Affordable private school - other than religious schools

[Anonymous]

Can anyone list any of the "more" affordable private school options in DC/MD? Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Really depends on where you're looking, and for what grades.

We're in MoCo, so I know the most about offerings there. More affordable non-religious options include:

Barnesville School
Seneca Academy
Any of the Montessori schools
Some of the schools that only have younger elementary grades (ex: Harbor)
Rochambeau

[Anonymous]

I know you said not religious but Christ Episcopal School.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone list any of the "more" affordable private school options in DC/MD? Thanks.

Oneness Family School

[Anonymous]

Are you atheist?

[Anonymous]

Some of the non-religious privates like the k-8are pricing themselves out of the market. Losing students to public schools because tuition is simply unsustainable. It’s now about $70k a year for two kids in lower school with the end nowhere in sight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some of the non-religious privates like the k-8are pricing themselves out of the market. Losing students to public schools because tuition is simply unsustainable. It’s now about $70k a year for two kids in lower school with the end nowhere in sight.

That's the frustrating part. Even $30-40K for one child. We'd love to go private and can do $15K comfortably for one child but there are not any schools that offer it. Some religious schools are more flexible than others but most aren't when it comes down to it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of the non-religious privates like the k-8are pricing themselves out of the market. Losing students to public schools because tuition is simply unsustainable. It’s now about $70k a year for two kids in lower school with the end nowhere in sight.

That's the frustrating part. Even $30-40K for one child. We'd love to go private and can do $15K comfortably for one child but there are not any schools that offer it. Some religious schools are more flexible than others but most aren't when it comes down to it.

Yes, it’s a mistake. They would all be bursting at the seams with candidates if they could keep tuition aroun $30k. What’s happening is that people are increasingly opting for parochial or public. Those paying the big bucks want the k-12s. The k-8s shouldn’t be trying to keep up with the K-12s. A big mistake and they’ll probably continue to struggle for students until they figure this out, especially when gds and Sitwell consolidate campuses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of the non-religious privates like the k-8are pricing themselves out of the market. Losing students to public schools because tuition is simply unsustainable. It’s now about $70k a year for two kids in lower school with the end nowhere in sight.

That's the frustrating part. Even $30-40K for one child. We'd love to go private and can do $15K comfortably for one child but there are not any schools that offer it. Some religious schools are more flexible than others but most aren't when it comes down to it.

They can’t do it with cost of real estate and salaries in this region. Only feasible for religious institutions that subsidize the operating cost to some degree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of the non-religious privates like the k-8are pricing themselves out of the market. Losing students to public schools because tuition is simply unsustainable. It’s now about $70k a year for two kids in lower school with the end nowhere in sight.

That's the frustrating part. Even $30-40K for one child. We'd love to go private and can do $15K comfortably for one child but there are not any schools that offer it. Some religious schools are more flexible than others but most aren't when it comes down to it.

They can’t do it with cost of real estate and salaries in this region. Only feasible for religious institutions that subsidize the operating cost to some degree.

Many k-8 schools have been at their locations for decades and thus shouldn’t have burdensome real estate costs. They can function on $30k yr per student. They had better because they will lose students if they go much higher. And then what? No funding for financial aid. No funding at all is more like it. They are already seeing people flee to cheaper options. Charging more won’t bring in more students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some of the non-religious privates like the k-8are pricing themselves out of the market. Losing students to public schools because tuition is simply unsustainable. It’s now about $70k a year for two kids in lower school with the end nowhere in sight.

Welcome to the world of hyper income inequality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some of the non-religious privates like the k-8are pricing themselves out of the market. Losing students to public schools because tuition is simply unsustainable. It’s now about $70k a year for two kids in lower school with the end nowhere in sight.

This is why we did go with a religious school, even though we don't practice any religion. I was willing to deal with the small amount of religion (chapel at an Episcopal school) to get an affordable (relatively speaking, of course), high quality education for my children.

[Anonymous]

We are going to religious school too. And apart from facilities (Beauvoir really has no competition there) I believe the quality of education is similar and after middle school, know DS often attend top privates if they want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you atheist?

What is this comment? You don't have to be atheist to prefer a non-religious school. We are Jewish and want a non-religious school because we aren't very dogmatic in our beliefs and find even Jewish schools to be stricter than we would prefer.

Anyway, I agree with those above about the K-8s. We are looking at a K-8 that is in the $25K range. We would consider $30K, but can't justify $35-40K at the K-8 level. Since we are looking for a non-religious school, that really limits our options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you atheist?

What is this comment? You don't have to be atheist to prefer a non-religious school. We are Jewish and want a non-religious school because we aren't very dogmatic in our beliefs and find even Jewish schools to be stricter than we would prefer.

Anyway, I agree with those above about the K-8s. We are looking at a K-8 that is in the $25K range. We would consider $30K, but can't justify $35-40K at the K-8 level. Since we are looking for a non-religious school, that really limits our options.

I found Episcopalian schools rather light on religion. Maybe a bit more religious than the friends schools but not by much. To be honest, I am a bit disappointed that my 9 year old's knowledge of the bible after being in the school for years. I think may be once in a week they have a chapel service related to Christianity (if that), but most of the time they talk about character education. They do pray before meals but you can decline communion and certainly no classes on religion in any of the Episcopalian schools I know of. Actually, it is quite possible that it is more comfortable for a secular Jewish students to be in than the Jewish day schools in this area. A die hard atheist may not want their child to be exposed to any religion. I know of secular Jews and Muslims who are happy in Episcopalian schools.