finances in the slightest, so they don’t understand this point at all.

The families are choosing to pay through the nose.

And paying discounted tuition is not supporting the school; it’s buying the product.

By this logic, full pay parents are also not supporting the school but just buying the product, so wtf are people complaining about? The only ones supporting the school in this view are the mega donors, and it is clear from the vacuous and provincial comments here that none of those are present.

Supporting the school as described by the PP who donates above the tuition amount. Keep up.

No one cares about your $500 donation. I know it makes you feel special but it really isn’t.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What I have seen at our school, families with multiple children getting substantial FA taking vacations to Europe where families like ours that are full pay for two kids can't afford to take the number of vacations the families on FA take or got to places like the FA families do. That I think is unfair.

How do you know who is getting aid?

They don’t. Everyone here is making up stuff to fill the void in their lives.

[Anonymous]

I want to know--how do all of you know who is getting aid? This thread is full of people (or a person) who states that they know "this family and that family" are getting aid and abusing it with vacations and luxury cars and (Oh my!) even a Northface jacket.

If you've posted this, how do you know who is getting aid? It sounds like you have an accounting of the status of many other families. How do you know?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What I have seen at our school, families with multiple children getting substantial FA taking vacations to Europe where families like ours that are full pay for two kids can't afford to take the number of vacations the families on FA take or got to places like the FA families do. That I think is unfair.

+1 this is very common. Also see the financial aid families leasing new Mercedes every few years and renovating their houses.

In theory, I agree with this. But you also don’t know the details. A cheap trip to Europe is the same price as a moderate trip somewhere in the United States. One of the requirements of receiving financial aid is not that you must suffer while you receive it. Somebody can get financial aid and still update a super old bathroom or take vacation. Of course somebody has to draw the line at what is not reasonable but that’s the job of the financial aid office isn’t it?? Generally the financial aid document ask for a lot more than just your tax forms. They’re asking recipients to say what they are spending on vacations and cars and home improvement. I know this because I have filled it out. So assuming that people are filling it out truthfully, what they do with their extra money is their business. The financial aid office does not require them to put every extra cent towards tuition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What I have seen at our school, families with multiple children getting substantial FA taking vacations to Europe where families like ours that are full pay for two kids can't afford to take the number of vacations the families on FA take or got to places like the FA families do. That I think is unfair.

How do you know who is getting aid?

The parents tell someone, about how big their aid package was, and the parents talk to each other. Yes, we judge when they spend the full aid package on an international vacation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What I have seen at our school, families with multiple children getting substantial FA taking vacations to Europe where families like ours that are full pay for two kids can't afford to take the number of vacations the families on FA take or got to places like the FA families do. That I think is unfair.

+1 this is very common. Also see the financial aid families leasing new Mercedes every few years and renovating their houses.

In theory, I agree with this. But you also don’t know the details. A cheap trip to Europe is the same price as a moderate trip somewhere in the United States. One of the requirements of receiving financial aid is not that you must suffer while you receive it. Somebody can get financial aid and still update a super old bathroom or take vacation. Of course somebody has to draw the line at what is not reasonable but that’s the job of the financial aid office isn’t it?? Generally the financial aid document ask for a lot more than just your tax forms. They’re asking recipients to say what they are spending on vacations and cars and home improvement. I know this because I have filled it out. So assuming that people are filling it out truthfully, what they do with their extra money is their business. The financial aid office does not require them to put every extra cent towards tuition.

Why would they fill it out truthfully? They are trying to maximize their aid.