Spend college money on private high school instead?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
A DC private as a 10th grader probably won't offer that much aid, even for Catholic.

Even teachers can only expect 50% (If they work at the school).

You are looking at 15K-25K (maybe 30) for 3 years, and tuition will increase each year.
Your kid will also have the impression that private college is a given.

Add in beach weeks, uniforms, textbooks and related social expenses. Sports, theatre, AP exams, band...they all have fees.

If you can use your college savings for tuition, replenish the college fund while they are in HS (almost impossible) you could get away with it, but if your child is content, you may want to keep it going as you have it.

Did not think of any of that

Thanks everyone
We’ll stick with public
We did the lottery but sibling preference is not helping with getting
a spot at Latin or DCI
And 7th grade Covid year was not great so we did not
even try for a magnet

OP, sticking with public sounds. like your most prudent course of action. You also should probably read up on college costs, especially involving divorced parents. From you what you have posted here. so far, you do not seem to have a realistic expectation/understanding of how it works. By getting a sense of what, if anything, you might be able to expect in aid, then you can guide your DC in understanding what may be possible for college. Too many parents on here do not seem to level with their kid about what is realistic and there can be a lot of disappointment. As someone who knew I was working class, I understood that I had to find aid to attend college, so I set my sights accordingly and it largely worked out for me. But I met a kid on the first day of school who had only learned earlier that week that her dad was not going to pay another dime after she turned 18. - half way through the fall semester. She worked hard, got herself emancipated, ended up going to law school, and became a successful attorney. But it was a helluva lot of heart ache because her dad never took his responsibility seriously, including that if he knew he was cutting her off @ 18, he should have told her that in 9th grade.

GL!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If your total college fund is only $40,000 (10,000 x 4), that means your child is going to community college first while living at home.

Not correct.
There is financial aid .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your total college fund is only $40,000 (10,000 x 4), that means your child is going to community college first while living at home.

Not correct.
There is financial aid .

There is for elite private colleges and W&M/UVa if you’re instate for those. Unless you’re pell-eligible (max of $7k/year) which is for extremely low incomes, that’s about it. There’s work study that maxes out at 20 hours/week.

If you want to save money on college it’s better to go to public and kill it on AP/IB/Placement exams to finish college early.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
A DC private as a 10th grader probably won't offer that much aid, even for Catholic.

Even teachers can only expect 50% (If they work at the school).

You are looking at 15K-25K (maybe 30) for 3 years, and tuition will increase each year.
Your kid will also have the impression that private college is a given.

Add in beach weeks, uniforms, textbooks and related social expenses. Sports, theatre, AP exams, band...they all have fees.

If you can use your college savings for tuition, replenish the college fund while they are in HS (almost impossible) you could get away with it, but if your child is content, you may want to keep it going as you have it.

Did not think of any of that

Thanks everyone
We’ll stick with public
We did the lottery but sibling preference is not helping with getting
a spot at Latin or DCI
And 7th grade Covid year was not great so we did not
even try for a magnet

OP, sticking with public sounds. like your most prudent course of action. You also should probably read up on college costs, especially involving divorced parents. From you what you have posted here. so far, you do not seem to have a realistic expectation/understanding of how it works. By getting a sense of what, if anything, you might be able to expect in aid, then you can guide your DC in understanding what may be possible for college. Too many parents on here do not seem to level with their kid about what is realistic and there can be a lot of disappointment. As someone who knew I was working class, I understood that I had to find aid to attend college, so I set my sights accordingly and it largely worked out for me. But I met a kid on the first day of school who had only learned earlier that week that her dad was not going to pay another dime after she turned 18. - half way through the fall semester. She worked hard, got herself emancipated, ended up going to law school, and became a successful attorney. But it was a helluva lot of heart ache because her dad never took his responsibility seriously, including that if he knew he was cutting her off @ 18, he should have told her that in 9th grade.

GL!

None of the bolded is possible. For FAFSA & CSS emancipation only counts if you do it before 18 for the purposes of FAFSA independence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
A DC private as a 10th grader probably won't offer that much aid, even for Catholic.

Even teachers can only expect 50% (If they work at the school).

You are looking at 15K-25K (maybe 30) for 3 years, and tuition will increase each year.
Your kid will also have the impression that private college is a given.

Add in beach weeks, uniforms, textbooks and related social expenses. Sports, theatre, AP exams, band...they all have fees.

If you can use your college savings for tuition, replenish the college fund while they are in HS (almost impossible) you could get away with it, but if your child is content, you may want to keep it going as you have it.

Did not think of any of that

Thanks everyone
We’ll stick with public
We did the lottery but sibling preference is not helping with getting
a spot at Latin or DCI
And 7th grade Covid year was not great so we did not
even try for a magnet

OP, sticking with public sounds. like your most prudent course of action. You also should probably read up on college costs, especially involving divorced parents. From you what you have posted here. so far, you do not seem to have a realistic expectation/understanding of how it works. By getting a sense of what, if anything, you might be able to expect in aid, then you can guide your DC in understanding what may be possible for college. Too many parents on here do not seem to level with their kid about what is realistic and there can be a lot of disappointment. As someone who knew I was working class, I understood that I had to find aid to attend college, so I set my sights accordingly and it largely worked out for me. But I met a kid on the first day of school who had only learned earlier that week that her dad was not going to pay another dime after she turned 18. - half way through the fall semester. She worked hard, got herself emancipated, ended up going to law school, and became a successful attorney. But it was a helluva lot of heart ache because her dad never took his responsibility seriously, including that if he knew he was cutting her off @ 18, he should have told her that in 9th grade.

GL!

None of the bolded is possible. For FAFSA & CSS emancipation only counts if you do it before 18 for the purposes of FAFSA independence.

Not possible now. This happened 4 decades ago and she was able to do it. I'm not surprised this change was made, largely because of folks gaming the system as opposed to someone like this young woman who had been forcibly emancipated by her father.

[Anonymous]

The problem is that you need at least $35K/year for most schools, even with merit awards. A few publics will come in less expensive. But it's not cheap even at the non "famous" schools. Most people have no idea how expensive college is these days if you want them to live at school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What does your kid want?

This. Socially it doesn’t sound fun to be pulled away from your 9th grade friends and expected to be the “new kid” in 10th. It sounds terrible actually.

OP, private schools are for rich people. I wish I could fly in a private jet but I can’t unfortunately

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The problem is that you need at least $35K/year for most schools, even with merit awards. A few publics will come in less expensive. But it's not cheap even at the non "famous" schools. Most people have no idea how expensive college is these days if you want them to live at school.

Not exactly. They can live at home if necessary, as it sounds like it will be in OP’s case. It’s not ideal but it costs about half of what you’re listing here. Lots of kids do that, though not the UMC kids around here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The problem is that you need at least $35K/year for most schools, even with merit awards. A few publics will come in less expensive. But it's not cheap even at the non "famous" schools. Most people have no idea how expensive college is these days if you want them to live at school.

OP’s child will not be able to live away unless they get a full ride (merit or need) so it’s best to readjust expectations now.

[Anonymous]

You'd be amazed at how easy it is to take a huge Parent Plus loan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
A DC private as a 10th grader probably won't offer that much aid, even for Catholic.

Even teachers can only expect 50% (If they work at the school).

You are looking at 15K-25K (maybe 30) for 3 years, and tuition will increase each year.
Your kid will also have the impression that private college is a given.

Add in beach weeks, uniforms, textbooks and related social expenses. Sports, theatre, AP exams, band...they all have fees.

If you can use your college savings for tuition, replenish the college fund while they are in HS (almost impossible) you could get away with it, but if your child is content, you may want to keep it going as you have it.

Did not think of any of that

Thanks everyone
We’ll stick with public
We did the lottery but sibling preference is not helping with getting
a spot at Latin or DCI
And 7th grade Covid year was not great so we did not
even try for a magnet

SWW takes 10th grade - although typically only a few spots.
No matter what - 9th grade 1st term grades are important so make sure your child does not get 8th 4th term slump.
I would look at SJC but I am uncertain what type of aid you might be able to get. It was the most affordable for us. Also look at DeMatha and Carroll

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s only a limited amount of loans he can take out. You cannot afford it and you have no guarantee of scholarships or merit aid. I cannot even wrap my mind around why you would be entertaining this for a kid who is doing fine.

Because I’m reading too many DCUM posts 😵‍💫 and feeling bad
and left behind

And we will contribute more towards college I was budgeting that for a possible
High school

Plus DC TAG helps

Will start 9th fall 2022

I figured it’s too late now for 9th
so was thinking next year

Some schools have rolling admissions, so it is worht a call and to talk about the financial situation too. No harm in asking, you aren't committing by making the call.

[Anonymous]

Good Lord, no.

You have a better chance of getting your kid into a good college if you keep him in public, parent him well, make sure he has good grades in the most advanced classes of his school, and shape an interesting story for college essays.

As soon as you have a private school in your file, it’s assumed your kid had all the opportunities, and expectations move up in consequence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
A DC private as a 10th grader probably won't offer that much aid, even for Catholic.

Even teachers can only expect 50% (If they work at the school).

You are looking at 15K-25K (maybe 30) for 3 years, and tuition will increase each year.
Your kid will also have the impression that private college is a given.

Add in beach weeks, uniforms, textbooks and related social expenses. Sports, theatre, AP exams, band...they all have fees.

If you can use your college savings for tuition, replenish the college fund while they are in HS (almost impossible) you could get away with it, but if your child is content, you may want to keep it going as you have it.

I doubt OP needs to spend on the things you mention (beach week? Yeah, no.). Also, many schools do not even have fees for any of the things you list, except AP exams, and if OP is on financial aid, which I expect at any shcool they would be, those would be covered. Personally, I'd never pay tuition to a school that charged for textbooks and sports or musics/theater. Ridiculous. Also, millions in scholarships are offered by strong colleges to kids at less talked about D.C. private schools every year (same with DC public schools). They are exactly who colleges are looking for (even my full pay kids were offered nearly full scholarships at 2/3s of the colleges, add TAG and OPs 10K, and you'd be surprised at where that kid could go). The risk is that there are no guarantees, and a more welcome risk that, like my kid's friend, you may have to turn own a top school for that full ride to a lesser known school -- but that is only bad news on DCUM.

The problem with this site, is that you get way too many comments from people who are wealthy, only know of a handful of expensive private schools, and believe they are gunning for top 20 colleges full pay -- that is not OP's situation, so a school that isn't "worth it" to them likely works really well for OP, and one that has all sorts of hidden fees and social pressure to spend money isn't on OP's list anyway.

OP, the admissions people at private schools are not boogeymen, they can be very helpful; you can call and talk to them and be honest about your situation and get frank responses in return. And if you don't get that vibe from them, thank them for their time and call another school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Good Lord, no.

You have a better chance of getting your kid into a good college if you keep him in public, parent him well, make sure he has good grades in the most advanced classes of his school, and shape an interesting story for college essays.

As soon as you have a private school in your file, it’s assumed your kid had all the opportunities, and expectations move up in consequence.

This is not true; you know nothing of what OP's kid's file will look like -- they won't need to make unfounded assumptions.