Financial tradeoffs when deciding whether to move for better schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Personally I would move. But I realise many people prioritise wealth over education of their children so I would imagine I am in the minority.

Oh stop! I have plenty of friends who send their kids to those "lower quality schools" and their kids have excelled. It's a balance.

So inner city Baltimore schools, A Nope from me. But live in Columbia MD and use the "lower schools in HoCo" not an issue if that is where I can afford to live and like it. My kid will grow up with massive diversity and have plenty of smart kids as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We decided to move.
We ended up living in our “starter home” for 20 years and paid it off fully. Our child came late due to struggles with infertility. We moved last year from a school with 85% FARMS to one that is 10% and took on a sizable mortgage at 7% even with our equity.
No regrets at all. We don’t buy into the theory that the school environment doesn’t matter as long as the parents are very involved at home. We can actually build a community here.

Well in your case, I agree! I wouldn't go much beyond 25-35% FARMS. Unless it's a unique comminutiy where the parents are living there specifically for the schools. 85% can be very rough and most likely many parents are simply too busy trying to survive to worry about their kid's education

[Anonymous]

We pulled our kids out of public and are selling houses (divorced) to pay for Catholic school through 12th grade. I thought the “great FCPS” school was awful. We switched to parochial three years ago and the kids have never been happier and we will never go back to public school. Education over housing 100%.

[Anonymous]

I think you’re going to need to play it by ear and be responsive to your kids’ needs. I grew up in a bad urban public school district, but I did ok because I tested into accelerated programs. My siblings struggled much more and probably should have moved. Even though I “succeeded” because I got into an Ivy League school, I was woefully underprepared compared to my suburban and private school classmates. I caught up eventually but it was tough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just budget for tutoring, in case your children have a bad teacher one year. Much cheaper than moving.

It the same as spending 7 hours a day somewhere. I substitute and there is absolutely a different in the low rated schools and the highly rated ones.

We also moved from low performing school - virtually no PTA - to a high performing school and the parental involvement and community support is night and day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it depends on just how bad the schools in your neighborhood are, especially within FCPS.

We stayed in our starter home, in a neighborhood similar to Lake Braddock, West Springfield, Woodson vs moving to somewhere like McLean and Langley. Our kids have thrived and they and their peers have all been accepted into very good colleges. The same type of bell curve I would expect from other schools, so some Ivy and other top rated schools, some SLAC, the standard large group at UVA and the like.

Is this a joke? LB/WS/Woodson are all very good schools.

Yeah, that was my thought too - none of those are bad schools. I was thinking more like Lewis to Marshall.

[Anonymous]

Op. We were in the same situation and chose to stay in our first home and focus on savings. We took full advantage of CES and magnet programs. Our kid is currently in the Poolesville HS magnet, but they would be fine in their home school with similar types of friends.

[Anonymous]

Unless you are zoned for schools where teachers are being shanked and 50% drop out, I would stay put. You do not need to be in Chevy Chase, Bethesda, or Potomac schools for your kids to do well. Unless you work in some recession proof job, there is way too much uncertainty in the economy and unemployed/underemployed as one gets older. A low mortgage or no mortgage is priceless for your mental health.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Personally I would move. But I realise many people prioritise wealth over education of their children so I would imagine I am in the minority.

studies show that that it’s better to be born rich and dumb then smart and poor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is this a joke? LB/WS/Woodson are all very good schools.

LB/WS/Woodson is not at the same level as McLean or Langley. Don’t kid yourself

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Personally I would move. But I realise many people prioritise wealth over education of their children so I would imagine I am in the minority.

This is interesting because I see lots of people conflating education and wealth and saying they value education when what they actually really want is to be rich. "Education" is the way they see to get there, but when you dig down they want education as a tool to wealth and not for education's sake.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We bought our "starter" home in a low-rated school pyramid before we had kids, with the thought that we would move sometime during elementary school. Now that we have kids and are settled in here, we're having trouble deciding whether this makes sense. Our house is big enough for our family, we have friends in the neighborhood, and if we moved to a better school district we would have to make a number of tradeoffs.

If we stay, we will be able to fully fund retirement+college+grad school while also being able to take a couple of nice family vacations a year and generally not have to think much about money or budgeting. If we move we wouldn't be living paycheck to paycheck or anything, but we would have to pay close attention to our budget and would have a lot less left over for vacation, camps, extracurriculars, etc.

On one hand, I feel bad wanting to live an easier life at the expense of a potentially better education for my kids. On the other hand, I feel like having involved parents who care about education is half the battle when dealing with poorly rated schools, and the lifestyle we'll be able to live will be better for all. Would appreciate any thoughts from those who went through a similar decision!

OP, are you in the Lewis pyramid? We are considering a move in the spring for the same reasons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it depends on just how bad the schools in your neighborhood are, especially within FCPS.

We stayed in our starter home, in a neighborhood similar to Lake Braddock, West Springfield, Woodson vs moving to somewhere like McLean and Langley. Our kids have thrived and they and their peers have all been accepted into very good colleges. The same type of bell curve I would expect from other schools, so some Ivy and other top rated schools, some SLAC, the standard large group at UVA and the like.

Is this a joke? LB/WS/Woodson are all very good schools.

I'm not familiar with the specific schools, but that's what I took PP's point to be -- that if the current "worse" schools are still fine, it makes more sense to stay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Personally I would move. But I realise many people prioritise wealth over education of their children so I would imagine I am in the minority.

Oh please.

An extra million (or a couple million) as an inheritance ends up benefiting your kids more in the long-run if they don’t get into an IVY plus or elite school. Most kids don’t get into those schools and it’s very difficult to predict what the future will look like in the next few decades, if AI is not being overhyped unemployment is going to go up significantly. I’m leaning towards it being overhyped, but I want to hedge my bets at this point. I am no willing to double my spending on a house (for a better school pyramid) when my kids are more likely to be better off with a larger inheritance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Personally I would move. But I realise many people prioritise wealth over education of their children so I would imagine I am in the minority.

Oh please.

An extra million (or a couple million) as an inheritance ends up benefiting your kids more in the long-run if they don’t get into an IVY plus or elite school. Most kids don’t get into those schools and it’s very difficult to predict what the future will look like in the next few decades, if AI is not being overhyped unemployment is going to go up significantly. I’m leaning towards it being overhyped, but I want to hedge my bets at this point. I am no willing to double my spending on a house (for a better school pyramid) when my kids are more likely to be better off with a larger inheritance.

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