parochial families and high school

[Anonymous]

Just wait until you have 2-3 kids in college at once. This is my neighbor. Twins are sophomores and the youngest is a senior in HS so they will have all three in college for 2 yrs! Mom is a teacher and dad must have inherited from his parents. They all went to Catholic high schools.


I am a single mom (and a teacher) with one kid and the only way I can afford it is to live at home with my dad. My DD went to Catholic MS, HS and now college. It's worth it to me although by the time my kid graduates, it will probably be too late to buy my own place. I'd need a few years of saving for a downpayment and I don't want to be paying a mortgage after retirement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just wait until you have 2-3 kids in college at once. This is my neighbor. Twins are sophomores and the youngest is a senior in HS so they will have all three in college for 2 yrs! Mom is a teacher and dad must have inherited from his parents. They all went to Catholic high schools.


I am a single mom (and a teacher) with one kid and the only way I can afford it is to live at home with my dad. My DD went to Catholic MS, HS and now college. It's worth it to me although by the time my kid graduates, it will probably be too late to buy my own place. I'd need a few years of saving for a downpayment and I don't want to be paying a mortgage after retirement.

Yes, some in college and some in Catholic HS at the same time... DCUM’s response is that your neighbor shouldn’t have had the twins to begin with, btw.

[Anonymous]

Such a strange thread.

[Anonymous]

10k tuition is insanely cheap!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How are these families affording this for multiple children?? Many, ours included, will have two children in high school at the same time. That’s a 40k increase in tuition! I’ve never felt that we are in a drastically different financial situation than the majority of the school, but perhaps I’m wrong?

From my experience there are a number of families that want the K-8 Catholic school but know it will be public high school from the start and they are upfront with their kids early on. Some might start in public school in middle while others might keep them thru 8th. There are lots of things that go into the leave at 6th or stay thru 8th if you know high school public school is the plan - how happy is the family with the K-8 school, if there are younger siblings/logistics, if the child has strong friendships. My observation is that the leave at 6th tends to happen with the youngest child and/or if there was already unhappiness with the school or they felt the school wasn’t meeting the needs of the student.

As for paying for Catholic High school - all the ways have been mentioned, family help, stretching income, one of the parents is a Catholic school educator and they get a discount, starting off from one of the lower cost schools and applying for FA. I don’t know is if FA tends to be better if all the kids are attending the same school and how do you make a decision where one can attend not knowing if/how much aid you might get for the younger kids. My sense is it would be easier logistically and to only need to have a conversation with one FA office if it’s the same high school for all the kids in at the same time. So for example the oldest one might only have the option of applying to O’Connell where there is a multi-child discount or going to the local public school.

One other thing to add, look at college costs for multiple kids. Our kids had the option either for Catholic high school or a higher contribution towards their college expenses. They choose Catholic high school and we were upfront early on that they could see classmates going off to expensive private colleges while their options would be in-state, getting an amazing merit scholarship for a private or OOS (which typically they have to be at the top of that applicant pool and perhaps not as prestigious) or ROTC.