Can we afford private?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I am OP, and appreciate the response. I am aware of the math, but i take your point to be that if you werein my shoes, you would give public a good try first. I agree that makes sense. We will change by middle school for sure, because i am not hearing good things about our middle.

I don't think anybody ever hears anything good about their middle school. That's just the nature of middle school.

That is true. We moved to another area of the country and people say the same things about the middle schools here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Apply for FA.

There is no way that given OPs income that they would qualify for FA!

[Anonymous]

This forum is about private schools. I just don't understand why public school parents get on here and start sounding off on how awesome public school is in response to a question about a affording a private school education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This forum is about private schools. I just don't understand why public school parents get on here and start sounding off on how awesome public school is in response to a question about a affording a private school education.

Q: Can we afford private school, or do we have to send our children to public school?
A: If you can't afford private school, don't worry! Public schools are good too!

That's how.

[Anonymous]

^^whoops, sorry. I mean, That's why.

[Anonymous]

Op here, i find the "public school is good" responses fine and relevant. (minus that one snotty one)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This forum is about private schools. I just don't understand why public school parents get on here and start sounding off on how awesome public school is in response to a question about a affording a private school education.

OP is not really asking "Can we afford private". Clearly she's smart enough to know that a family with a $245K income can come up with $40K a year if need be. If this was a question of something that was, without a doubt, needed, like say chemotherapy, then the OP can clearly find $40K. What the OP is actually asking is "are the sacrifices I'd have to make to send my kids to private worth it, and what would they be?" The answer to that question clearly hinges, in part, on what your tuition money is buying, and how much better a private school is relative to a public one is hugely relevant to that decision.

I send my kid to public. Not because I can't afford private, but because the sacrifices we'd have to make as a family weren't justified by the differences between my local public school and the private school we liked best.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This forum is about private schools. I just don't understand why public school parents get on here and start sounding off on how awesome public school is in response to a question about a affording a private school education.

OP is not really asking "Can we afford private". Clearly she's smart enough to know that a family with a $245K income can come up with $40K a year if need be. If this was a question of something that was, without a doubt, needed, like say chemotherapy, then the OP can clearly find $40K. What the OP is actually asking is "are the sacrifices I'd have to make to send my kids to private worth it, and what would they be?" The answer to that question clearly hinges, in part, on what your tuition money is buying, and how much better a private school is relative to a public one is hugely relevant to that decision.

I send my kid to public. Not because I can't afford private, but because the sacrifices we'd have to make as a family weren't justified by the differences between my local public school and the private school we liked best.

Agree. And I agree that it would not be wise to go private at that income. You would have to cut back in too many things (college savings, retirement savings, etc).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This forum is about private schools. I just don't understand why public school parents get on here and start sounding off on how awesome public school is in response to a question about a affording a private school education.

OP is not really asking "Can we afford private". Clearly she's smart enough to know that a family with a $245K income can come up with $40K a year if need be. If this was a question of something that was, without a doubt, needed, like say chemotherapy, then the OP can clearly find $40K. What the OP is actually asking is "are the sacrifices I'd have to make to send my kids to private worth it, and what would they be?" The answer to that question clearly hinges, in part, on what your tuition money is buying, and how much better a private school is relative to a public one is hugely relevant to that decision.

I send my kid to public. Not because I can't afford private, but because the sacrifices we'd have to make as a family weren't justified by the differences between my local public school and the private school we liked best.

Op here, right. Partially it's "can we afford it", because for two kids we're not talking $40k. More like $60k. And it's not so much sacrifices that concern me as the level of risk if the private tuition requires that we have zero financial safety net.
Anyway, thanks for the many thoughtful responses.

[Anonymous]

We've done private for many years and have sacrificed retirement and college savings and vacations and have a ton of stress about money and right now really regret it.

[Anonymous]

OP, unless you expect a huge pay raise greater than inflation and tuition increases, you can NOT afford it. No one questions a move to a better school dist5rict because at the end of it, at least you have a house. But you will be looking at 400K, all for what?!
I have one in private and one in public (good schools too). But I will say that the problems they face are different, but it still puts me in a position to after school them.
The one in private because the teachers and curriculum stink, and the one in public because they don't challenge and he gets little attention.
You pick.

[Anonymous]

19:41 again, let me add to the above.
Private: bad teachers (who smile), bad curriculum (never age appropriate, often pulled out of the air), too many holidays, too little class time (because of all the specials).
Public: little challenge, little attention, too much academic time, too little down time, too strict, boring (but if they have noting to compare it too that is OK).

[Anonymous]

We did public for elementary, private for middle and are on the fence about high school. Private for middle has been great-- kids have such particular needs at that age and a good middle school program for us has been priceless. Our child actually loves school-- it's so weird. Who loves 7th grade? I certainly didn't. That said we are agonizing over the expense for high school. We too "can afford it" but we'd be giving up so much buying power in terms of college savings, extra retirement padding, etc. It kind of makes it impossible for us to have wiggle room concerning our jobs. But now that private middle was such a good experience we've gotten a bit hooked on finding something that good for high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:19:41 again, let me add to the above.
Private: bad teachers (who smile), bad curriculum (never age appropriate, often pulled out of the air), too many holidays, too little class time (because of all the specials).
Public: little challenge, little attention, too much academic time, too little down time, too strict, boring (but if they have noting to compare it too that is OK).

I continue to be amazed that people take their experience at a single private school or a single public school and extrapolate across all privates or all publics. Every school is different and every child is different. Go look at all of your options -- public and private -- and see which school among them seems to best fit your child/family. While the PP thinks her child gets too little class time because of the specials, for some people, the specials are exactly what make the tuition worthwhile. If you find a school where the specials are well-integrated with the rest of the curriculum, it's just increasing the depth of your child's knowledge about any particular thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:19:41 again, let me add to the above.
Private: bad teachers (who smile), bad curriculum (never age appropriate, often pulled out of the air), too many holidays, too little class time (because of all the specials).
Public: little challenge, little attention, too much academic time, too little down time, too strict, boring (but if they have noting to compare it too that is OK).

I continue to be amazed that people take their experience at a single private school or a single public school and extrapolate across all privates or all publics. Every school is different and every child is different. Go look at all of your options -- public and private -- and see which school among them seems to best fit your child/family. While the PP thinks her child gets too little class time because of the specials, for some people, the specials are exactly what make the tuition worthwhile. If you find a school where the specials are well-integrated with the rest of the curriculum, it's just increasing the depth of your child's knowledge about any particular thing.

People have to extrapolate, because there's no study or collection of data. So imperfect imformation is all we have. Visiting and touring doesn't give perfect info either. A large part of it is guessing, but i do appreciate others' experiences.