How do you afford private school?

[Anonymous]

We make $400k and pay $47k for one child. It's painful and we often wonder what the heck we're doing. Also--tuition goes up by $1500-3K a year. Most schools had a reprieve in tuition increase this year due to Covid but I'm sure a large increase is coming next year for all schools. Also, various fees and many donation requests (we donate small amounts) tack on another few thousand per year.
Our income level is pretty rare at the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pay with after tax income or savings or dividend streams or sell stocks.

Same here, we both banked our bonuses for 10+ years when single and still do.

[Anonymous]

HHI around $800k now, but we were pulling 200-300k not too long ago. We had one in private then, one in daycare. We focused on keeping no credit card, car or education debt, and then prioritized our spend to make private work (eg we weren’t going on crazy vacations several times per year, we’d save on home renovation projects until we could pay for them comfortably, etc).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Meant to add, we applied late because of covid but friends who applied to larger schools during the regular cycle got significant financial aid. It doesn't hurt to apply.

OP here, if you do not mind me asking, is the financial aid similar to what one would receive for college? Or more significant? Trying to figure out if it's worthwhile to apply with a 200k salary (although that is before taxes) for aid for two kids or they will laugh me out of the door.

Former director of financial aid here. 2 kids at 200k is definitely in the range for financial aid, at least In high cost of living areas like DC. Apply OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We make $400k and pay $47k for one child. It's painful and we often wonder what the heck we're doing. Also--tuition goes up by $1500-3K a year. Most schools had a reprieve in tuition increase this year due to Covid but I'm sure a large increase is coming next year for all schools. Also, various fees and many donation requests (we donate small amounts) tack on another few thousand per year.
Our income level is pretty rare at the school.

That’s under 12% of your annual income, which is pretty reasonable. I’m having a hard time understanding how that is a hardship.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We make $400k and pay $47k for one child. It's painful and we often wonder what the heck we're doing. Also--tuition goes up by $1500-3K a year. Most schools had a reprieve in tuition increase this year due to Covid but I'm sure a large increase is coming next year for all schools. Also, various fees and many donation requests (we donate small amounts) tack on another few thousand per year.
Our income level is pretty rare at the school.

That’s under 12% of your annual income, which is pretty reasonable. I’m having a hard time understanding how that is a hardship.

Seriously. We make $336K, and will likely be making around $350K once our daughter starts kindergarten. We had one kid in part to be able to have flexibility around schooling options. Paying $35-40K/year for private school will be fine for us. Right now, we pay $24K for private preschool and it's really not a hardship.

PP, are you overpaying on other things? How is private school painful for you to pay for? Also, when you say "rare" do you mean that you feel poor at your school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We make $400k and pay $47k for one child. It's painful and we often wonder what the heck we're doing. Also--tuition goes up by $1500-3K a year. Most schools had a reprieve in tuition increase this year due to Covid but I'm sure a large increase is coming next year for all schools. Also, various fees and many donation requests (we donate small amounts) tack on another few thousand per year.
Our income level is pretty rare at the school.

That’s under 12% of your annual income, which is pretty reasonable. I’m having a hard time understanding how that is a hardship.

It's because with this kind of income you pay full price for everything and beyond. You pay much, much more in taxes (somebody has to pay for all free sh#t, right? but that's for other discussion). So your net difference b/w, say 150K and 400K is not 250 or whatever you think. Yes you live in a better/bigger house and drive a better car, but overall you don't have THAT much money left after all expenses are paid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We make $400k and pay $47k for one child. It's painful and we often wonder what the heck we're doing. Also--tuition goes up by $1500-3K a year. Most schools had a reprieve in tuition increase this year due to Covid but I'm sure a large increase is coming next year for all schools. Also, various fees and many donation requests (we donate small amounts) tack on another few thousand per year.
Our income level is pretty rare at the school.

That’s under 12% of your annual income, which is pretty reasonable. I’m having a hard time understanding how that is a hardship.

Seriously. We make $336K, and will likely be making around $350K once our daughter starts kindergarten. We had one kid in part to be able to have flexibility around schooling options. Paying $35-40K/year for private school will be fine for us. Right now, we pay $24K for private preschool and it's really not a hardship.

PP, are you overpaying on other things? How is private school painful for you to pay for? Also, when you say "rare" do you mean that you feel poor at your school?

I'm the person paying $47K. I think it's painful in large part because this kid transferred from public school. We have two other kids in public school. The $47K school is very very, similar to an excellent public school (in our case upper NW elementary and middle school). The main difference being the name and the prestige. The schooling is almost identical which surprised me and continues to surprise me.

Also, you don't think that $50K on a $400K pre-tax income is a lot of money? If I posted on here that I was buying a $50K car each and every year you'd all think I was insane and I'd be mocked. It's a significant amount!

[Anonymous]

We make about $190K. Have chosen private for each of our three kids for just a couple of key years in their educational journey. Our private is in the $20-24K/year range. A little help from grandparents (not full tuition, but about 60%) most years. For only two of the years we've had kids in private have we had two of them there at once; most years, one's been in private and the other two are in public.

We're in a small, old house with a $1400/mo mortgage; 10+ year old cars. We rarely eat out, don't have cable, use prepaid cell phone plans, etc. We live very modestly.

We are saving well for college and retirement.

[Anonymous]

Family money

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We make $400k and pay $47k for one child. It's painful and we often wonder what the heck we're doing. Also--tuition goes up by $1500-3K a year. Most schools had a reprieve in tuition increase this year due to Covid but I'm sure a large increase is coming next year for all schools. Also, various fees and many donation requests (we donate small amounts) tack on another few thousand per year.
Our income level is pretty rare at the school.

That’s under 12% of your annual income, which is pretty reasonable. I’m having a hard time understanding how that is a hardship.

Seriously. We make $336K, and will likely be making around $350K once our daughter starts kindergarten. We had one kid in part to be able to have flexibility around schooling options. Paying $35-40K/year for private school will be fine for us. Right now, we pay $24K for private preschool and it's really not a hardship.

PP, are you overpaying on other things? How is private school painful for you to pay for? Also, when you say "rare" do you mean that you feel poor at your school?

I'm the person paying $47K. I think it's painful in large part because this kid transferred from public school. We have two other kids in public school. The $47K school is very very, similar to an excellent public school (in our case upper NW elementary and middle school). The main difference being the name and the prestige. The schooling is almost identical which surprised me and continues to surprise me.

Also, you don't think that $50K on a $400K pre-tax income is a lot of money? If I posted on here that I was buying a $50K car each and every year you'd all think I was insane and I'd be mocked. It's a significant amount!

It sounds like you think it's a lot in part because you're not hugely impressed with the school.

Also, no -- buying a car is very different than investing in your kid's education.

[Anonymous]

We make somewhere around $350K and only one child, who attends one of the less expensive privates (around $20K). We would not be able to afford this with 2 kids, given our other expenses and lifestyle choices (we live in NW DC, take vacations, etc.).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We make somewhere around $350K and only one child, who attends one of the less expensive privates (around $20K). We would not be able to afford this with 2 kids, given our other expenses and lifestyle choices (we live in NW DC, take vacations, etc.).

I'm the PP with one kid. Yes, same here (though we live in MoCo). It's one reason why we made the conscious decision to have one kid. We want to still be able to go on vacations and save for college/retirement, while having flexibility around her schooling.

[Anonymous]

Our kids are in religious schools- which are less expensive. We live modestly- simple vacations, used cars, simple house. We would have extra cash if our kids were in public- but the religious environment is important to us- so that is how we prioritze our spending.

[Anonymous]

I write a monthly check for it. I make in the 6 figures, my job is stressful and having the burden of tuitions is stressful but I'm sucking it up because our public school was absolutely worthless. Would I rather have the cash on hand? Yes.