How much of a tuition increase will make you leave the private schools that you are enrolled in?

[Anonymous]

pp, "those schools" referred to Harvard, Yale, and Princeton, not local private schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also, in this area, the declining student volume helps the public schools more than the private schools.

Where are the public enrollments declining? In close-in Bethesda (Westbrook, Woodacres), they seem to be climbing every year.

[Anonymous]

I also think that the Sidwell quote was nauseating.

We'll be paying $26K next year for our eldest child to attend a top school. My DH makes around $300K, and we thought that we could afford the school. If tuition held steady, I think we'd stay the course. But looking into the future at $30K+ tuition has me rethinking all of this. And I almost have DH convinced as well.

I'm like the other PPs who have thought of the annual summer-long trip to China, India, or Africa that we could afford if we don't stay in independent schools. That kind of exposure combined with the great MC or Fairfax schools should suit Junior just fine.

The disparity between public and private just isn't great enough to justify the rising cost. And I don't want to have to return to work and hire a nanny just to pay the college-size tuitions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, in this area, the declining student volume helps the public schools more than the private schools.

Where are the public enrollments declining? In close-in Bethesda (Westbrook, Woodacres), they seem to be climbing every year.

The Post article explained that there is a decline.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I also think that the Sidwell quote was nauseating.

We'll be paying $26K next year for our eldest child to attend a top school. My DH makes around $300K, and we thought that we could afford the school. If tuition held steady, I think we'd stay the course. But looking into the future at $30K+ tuition has me rethinking all of this. And I almost have DH convinced as well.

I'm like the other PPs who have thought of the annual summer-long trip to China, India, or Africa that we could afford if we don't stay in independent schools. That kind of exposure combined with the great MC or Fairfax schools should suit Junior just fine.

The disparity between public and private just isn't great enough to justify the rising cost. And I don't want to have to return to work and hire a nanny just to pay the college-size tuit

Well said. I like "Junior". Any way, I was the one that started the we have to be in private school thing, and my husband is now into it. We are enrolled at Norwood, and I am not sure that we will be back next year. It makes no sense. If we were looking at say $18 k I would be able to digest it, but with the extra costs involved like after care? No way.
I also feel for families at schools that are actually worse than the public schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, in this area, the declining student volume helps the public schools more than the private schools.

Where are the public enrollments declining? In close-in Bethesda (Westbrook, Woodacres), they seem to be climbing every year.

The Post article explained that there is a decline.

Yes, I know--the article said 1% over two years in suburban Maryland, but that doesn't match what I've seen at what is admittedly a small sample. Just wondering if people have actually encountered this decline and if it is concentrated in certain areas.

Also the article said that public enrollments are still growing in NOVA.

[Anonymous]

To the Norwood parent, (PP): We are considering Norwood next year, but we are also strongly considering public (Norwood, that is if our child were to get in). Would love to hear more about your thoughts. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

The Sidwell quote was exactly the reason why we decided it was not the place for our children. My husband thought the parents and the school's atmosphere were arrogant and obnoxious and said there was no way he would be giving them our hard-earned dollars. Our kids ended up at another school which has an elitist reputation, but we have been pleasantly surprised to find the atmosphere much friendlier and open than Sidwell's. And as for the public/private debate, we live in DC and, although we went to public elementary, we coudn't justify not going private for middle if we could possibly afford it. It's a stretch, but fortunately we bought our house a long time ago and have a small mortgage!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To the Norwood parent, (PP): We are considering Norwood next year, but we are also strongly considering public (Norwood, that is if our child were to get in). Would love to hear more about your thoughts. Thanks.

The issue is that the public schools are good in our area. The enrollment is down at Norwood, so getting in should not be too difficult, but don't be too cavalier. The issue is as other posters have stated, we would like to do other things. We can not do anything else like vacations or renovations with that tuition looming.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We will call it quits next year if tuition goes up more than $500. It is already hard to justify these costs. What are other families thoughts?

The pre-school that we use just increase tuition $250 A MONTH. The chances of an independent school tuition increase staying at $500 for the year is slim to none - percentage wise that is a miniscule increase.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I also think that the Sidwell quote was nauseating.

We'll be paying $26K next year for our eldest child to attend a top school. My DH makes around $300K, and we thought that we could afford the school. If tuition held steady, I think we'd stay the course. But looking into the future at $30K+ tuition has me rethinking all of this. And I almost have DH convinced as well.

I'm like the other PPs who have thought of the annual summer-long trip to China, India, or Africa that we could afford if we don't stay in independent schools. That kind of exposure combined with the great MC or Fairfax schools should suit Junior just fine.

The disparity between public and private just isn't great enough to justify the rising cost. And I don't want to have to return to work and hire a nanny just to pay the college-size tuitions.

Your spouse has the flexibility to miss two or more months or work and spend $30K on a summer-long trip?

[Anonymous]

To the Norwood parent, sorry that I sounded cavalier, not my intention (as I said, should my child get in). Anyway, thanks for your feedback.

Others: Love the summer trip to Asia, India, etc. idea! As a SAHM, I could surely do it and my husband could join us for some of it. Why the snarky comment by the PP? Also, as many know, travel in many parts of the world is not a 30K thing. I think the jist is travel, cool camps, exposure to other languages, people, other types of after school activities, etc. are more in the cards for some stretching to do private, if they have a good public school option.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To the Norwood parent, sorry that I sounded cavalier, not my intention (as I said, should my child get in). Anyway, thanks for your feedback.

Others: Love the summer trip to Asia, India, etc. idea! As a SAHM, I could surely do it and my husband could join us for some of it. Why the snarky comment by the PP? Also, as many know, travel in many parts of the world is not a 30K thing. I think the jist is travel, cool camps, exposure to other languages, people, other types of after school activities, etc. are more in the cards for some stretching to do private, if they have a good public school option.

I did not think that you sounded cavalier, I did not take it that way. I just implied that it may not be very easy to get in.
Good luck with your decisions!

[Anonymous]

Going back to the original question, what do people consider their cut-off point in terms of tuition? With many schools now nudging the 30k mark, are people willing to stick around as tuition goes to 35k, or even 40k? These sorts of tuition increases don't seem impossible considering the trends so far.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To the Norwood parent, sorry that I sounded cavalier, not my intention (as I said, should my child get in). Anyway, thanks for your feedback.

Others: Love the summer trip to Asia, India, etc. idea! As a SAHM, I could surely do it and my husband could join us for some of it. Why the snarky comment by the PP? Also, as many know, travel in many parts of the world is not a 30K thing. I think the jist is travel, cool camps, exposure to other languages, people, other types of after school activities, etc. are more in the cards for some stretching to do private, if they have a good public school option.

I didn't intend it to be snarky. Traveling abroad with children for 2-3 months is an expensive proposition, unless one stays with friends or relatives much of the time. And most working people don't have 2-3 months off in the summer. I'm a professor and I have to write and publish in the summer; my husband owns his own firm and is a high earner, but he can barely take off more than a week at a time because he simply needs to be here. We've also found that even our vacation home is used less and less as our children have more activities in the summer. So for us, we can't imagine the flexibility to travel for 2 or 3 months. Plus we would really, really miss home! Put those factors together with our discomfort with our local public schools, and we're doing private for now. Our tuition is under $20K, though.