Tuition to W school? Is it possible?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here, we cannot afford a W feeder, its not a matter of laziness. DH inherited his childhood home and we cannot afford to sell or move. We don't want to sell and inherit a mortgage, DH and I both work in public sectors.

Well, life is about tradeoffs. There are plenty of parents in apartments in the W school zones who are there because of the quality of the schools.

Yup, keep the childhood home and rent a small apt in the W district.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here, we cannot afford a W feeder, its not a matter of laziness. DH inherited his childhood home and we cannot afford to sell or move. We don't want to sell and inherit a mortgage, DH and I both work in public sectors.

Well, life is about tradeoffs. There are plenty of parents in apartments in the W school zones who are there because of the quality of the schools.

Yup, keep the childhood home and rent a small apt in the W district.

You could rent out the family home, and pay for a nice apartment in a W area. It's generally cheaper in the W areas anyway than in NW DC.

[Anonymous]

OP, you can rent a one bd apartment and make it your second home. Your child can stay there during the week. It is perfectly legal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wilson pulls from too many areas of the city for me, additionally, many Wilson families do not provide the same home structure as the W schools. Many W school families get tutors and actively seek to support their children at home. I would rather deal with the over wealthy and semi-drug culture than deal with guns being on campus (as Wilson has dealt with over the past year).

W schools also have a history of continuity versus DCPS with their administration and its faculty. Continuity is important when dealing with education, it means that admin and teachers aren't building a plane while flying it mid-air.

You're making some big assumptions there. My only experience is with Pyle, but that school has massive staff turnover. As parents, many of us have been trying to figure it out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wilson pulls from too many areas of the city for me, additionally, many Wilson families do not provide the same home structure as the W schools. Many W school families get tutors and actively seek to support their children at home. I would rather deal with the over wealthy and semi-drug culture than deal with guns being on campus (as Wilson has dealt with over the past year).

W schools also have a history of continuity versus DCPS with their administration and its faculty. Continuity is important when dealing with education, it means that admin and teachers aren't building a plane while flying it mid-air.

You're making some big assumptions there. My only experience is with Pyle, but that school has massive staff turnover. As parents, many of us have been trying to figure it out.

Well then afterwards you have Whitman which has had many teachers there for 30 years. Most teachers come and never leave. The turnover is extremely low.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wilson pulls from too many areas of the city for me, additionally, many Wilson families do not provide the same home structure as the W schools. Many W school families get tutors and actively seek to support their children at home. I would rather deal with the over wealthy and semi-drug culture than deal with guns being on campus (as Wilson has dealt with over the past year).

W schools also have a history of continuity versus DCPS with their administration and its faculty. Continuity is important when dealing with education, it means that admin and teachers aren't building a plane while flying it mid-air.

You're making some big assumptions there. My only experience is with Pyle, but that school has massive staff turnover. As parents, many of us have been trying to figure it out.

Friends who sent their kids to Wilson sent their happy, well adjusted, smart kids to some pretty great colleges recently.
I heard no complaints such as you have from them. Are you sure you aren't overblowing these issues? If your child is near high school age what is his or her opinion of Wilson? I doubt that he or she wants to be bused out to the suburbs in some cockamamie semi dishonest scheme , odds are DC wants to go to Wilson with his/her friends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi All,

We are living in DC, we like our neighborhood and amenities but we are not happy with DD attending Wilson and we can't quite afford private school. DH and I were wondering if we can pay tuition to allow DD to attend an MCPS school of our choice? Does anyone have experience with this? If we are paying tuition to MCPS, would we have the choice of which school we want to attend?

Thank you for your help.

Yeah, see - you and DH were wondering. How old is DD now? Is she in elem school and you've been reading the news a lot about Wilson?
Wait until DD is closer to high school age and see what she thinks. There's a really great group of kids at Wilson always, it's not some awful crime ridden place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I also vote for renting for a few years and moving while your kid in in HS. My child is at Murch now and going to Deal in a few years, but he will not be going to Wilson. I'm renting now so it's not a huge issue when we have to move for HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, you can rent a one bd apartment and make it your second home. Your child can stay there during the week. It is perfectly legal.

There are families that do this. Less expensive than paying tuition probabaly?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, you can rent a one bd apartment and make it your second home. Your child can stay there during the week. It is perfectly legal.

There are families that do this. Less expensive than paying tuition probabaly?

For FY 2016 (two years ago), MCPS non-resident tuition for secondary school was $14,299. Are there many market-rate one-bedroom apartments available in Bethesda or Potomac for less than $1,192 per month?

[Anonymous]

Here's a post article about a DC family paying tuition to attend BCC in 2008: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/29/AR2008032901119.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

This. MCPS does not have the resources to go after this.

We know of several families that have done this over the years without any consequences.

It’s not a big issue.

It's ok to commit fraud, if the odds are that nobody will catch you?

I’m pretty sure lots of people feel that way.

I’m an immigrant and in most other countries around the world, rules are just ‘suggestions’. Anything can be purchased with a bribe and you can work your way around rules that you don’t like. At least, that’s how it is in my home country!

My kids attend the schools they are zoned for but we know of several families in my ‘cultural community’ who work their way around this. Like the PP said, MCPS can’t ask for proof of citizenship and so they’re also somewhat lax in asking for proof of residency. And at least IME, it is very easy for these families to get a utility bill sent to a different address. Any family member or close family friend is willing to help out!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, you can rent a one bd apartment and make it your second home. Your child can stay there during the week. It is perfectly legal.

There are families that do this. Less expensive than paying tuition probabaly?

For FY 2016 (two years ago), MCPS non-resident tuition for secondary school was $14,299. Are there many market-rate one-bedroom apartments available in Bethesda or Potomac for less than $1,192 per month?

Lots of people are willing to rent out a room or rent out a bedroom in their condo/townhouse. For $600/month it is a fantastic deal! Cheaper than private school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here's a post article about a DC family paying tuition to attend BCC in 2008: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/29/AR2008032901119.html

The dad runs an 'anti-poverty charity' but the daughter didn't want to be near those kinds of people? Interesting

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here's a post article about a DC family paying tuition to attend BCC in 2008: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/29/AR2008032901119.html

That was nearly 10 years ago. bcC is so overcapacity now, I doubt they would allow additional non-state residents.