Private School Possible with Household Income <$80K

[Anonymous]

You never know till you try, but don't expect much either.

If you are white, I suspect little will happen beyond maybe an admit with insufficient financial aid. That's just the reality of it, the schools do use financial aid to help achieve the diversity they want and there's no shortage of full paying white families. It's one thing to offer a small amount of financial aid, but another to offer substantial amounts of aid.

You really do need to ask yourself why you want private school on your income. Can you not move to a better district? Or charter programs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hello, everyone. Thank you for all of your insights and opinions. OP here ...

I can imagine there are several scenarios where households may be 2-parent, 1-income like ours. I see there was some speculation that in all cases this would be a parent "staying-at-home" or just not working (a choice I also made while my kids were little as a low-income earner who found childcare unaffordable and a poorer substitute given our particulars). That's one possibility. But others include: care of a child with illness/special needs, dependent adult, out-of-work parent, sick parent, parent who works outside the home without receiving an income (volunteer/intern), and likely others. In our case, we our longtime, pre-pandemic homeschoolers ... so I've been working years without getting paid

As I mentioned previously, I've never made an income (in my previous non-profit / education roles) as much as many of these private high school tuitions. So, I was mainly wondering how others made it work. If it's realistic even with aid. What the imputed wage of a non-working parent might be. Thanks to all of you who provided some useful insider knowledge there.

Others suggested Catholic schools as a less-expensive alternative. We are considering those as well, though we are not Catholic. From reading other threads, it seems that could limit admission / aid in some cases.

Best wishes to everyone searching out the right path for their kiddos next year! If anyone has more helpful information / experiences to offer, we would love to benefit from your words of wisdom.

Thank you!

No. I have never seen a SAH parent be exempt for "volunteering" or having an internship.
Homeschooling is optional. You chose it for your child. Staying home to provide an optional alternative education for your child, who doesn't seem to have special needs that would warrant this, is not sufficient reason to forego an income.
I have colleagues who are full-time adjunct professors and earn $25K/year. I know of preschool teachers who earn $35K/year. Having a low-paying career is not a valid excuse to stop working to earn an income.

[Anonymous]

I'm a single parent making $75K and my kid's Catholic HS has been generous. The tuition is around $17K and I get around $6500 in FA and a scholarship. Not all of the kids there are wealthy.

[Anonymous]

If you are white, there is no way they are going to fully fund (or even fund at >25%) your child unless he is splitting the atom or he is 6'5" and a basketball center.
It's just the reality of things around here. There are a ton of highly qualified, full-pay white kids who apply for 9th.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hello, everyone. Thank you for all of your insights and opinions. OP here ...

I can imagine there are several scenarios where households may be 2-parent, 1-income like ours. I see there was some speculation that in all cases this would be a parent "staying-at-home" or just not working (a choice I also made while my kids were little as a low-income earner who found childcare unaffordable and a poorer substitute given our particulars). That's one possibility. But others include: care of a child with illness/special needs, dependent adult, out-of-work parent, sick parent, parent who works outside the home without receiving an income (volunteer/intern), and likely others. In our case, we our longtime, pre-pandemic homeschoolers ... so I've been working years without getting paid

As I mentioned previously, I've never made an income (in my previous non-profit / education roles) as much as many of these private high school tuitions. So, I was mainly wondering how others made it work. If it's realistic even with aid. What the imputed wage of a non-working parent might be. Thanks to all of you who provided some useful insider knowledge there.

Others suggested Catholic schools as a less-expensive alternative. We are considering those as well, though we are not Catholic. From reading other threads, it seems that could limit admission / aid in some cases.

Best wishes to everyone searching out the right path for their kiddos next year! If anyone has more helpful information / experiences to offer, we would love to benefit from your words of wisdom.

Thank you!

No. I have never seen a SAH parent be exempt for "volunteering" or having an internship.
Homeschooling is optional. You chose it for your child. Staying home to provide an optional alternative education for your child, who doesn't seem to have special needs that would warrant this, is not sufficient reason to forego an income.
I have colleagues who are full-time adjunct professors and earn $25K/year. I know of preschool teachers who earn $35K/year. Having a low-paying career is not a valid excuse to stop working to earn an income.

This. If you chose a low income field and chose to homeschool due to personal choice, they won't have much sympathy. We all make choices and you could choose to get a job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hello, everyone. Thank you for all of your insights and opinions. OP here ...

I can imagine there are several scenarios where households may be 2-parent, 1-income like ours. I see there was some speculation that in all cases this would be a parent "staying-at-home" or just not working (a choice I also made while my kids were little as a low-income earner who found childcare unaffordable and a poorer substitute given our particulars). That's one possibility. But others include: care of a child with illness/special needs, dependent adult, out-of-work parent, sick parent, parent who works outside the home without receiving an income (volunteer/intern), and likely others. In our case, we our longtime, pre-pandemic homeschoolers ... so I've been working years without getting paid

As I mentioned previously, I've never made an income (in my previous non-profit / education roles) as much as many of these private high school tuitions. So, I was mainly wondering how others made it work. If it's realistic even with aid. What the imputed wage of a non-working parent might be. Thanks to all of you who provided some useful insider knowledge there.

Others suggested Catholic schools as a less-expensive alternative. We are considering those as well, though we are not Catholic. From reading other threads, it seems that could limit admission / aid in some cases.

Best wishes to everyone searching out the right path for their kiddos next year! If anyone has more helpful information / experiences to offer, we would love to benefit from your words of wisdom.

Thank you!

Another pre-pandemic homeschooler here, but I’ve also always worked part time. I’ve always mentally calculated the homeschooling as money saved on private school tuition for elementary. I know many homeschoolers that are also holding down other part time jobs as well. You might want to consider that if you are attempting to homeschool a younger child while enrolling an older child in private school. You might also consider your local public. There are many Catholic schools that have tuition around $20k.

Frankly, I don’t have a lot of sympathy. I know two income families that make that much and support multiple generations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You never know till you try, but don't expect much either.

If you are white, I suspect little will happen beyond maybe an admit with insufficient financial aid. That's just the reality of it, the schools do use financial aid to help achieve the diversity they want and there's no shortage of full paying white families. It's one thing to offer a small amount of financial aid, but another to offer substantial amounts of aid.

You really do need to ask yourself why you want private school on your income. Can you not move to a better district? Or charter programs?

If they make $80K, they aren't moving to what you consider a top school district. Think about it. Oh my....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hello, everyone. Thank you for all of your insights and opinions. OP here ...

I can imagine there are several scenarios where households may be 2-parent, 1-income like ours. I see there was some speculation that in all cases this would be a parent "staying-at-home" or just not working (a choice I also made while my kids were little as a low-income earner who found childcare unaffordable and a poorer substitute given our particulars). That's one possibility. But others include: care of a child with illness/special needs, dependent adult, out-of-work parent, sick parent, parent who works outside the home without receiving an income (volunteer/intern), and likely others. In our case, we our longtime, pre-pandemic homeschoolers ... so I've been working years without getting paid

As I mentioned previously, I've never made an income (in my previous non-profit / education roles) as much as many of these private high school tuitions. So, I was mainly wondering how others made it work. If it's realistic even with aid. What the imputed wage of a non-working parent might be. Thanks to all of you who provided some useful insider knowledge there.

Others suggested Catholic schools as a less-expensive alternative. We are considering those as well, though we are not Catholic. From reading other threads, it seems that could limit admission / aid in some cases.

Best wishes to everyone searching out the right path for their kiddos next year! If anyone has more helpful information / experiences to offer, we would love to benefit from your words of wisdom.

Thank you!

No. I have never seen a SAH parent be exempt for "volunteering" or having an internship.
Homeschooling is optional. You chose it for your child. Staying home to provide an optional alternative education for your child, who doesn't seem to have special needs that would warrant this, is not sufficient reason to forego an income.
I have colleagues who are full-time adjunct professors and earn $25K/year. I know of preschool teachers who earn $35K/year. Having a low-paying career is not a valid excuse to stop working to earn an income.

This. If you chose a low income field and chose to homeschool due to personal choice, they won't have much sympathy. We all make choices and you could choose to get a job.

You realize that kind of income are for professionals with masters degrees doing the jobs we as a society need done - teachers, social workers, fire fighters, nurses, police, etc. By the time you take out child care, even making $40-60K doesn't pay. For me, day care was $2200 for one child. So, by the time I paid day care, taxes, union dues and all the extras, I'd end up owing. Plus, health issues made it hard to work. And, caring for a SN child, then later another family member with dementia. I couldn't afford a nanny to take my child to services and an aid to handle an abusive family member.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hello, everyone. Thank you for all of your insights and opinions. OP here ...

I can imagine there are several scenarios where households may be 2-parent, 1-income like ours. I see there was some speculation that in all cases this would be a parent "staying-at-home" or just not working (a choice I also made while my kids were little as a low-income earner who found childcare unaffordable and a poorer substitute given our particulars). That's one possibility. But others include: care of a child with illness/special needs, dependent adult, out-of-work parent, sick parent, parent who works outside the home without receiving an income (volunteer/intern), and likely others. In our case, we our longtime, pre-pandemic homeschoolers ... so I've been working years without getting paid

As I mentioned previously, I've never made an income (in my previous non-profit / education roles) as much as many of these private high school tuitions. So, I was mainly wondering how others made it work. If it's realistic even with aid. What the imputed wage of a non-working parent might be. Thanks to all of you who provided some useful insider knowledge there.

Others suggested Catholic schools as a less-expensive alternative. We are considering those as well, though we are not Catholic. From reading other threads, it seems that could limit admission / aid in some cases.

Best wishes to everyone searching out the right path for their kiddos next year! If anyone has more helpful information / experiences to offer, we would love to benefit from your words of wisdom.

Thank you!

No. I have never seen a SAH parent be exempt for "volunteering" or having an internship.
Homeschooling is optional. You chose it for your child. Staying home to provide an optional alternative education for your child, who doesn't seem to have special needs that would warrant this, is not sufficient reason to forego an income.
I have colleagues who are full-time adjunct professors and earn $25K/year. I know of preschool teachers who earn $35K/year. Having a low-paying career is not a valid excuse to stop working to earn an income.

After 4th grade or so, most parents aren't qualified to homeschool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also just think: how is your kid going to feel when Larlo jets off to an African Safari during Spring break? Lesser than. While I agree private schools are (generally) better for academics and behavior - and certainly prepare a child for a corporate life these Tony schools also give an average kid a major inferiority complex. I would keep researching - there are some really good cheaper private schools that give the bang without the ‘tude. (Religious)

Also poster is correct. We had to look at private for a special need and they only took off 7,000. (I made close to double what you make with stay at home spouse). They want that spouse working.

This isn’t as big of a deal as one might think. Many many many families are super down to earth and DC has definitely found their core group of friends who have similar vacations. One of the more wealthy families is the most down to earth (yeah I looked up their $5M house and know that dad is worth about $60M) but they do normal vacations, fly commercial, drive normal cars, etc. Some families do a lot of international travel, etc but I’ve found that the people displaying the most luxurious lifestyle aren’t actually as wealthy and DC doesn’t really roll with those kids anyway.

You are seriously comparing a family earning $80K to a family with $65 million and living in a $5milllion dollar house and pretending they are down to earth? Be real. Families with $80K aren't living in 5 million dollar hassles and doing international travel. They are lucky they aren't on food stamps and subsidized housing. Saying schools want diversity is a joke.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hello, everyone. Thank you for all of your insights and opinions. OP here ...

I can imagine there are several scenarios where households may be 2-parent, 1-income like ours. I see there was some speculation that in all cases this would be a parent "staying-at-home" or just not working (a choice I also made while my kids were little as a low-income earner who found childcare unaffordable and a poorer substitute given our particulars). That's one possibility. But others include: care of a child with illness/special needs, dependent adult, out-of-work parent, sick parent, parent who works outside the home without receiving an income (volunteer/intern), and likely others. In our case, we our longtime, pre-pandemic homeschoolers ... so I've been working years without getting paid

As I mentioned previously, I've never made an income (in my previous non-profit / education roles) as much as many of these private high school tuitions. So, I was mainly wondering how others made it work. If it's realistic even with aid. What the imputed wage of a non-working parent might be. Thanks to all of you who provided some useful insider knowledge there.

Others suggested Catholic schools as a less-expensive alternative. We are considering those as well, though we are not Catholic. From reading other threads, it seems that could limit admission / aid in some cases.

Best wishes to everyone searching out the right path for their kiddos next year! If anyone has more helpful information / experiences to offer, we would love to benefit from your words of wisdom.

Thank you!

No. I have never seen a SAH parent be exempt for "volunteering" or having an internship.
Homeschooling is optional. You chose it for your child. Staying home to provide an optional alternative education for your child, who doesn't seem to have special needs that would warrant this, is not sufficient reason to forego an income.
I have colleagues who are full-time adjunct professors and earn $25K/year. I know of preschool teachers who earn $35K/year. Having a low-paying career is not a valid excuse to stop working to earn an income.

This. If you chose a low income field and chose to homeschool due to personal choice, they won't have much sympathy. We all make choices and you could choose to get a job.

You realize that kind of income are for professionals with masters degrees doing the jobs we as a society need done - teachers, social workers, fire fighters, nurses, police, etc. By the time you take out child care, even making $40-60K doesn't pay. For me, day care was $2200 for one child. So, by the time I paid day care, taxes, union dues and all the extras, I'd end up owing. Plus, health issues made it hard to work. And, caring for a SN child, then later another family member with dementia. I couldn't afford a nanny to take my child to services and an aid to handle an abusive family member.

If you have real SN reasons to homeschool that's one thing. If you're doing it because you want to, I don't think anyone would find that compelling. The number of people who can't afford private school because they've spent time and money caring for family is vast. They can't all get admitted with FA.

It's unclear to me why you don't have a job now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also just think: how is your kid going to feel when Larlo jets off to an African Safari during Spring break? Lesser than. While I agree private schools are (generally) better for academics and behavior - and certainly prepare a child for a corporate life these Tony schools also give an average kid a major inferiority complex. I would keep researching - there are some really good cheaper private schools that give the bang without the ‘tude. (Religious)

Also poster is correct. We had to look at private for a special need and they only took off 7,000. (I made close to double what you make with stay at home spouse). They want that spouse working.

This isn’t as big of a deal as one might think. Many many many families are super down to earth and DC has definitely found their core group of friends who have similar vacations. One of the more wealthy families is the most down to earth (yeah I looked up their $5M house and know that dad is worth about $60M) but they do normal vacations, fly commercial, drive normal cars, etc. Some families do a lot of international travel, etc but I’ve found that the people displaying the most luxurious lifestyle aren’t actually as wealthy and DC doesn’t really roll with those kids anyway.

You are seriously comparing a family earning $80K to a family with $65 million and living in a $5milllion dollar house and pretending they are down to earth? Be real. Families with $80K aren't living in 5 million dollar hassles and doing international travel. They are lucky they aren't on food stamps and subsidized housing. Saying schools want diversity is a joke.

+1. A family of 4 can qualify for DC daycare subsidy with nearly that income.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hello, everyone. Thank you for all of your insights and opinions. OP here ...

I can imagine there are several scenarios where households may be 2-parent, 1-income like ours. I see there was some speculation that in all cases this would be a parent "staying-at-home" or just not working (a choice I also made while my kids were little as a low-income earner who found childcare unaffordable and a poorer substitute given our particulars). That's one possibility. But others include: care of a child with illness/special needs, dependent adult, out-of-work parent, sick parent, parent who works outside the home without receiving an income (volunteer/intern), and likely others. In our case, we our longtime, pre-pandemic homeschoolers ... so I've been working years without getting paid

As I mentioned previously, I've never made an income (in my previous non-profit / education roles) as much as many of these private high school tuitions. So, I was mainly wondering how others made it work. If it's realistic even with aid. What the imputed wage of a non-working parent might be. Thanks to all of you who provided some useful insider knowledge there.

Others suggested Catholic schools as a less-expensive alternative. We are considering those as well, though we are not Catholic. From reading other threads, it seems that could limit admission / aid in some cases.

Best wishes to everyone searching out the right path for their kiddos next year! If anyone has more helpful information / experiences to offer, we would love to benefit from your words of wisdom.

Thank you!

No. I have never seen a SAH parent be exempt for "volunteering" or having an internship.
Homeschooling is optional. You chose it for your child. Staying home to provide an optional alternative education for your child, who doesn't seem to have special needs that would warrant this, is not sufficient reason to forego an income.
I have colleagues who are full-time adjunct professors and earn $25K/year. I know of preschool teachers who earn $35K/year. Having a low-paying career is not a valid excuse to stop working to earn an income.

This. If you chose a low income field and chose to homeschool due to personal choice, they won't have much sympathy. We all make choices and you could choose to get a job.

You realize that kind of income are for professionals with masters degrees doing the jobs we as a society need done - teachers, social workers, fire fighters, nurses, police, etc. By the time you take out child care, even making $40-60K doesn't pay. For me, day care was $2200 for one child. So, by the time I paid day care, taxes, union dues and all the extras, I'd end up owing. Plus, health issues made it hard to work. And, caring for a SN child, then later another family member with dementia. I couldn't afford a nanny to take my child to services and an aid to handle an abusive family member.

Not clear why you don't have a job now. These are all valid reasons for not working in the past - like caring for a sick family member or having a baby/toddler at home - but what would be your excuse now? You just didn't feel like trying to jump back into the workforce?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hello, everyone. Thank you for all of your insights and opinions. OP here ...

I can imagine there are several scenarios where households may be 2-parent, 1-income like ours. I see there was some speculation that in all cases this would be a parent "staying-at-home" or just not working (a choice I also made while my kids were little as a low-income earner who found childcare unaffordable and a poorer substitute given our particulars). That's one possibility. But others include: care of a child with illness/special needs, dependent adult, out-of-work parent, sick parent, parent who works outside the home without receiving an income (volunteer/intern), and likely others. In our case, we our longtime, pre-pandemic homeschoolers ... so I've been working years without getting paid

As I mentioned previously, I've never made an income (in my previous non-profit / education roles) as much as many of these private high school tuitions. So, I was mainly wondering how others made it work. If it's realistic even with aid. What the imputed wage of a non-working parent might be. Thanks to all of you who provided some useful insider knowledge there.

Others suggested Catholic schools as a less-expensive alternative. We are considering those as well, though we are not Catholic. From reading other threads, it seems that could limit admission / aid in some cases.

Best wishes to everyone searching out the right path for their kiddos next year! If anyone has more helpful information / experiences to offer, we would love to benefit from your words of wisdom.

Thank you!

No. I have never seen a SAH parent be exempt for "volunteering" or having an internship.
Homeschooling is optional. You chose it for your child. Staying home to provide an optional alternative education for your child, who doesn't seem to have special needs that would warrant this, is not sufficient reason to forego an income.
I have colleagues who are full-time adjunct professors and earn $25K/year. I know of preschool teachers who earn $35K/year. Having a low-paying career is not a valid excuse to stop working to earn an income.

This. If you chose a low income field and chose to homeschool due to personal choice, they won't have much sympathy. We all make choices and you could choose to get a job.

You realize that kind of income are for professionals with masters degrees doing the jobs we as a society need done - teachers, social workers, fire fighters, nurses, police, etc. By the time you take out child care, even making $40-60K doesn't pay. For me, day care was $2200 for one child. So, by the time I paid day care, taxes, union dues and all the extras, I'd end up owing. Plus, health issues made it hard to work. And, caring for a SN child, then later another family member with dementia. I couldn't afford a nanny to take my child to services and an aid to handle an abusive family member.

Not clear why you don't have a job now. These are all valid reasons for not working in the past - like caring for a sick family member or having a baby/toddler at home - but what would be your excuse now? You just didn't feel like trying to jump back into the workforce?

Look, I'll give you the eldercare-- definitely a job that needs to be done. But "we as a society" don't need your ONE child to be homeschooled. You wanted to do it, you did it, but unless your child has very significant special needs it doesn't save the public school system any money. Nor does it produce better outcomes on a society-wide level. If you were actually working as a social worker or firefighter or something that would be way more persuasive.

[Anonymous]

Right, see, OP, a lot of people don't earn much over their childcare expenses when their children are small. But they understand that working may nevertheless pay off in the long run, in terms of experience, seniority, and earning capacity. Did you not think about that when you made your decision?