How do people afford it?

[Anonymous]

Apply for FA. You'll get something

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Private schools are not worth it. Don't buy in - your kids can get a completely fine education and get into great colleges from any public school. It's about the kid. The school does not matter. Teachers at private schools are just as bad and good as at public schools. Private schools in this area are so overpriced. I wish I had not sent mine to these ridiculously overpriced schools that were nothing special. Maybe they were a bit cleaner and had better facilities and smaller class sizes - but that's it. Definitely not worth the 50K/yr plus all the dumb donations and other costs of attendance.

+1000

Signed, private school parent

If you are sending your kid to school solely for college admissions results, sure. There are, however, many other valid reasons for choosing your child's school. One size does not fit all.

Also, some people want better than “fine” for their kids. Mine would be absolutely “fine” in public school, but we wanted to give them a better experience than “fine”.

The better experience is luck of what teachers your child gets, good fit of the school in terms of offerings, etc. That can happen in public or private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Private schools are not worth it. Don't buy in - your kids can get a completely fine education and get into great colleges from any public school. It's about the kid. The school does not matter. Teachers at private schools are just as bad and good as at public schools. Private schools in this area are so overpriced. I wish I had not sent mine to these ridiculously overpriced schools that were nothing special. Maybe they were a bit cleaner and had better facilities and smaller class sizes - but that's it. Definitely not worth the 50K/yr plus all the dumb donations and other costs of attendance.

+1000

Signed, private school parent

If you are sending your kid to school solely for college admissions results, sure. There are, however, many other valid reasons for choosing your child's school. One size does not fit all.

Also, some people want better than “fine” for their kids. Mine would be absolutely “fine” in public school, but we wanted to give them a better experience than “fine”.

The better experience is luck of what teachers your child gets, good fit of the school in terms of offerings, etc. That can happen in public or private.

I absolutely disagree. Teachers aside, you can pick and choose so much more if you decide to go private. We chose an Episcopalian single gender school with very strong academics, small class size and strong community spirit. Not sure I could have found that at my inbound DCPS. Perhaps where you live there are those kind of PS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Obviously nothing is a guarantee- but if your kid is brilliant and really excels at what is considered an average public school - they can certainly still get into Ivy League schools. You don't need to pay for these overpriced privates if you can't afford it.

IF your kid is perfect - well adjusted socially, a self-starter who knows what they are with a strong sense of self and confidence, someone who does not have the slightest learning disability and is mature enough to navigate some public schools which are a mess - both environmentally, with bad crowds, with messed up kids and with high volume classes - then I 1000% agree with you that public is all you need. And we have a number of friends with kids like this. Mine aren't. They are sweet and sensitive, one has dyslexia and ADHD and they really would not be served well in public. So for you to judge me as a parent who loves my kids and want to give them the best I can for their life for the next 6 years left in their academic career prior to college, yeah, go ahead and judge. I just hope that one day something doesn't happen to your family where you don't need more help in some capacity.

PS - It's also akin in a less dramatic metaphor - when you go on holiday, you can stay at a nice hostel and be perfectly well housed. You may sleep in a crappy bed and kinda worry that you're not going to wake up to bedbugs and not be necessarily 100% comfortable but hey, you got a roof over your head while you are on your "nice" vacation. I personally would want to stay in a nicer place. So yeah, private school is maybe that nicer place where it'll cost more for sure but the right place will make my holiday worth it. But if you don't mind staying in the cheapest crappiest places, don't be angry I don't want to do the same!

Come on. Public schools in this area are not the “cheapest crappiest” places.

Again - metaphor. The point is just because I want to stay at Rosewood and not Bonvoy does not mean you get to suggest I suck. Maybe if you don't have as much money as me to do that, well, that's another thing, but if I have kids like I said that would do better where they are, F you for suggesting that they would be fine in the school of your choice. You have no right to tell others about what is best for their kids. It's a choice. You don't want to go to private, I say you had to. So the kind of people like you who disparage other families who for one reason or another make the choice based on their situation or environment or question whether it may be a better option to do so - you are jealous egotistical and judgmental people who have no business complaining private school parents are this. You have no idea what kind of challenges we faced in public before moving to private where we are so much happier and the kids are doing well. That you spread these falsehoods that a public education should be the only option or good enough for everyone is absolutely wrong. The better response is - some families do better in private v public, or some families choose to for a lot of reasons we'll never understand. Ignorant people like you are why we have so many issues in public because you think there exists no problems that public that ought to be fixed and made better so we can actually choose to go to public!!!

+1

People who think public school is the only way to go and judge anyone who dares to disagree tend to be the same people who clock in and out like good little employees and don’t question any institution like the good little sheep that they are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Similar stats to you, but we have one kid and we get financial aid. Money is tight and DH thinks we should pull the kid back to public.

How is money tight on that income? That's appalling you get financial aid making over $300K.

Agree. Maybe they fudged on their paperwork.

[Anonymous]

I would not have applied to private school on that AGI.

[Anonymous]

Just go to public school. Your tax dollars at work.

[Anonymous]

I got a baller FA package cause we bring a lot to the table.

I think it’s hysterical I roll up in my Porsche cayenne with these full pay parents driving busted Toyotas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I got a baller FA package cause we bring a lot to the table.

I think it’s hysterical I roll up in my Porsche cayenne with these full pay parents driving busted Toyotas.

Yeah, hilarious. You are a total douche.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I got a baller FA package cause we bring a lot to the table.

I think it’s hysterical I roll up in my Porsche cayenne with these full pay parents driving busted Toyotas.

Yeah, hilarious. You are a total douche.

Ignore the troll.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I got a baller FA package cause we bring a lot to the table.

I think it’s hysterical I roll up in my Porsche cayenne with these full pay parents driving busted Toyotas.

Yeah, hilarious. You are a total douche.

Ignore the troll.

Sorry I am naive!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our oldest and their spouse make the same as OP and sent their kid to public elementary school EOTP. After concluding reluctantly that the local middle and high schools weren’t viable options, they started playing the lottery and applying to privates. It was the last thing they wanted to do because they really didn’t want their kids going to school with a bunch of rich kids, plus they honestly didn’t want to put such a huge dent in their lifestyle. There are lots of things that can be done with kids with that kind of money that can benefit their growth just as much as private education.

Long story short, their kid got into several well known privates in DC but with virtually no financial aid. One very good school upped their offer to $10k in the end, but that still left a price tag of $40k plus and would only go up and they didn’t want to pay it. In the end, they sweated through the lottery and landed at a good option.

We have a lot more money than they do and we are very close with our grandkids. They never asked us to help and we never considered it. I think they knew we shared their philosophical revulsion at the idea of elite private schooling and also knew that we knew it was their choice entirely to live in the school district where they do.

Move along…

NP. It’s philosophically revolting yes. And if I were a parent who had to rely on my parents to pay my child’s private school tuition I’d be embarrassed.

Grandparents paying for tution isn't embarrassing, it's tax efficient. You can provide a benefit to the grandkids without incurring GST and reducing your taxable estate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our oldest and their spouse make the same as OP and sent their kid to public elementary school EOTP. After concluding reluctantly that the local middle and high schools weren’t viable options, they started playing the lottery and applying to privates. It was the last thing they wanted to do because they really didn’t want their kids going to school with a bunch of rich kids, plus they honestly didn’t want to put such a huge dent in their lifestyle. There are lots of things that can be done with kids with that kind of money that can benefit their growth just as much as private education.

Long story short, their kid got into several well known privates in DC but with virtually no financial aid. One very good school upped their offer to $10k in the end, but that still left a price tag of $40k plus and would only go up and they didn’t want to pay it. In the end, they sweated through the lottery and landed at a good option.

We have a lot more money than they do and we are very close with our grandkids. They never asked us to help and we never considered it. I think they knew we shared their philosophical revulsion at the idea of elite private schooling and also knew that we knew it was their choice entirely to live in the school district where they do.

Move along…

NP. It’s philosophically revolting yes. And if I were a parent who had to rely on my parents to pay my child’s private school tuition I’d be embarrassed.

Grandparents paying for tution isn't embarrassing, it's tax efficient. You can provide a benefit to the grandkids without incurring GST and reducing your taxable estate.

Grandparents paying for education is how my family has operated for generations, either directly or through trusts. We expect to do the same for our grandkids, I think it’s called inter generational wealth transferring. I don’t know why everyone wouldn’t do this if they could.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are similar. We don't afford it. Private school in this area is for rich people.

So is a house in a good school district.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can comfortably do it but you mortgage and other expenses are too high. You make plenty.

This. Our HHI is similar to yours and we’re paying about $60k for two kids (at different schools) but our portage payment is $3300.