Private school is a terrible ROI for middle class people

[Anonymous]

We decided to pay more for a house in a top school district over private school, and that has worked out well for our family. But people make all kinds of decisions based on their own family needs and circumstances that might not make financial sense to others so I don’t waste time thinking about what others do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The idea that the value of an education can be measured solely in financial terms is completely cloddish.

+100 thank. Came here to say this. Some of y'all are not that bright are you.

Isn’t that the point of education? To get a good job, and make X amount of money.

You can totally put a $ value on an education. Thats why there are ROI surveys on colleges based on price to attend and $ outcomes of graduates.

No, the point of education is to become educated, to increase in wisdom, knowledge and intellectual stature, to become a better, bigger, more enlightened person. If you want a job go to trade school. Confusing the two is a decidedly lower class trait and a complete misunderstanding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Smart middle class kids get merit aid. Obviously you have no idea what you are talking about.

Merit is available to all, not just MC

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is exactly why many higher-income families prefer to stay in public, OP.

Now we did move to an expensive neighborhood to get into the most reputable publics. But that was also a safeguard against a possible future issue with property values, since real estate is most stable around good neighborhoods with good schools. I looked on the map at locations such that if boundaries changed, we would either not be impacted (because too close to the school), or be switched to another excellent school cluster.

We're very happy with our decision. Oldest is in college and youngest is in MCPS high school. Our net worth has grown *significantly* in the stock market compared to 20 years ago.

That approach plus whatever tutors you need to supplement is our approach as well. I investigated private for our kids (we were in top HoCo schools) and nothing nearby was worth it, in fact our publics were better. Only way to get as good/slightly better was to drive 45 mins to the fancy Balt schools and that wasn't worth what is now $45-60K.

In reality, fact is majority of how well kids learn comes from parental attitudes and involvement. So unless your schools are in the "unsafe" range, it's best to save that $$$ or at least wait until MS/HS to jump into private if you must

[Anonymous]

I actually think your thesis is a bit flawed in that I do believe many middle class families do try to justify private school based on an ROI.

One example...a boarding school like Deerfield Academy which charges $80k per year has said that no family will pay more than 10% of their income.

Now, let's take a hockey family that was profiled. The family makes $250k and thought the idea of Boarding school was crazy, but Deerfield said it will only cost you $25k AND Deerfield is your school and travel hockey team.

If you don't know much about top travel hockey players, they can easily spend $20k per year. You may think that's stupid too. However, in this instance, the family now looks at this as my kid gets to attend one of the top Boarding schools in the country for a net cost to us of $5k.

In theory, the amount you may save on feeding your kid and other activities, now makes that $5k a wash.

Others make similar ROI calculations all the time by thinking about how valuable the private school network will be throughout life...it may be misguided in your view, but it's still an ROI calculation.

[Anonymous]

Yes...PS is not meant for the middle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I doubt my son would even have gone to college from public school, let alone graduated from college. Public education has such low expectations which were lowered even further during Covid. A rigorous Catholic MS and HS with a lot of FA was worth its weight in terms of him finishing college.

Well we’re sorry your son is such a loser that he needed so much extra pushing but most of us have kids who went to public schools who somehow managed to graduate from college.

^ This right here shows is why it's so clearly not about ROI. It's about feeling insecure in your choices and wanting to put others down as a result.

When you are calling a stranger's child a loser, you're the problem.

This, exactly.

[Anonymous]

Private school in DC averages $28,000 a year or around $2,350 a month per child.

At current interest rates that equates to around $200,000 on your mortgage, so if you can find a house in a worse school district for less than $200,000 (per child) you're better off going private.

And that's just napkin math, really you save even more with private because you're likely paying that extra mortgage for 30 years and only paying private school tuition for 7-12 years depending on if your school district has decent elementary.

So for instance if you buy a $500,000 house in Hyattsville and go private from grades 6-12 you pay like $210,000 in tuition, but if you buy a $1.3MM house in-boundary for Jackson-Reed, Moco, Arlington, or Fairfax you're paying $772,000 in extra mortgage over the same period.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The idea that the value of an education can be measured solely in financial terms is completely cloddish.

+100 thank. Came here to say this. Some of y'all are not that bright are you.

Isn’t that the point of education? To get a good job, and make X amount of money.

You can totally put a $ value on an education. Thats why there are ROI surveys on colleges based on price to attend and $ outcomes of graduates.

No, the point of education is to become educated, to increase in wisdom, knowledge and intellectual stature, to become a better, bigger, more enlightened person. If you want a job go to trade school. Confusing the two is a decidedly lower class trait and a complete misunderstanding.

Yeah and that's why people with jobs like lawyer, doctor, and engineer all went to trade school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I doubt my son would even have gone to college from public school, let alone graduated from college. Public education has such low expectations which were lowered even further during Covid. A rigorous Catholic MS and HS with a lot of FA was worth its weight in terms of him finishing college.

You just simply live in the wrong spot and doesn’t want to do anything with that. I pay zero and my kids get the best school experience they could ever asked for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mine is 15k. A bargain! You need to find the no frills ones that provide a strong academic foundation at a reasonable cost.

I think that thing doesn’t exist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mine is 15k. A bargain! You need to find the no frills ones that provide a strong academic foundation at a reasonable cost.

I think that thing doesn’t exist.

Yeah, I think most parochial schools are pretty meh. If you're interested in the religious foundation, that's one thing (although couldn't you just use free Sunday school)?

[Anonymous]

Ok OP, now what? Does your frantic post make all private school parents pull their kids out of school? People are going to do what works for them. If their child(ren) has/are having a positive experience in private, let them live. What does it matter to you? Focus on and do what works for you and your finances.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The idea that the value of an education can be measured solely in financial terms is completely cloddish.

+100 thank. Came here to say this. Some of y'all are not that bright are you.

Isn’t that the point of education? To get a good job, and make X amount of money.

You can totally put a $ value on an education. Thats why there are ROI surveys on colleges based on price to attend and $ outcomes of graduates.

No, the point of education is to become educated, to increase in wisdom, knowledge and intellectual stature, to become a better, bigger, more enlightened person. If you want a job go to trade school. Confusing the two is a decidedly lower class trait and a complete misunderstanding.

Yes, it's counter intuitive but rich people pay for education. What they get is an elaborate social sorting system <- this is the part they care about, not the knowledge or anything else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The idea that the value of an education can be measured solely in financial terms is completely cloddish.

+100 thank. Came here to say this. Some of y'all are not that bright are you.

Isn’t that the point of education? To get a good job, and make X amount of money.

You can totally put a $ value on an education. Thats why there are ROI surveys on colleges based on price to attend and $ outcomes of graduates.

No, the point of education is to become educated, to increase in wisdom, knowledge and intellectual stature, to become a better, bigger, more enlightened person. If you want a job go to trade school. Confusing the two is a decidedly lower class trait and a complete misunderstanding.

Yes, it's counter intuitive but rich people pay for education. What they get is an elaborate social sorting system <- this is the part they care about, not the knowledge or anything else.

Just to bring back around. The social sorting system is why it's a bad deal for middle class families; they just aren't going to get out of it what they put in, because the point of the whole thing is to put the middle-class kids in their place.