If you remember the old days, was private school this expensive compared to HHI?

[Anonymous]

1981-Sidwell was @3k. Dad made @80k. So yeah, prices are really for the extremely wealthy or they're really, really straining. It would be such a stressful thing to raise kids and barely be afford tuition. Not remotely worth it, imo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let's take a certain percentile of HHI from the census data. Say we want to know what the 95th percentile HHI was in 2000 and 2012, and then compare the change in those HHI's versus the change in tuition.
2000 95th percentile HHI: $145k
2012 95th percentile HHI: $191k
So that's just about a 33% increase in HHI if you stay at the same percentile over those 12 years.
If, as PP said, in 2000 they were paying $12k for tuition in 2000 and were paying about $30k in 2012, that tuition increased by 150 percent during that time.
So, clearly, increases in tuition were WAY outpacing increases in HHI over the same period.
If you take incomes at the 75th percentile, it's:
2000 at 75th percentile: about 82k
2012 at 75th percentile: about 104k
So, at the 75th percentile of HHI, we are looking at about a 27% increase in HHI over those twelve years. Compared to a %150 increase in tuition at the same school.
No wonder we feel like families that used to be able to afford private can't anymore.
In the year 2000, if HHI was $120k and tuition was $12k, that person's HHI was in the

Your whole premise is flawed because you are juxtaposing nationwide HHI figures with Washington-specific tuition. (My sister's tuition at a fine private high school in the Midwest $8,000. )

Can you post a link to the data?

Also, 99th percentile might be more appropriate --- and also household composition has changed a lot in these years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let's take a certain percentile of HHI from the census data. Say we want to know what the 95th percentile HHI was in 2000 and 2012, and then compare the change in those HHI's versus the change in tuition.
2000 95th percentile HHI: $145k
2012 95th percentile HHI: $191k
So that's just about a 33% increase in HHI if you stay at the same percentile over those 12 years.
If, as PP said, in 2000 they were paying $12k for tuition in 2000 and were paying about $30k in 2012, that tuition increased by 150 percent during that time.
So, clearly, increases in tuition were WAY outpacing increases in HHI over the same period.
If you take incomes at the 75th percentile, it's:
2000 at 75th percentile: about 82k
2012 at 75th percentile: about 104k
So, at the 75th percentile of HHI, we are looking at about a 27% increase in HHI over those twelve years. Compared to a %150 increase in tuition at the same school.
No wonder we feel like families that used to be able to afford private can't anymore.
In the year 2000, if HHI was $120k and tuition was $12k, that person's HHI was in the

Your whole premise is flawed because you are juxtaposing nationwide HHI figures with Washington-specific tuition. (My sister's tuition at a fine private high school in the Midwest $8,000. )

Can you post a link to the data?

Data were just from the census. Not digging it up again, but it's easy to google. There's a table that shows the 25th, 50th, 75th, and 95th, so i don't know the 99th.
The critique that that is national data is only appropriate if we think DC area incomes have grown significantly more over those 12 years than national. It was a comparison of growth rates, not absolutes. If someone wants to compare the growth rates of the metro dc area numbers, go for it! Probably on the census site too. I suspect the answer may be different, but the big picture answer will be the same.
Also, 99th percentile might be more appropriate --- and also household composition has changed a lot in these years.

[Anonymous]

I went to a very well known private school in the NE. I remember my parents commenting how my very good public university tuition was MORE than my high school tuition, this was the early 90s. My parents both were business owners, so HHI fluctuated heavily from year to year.

My high school tuition today is still about $10,000 less than DC privates. I can't understand why.