If you made $1MM annually, would you send your kids to private?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. And we make multiples of that. But public school is an important value to us.

Similar here. Our HHI will be > 5mm this year, and we send our kids to MoCo public schools. While we aren't leading the PTO, we are regular volunteers at the school (one spouse with part time work far more than the other). It's the right community for our family, and we wouldn't change it.

While we make a lot now, one of us grew up poor/lower middle class, the other middle-middle class. MoCo public schools suit us well. Yes, not everything is absolutely "perfect." In our view, that is sort of the point--we think our kids learn a bit more resilience when not everything is always perfect.

I will admit though that one high-earning spouse's income provides an advantage that helps make public schools work for us: The spouse who works part-time is *super* involved with kids' homework, enrichment, etc. We joke that our kids have 100% of MoCo public plus 50% home school on top.

We have a $2.5m HHI and also send our kids to public. DH and I both grew up in middle class families so we also valued sending our kids to public. Now that our kids are getting older, I’m wondering if we should switch our kids to private for a better educational experience.

I wonder if my poor background has clouded my judgment on what is best for our kids. I drive myself and DH crazy thinking about where to send our 3 kids.

I was similar but, we switched out kids this year. I’m telling you to switch. Break out of your upbringing and give your kids the leg up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you want your kids only associating with other kids whose families can pay $50k/year for private school? For some families, the answer is emphatically yes. For me its emphatically NO. Already the conspicuous consumption at our public school is ridiculous - private school would only magnify that.

At most privates, 25-50% of the kids get some level of finanical aid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you want your kids only associating with other kids whose families can pay $50k/year for private school? For some families, the answer is emphatically yes. For me its emphatically NO. Already the conspicuous consumption at our public school is ridiculous - private school would only magnify that.

This is highly personal though.

No but I care less about that than I do about giving them an excellent education. Also, we have a wide network outside our private school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:From a financial standpoint, I don’t think the ROI is worth it financially. Your kids may gain some social capital. I’m not sure if it is worth 50k per year.

I dunno. When your HHI is $1mln or $2mln, $50k basically makes no difference in your life.. You're not giving up other spending to pay for private school. The financial opportunity cost is $0 basically, of paying for private. It's a whole different calculation when your HHI is $300k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. And we make multiples of that. But public school is an important value to us.

Similar here. Our HHI will be > 5mm this year, and we send our kids to MoCo public schools. While we aren't leading the PTO, we are regular volunteers at the school (one spouse with part time work far more than the other). It's the right community for our family, and we wouldn't change it.

While we make a lot now, one of us grew up poor/lower middle class, the other middle-middle class. MoCo public schools suit us well. Yes, not everything is absolutely "perfect." In our view, that is sort of the point--we think our kids learn a bit more resilience when not everything is always perfect.

I will admit though that one high-earning spouse's income provides an advantage that helps make public schools work for us: The spouse who works part-time is *super* involved with kids' homework, enrichment, etc. We joke that our kids have 100% of MoCo public plus 50% home school on top.

We have a $2.5m HHI and also send our kids to public. DH and I both grew up in middle class families so we also valued sending our kids to public. Now that our kids are getting older, I’m wondering if we should switch our kids to private for a better educational experience.

I wonder if my poor background has clouded my judgment on what is best for our kids. I drive myself and DH crazy thinking about where to send our 3 kids.

I was similar but, we switched out kids this year. I’m telling you to switch. Break out of your upbringing and give your kids the leg up.

If PP’s kids are settled and happy in their public then there is no reason to switch

- Parent of K-12 lifers

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
We made $3M in W school, send our kids to private.

DH and I both did public school all the way through, both well prepared for college. We bought our house based on the public schools.

We pulled our kids out of MCPS during COVID and haven’t looked back. There are significant curricular differences and very different relationships with teachers. Much better exposure to arts, history, music, science etc. Honestly feel like they are getting a more well-rounded education.

My kids love being in an environment where they know everyone and everyone knows them. It might get too stifling by high school, but kids are super happy for now.

It is a very different experience. I wouldn’t say that either way makes you “better” educated, but we think the private school our kids attend better aligns with our approach to education.

This is similar to us. W school, slightly lower but still high income. Pulled out during Covid. I guess that was the point I finally started watching MCPS BOE meetings and realizing it's a huge task to steer a ship of 160k students and many competing interests. Really glad we moved to private and so are our DCs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
We made $3M in W school, send our kids to private.

DH and I both did public school all the way through, both well prepared for college. We bought our house based on the public schools.

We pulled our kids out of MCPS during COVID and haven’t looked back. There are significant curricular differences and very different relationships with teachers. Much better exposure to arts, history, music, science etc. Honestly feel like they are getting a more well-rounded education.

My kids love being in an environment where they know everyone and everyone knows them. It might get too stifling by high school, but kids are super happy for now.

It is a very different experience. I wouldn’t say that either way makes you “better” educated, but we think the private school our kids attend better aligns with our approach to education.

This is similar to us. W school, slightly lower but still high income. Pulled out during Covid. I guess that was the point I finally started watching MCPS BOE meetings and realizing it's a huge task to steer a ship of 160k students and many competing interests. Really glad we moved to private and so are our DCs.

I wonder if you and PP wish you had moved earlier, or whether it is better to be in public for the earlier grades?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
We made $3M in W school, send our kids to private.

DH and I both did public school all the way through, both well prepared for college. We bought our house based on the public schools.

We pulled our kids out of MCPS during COVID and haven’t looked back. There are significant curricular differences and very different relationships with teachers. Much better exposure to arts, history, music, science etc. Honestly feel like they are getting a more well-rounded education.

My kids love being in an environment where they know everyone and everyone knows them. It might get too stifling by high school, but kids are super happy for now.

It is a very different experience. I wouldn’t say that either way makes you “better” educated, but we think the private school our kids attend better aligns with our approach to education.

This is similar to us. W school, slightly lower but still high income. Pulled out during Covid. I guess that was the point I finally started watching MCPS BOE meetings and realizing it's a huge task to steer a ship of 160k students and many competing interests. Really glad we moved to private and so are our DCs.

I wonder if you and PP wish you had moved earlier, or whether it is better to be in public for the earlier grades?

We were in our W ES feeder schools for about 2 years before Covid hit. I didn't mind when they were at public, and you get slightly smaller classes in K anyway, but we do like private more. Some privates only start at 3rd grade anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. And we make multiples of that. But public school is an important value to us.

Similar here. Our HHI will be > 5mm this year, and we send our kids to MoCo public schools. While we aren't leading the PTO, we are regular volunteers at the school (one spouse with part time work far more than the other). It's the right community for our family, and we wouldn't change it.

While we make a lot now, one of us grew up poor/lower middle class, the other middle-middle class. MoCo public schools suit us well. Yes, not everything is absolutely "perfect." In our view, that is sort of the point--we think our kids learn a bit more resilience when not everything is always perfect.

I will admit though that one high-earning spouse's income provides an advantage that helps make public schools work for us: The spouse who works part-time is *super* involved with kids' homework, enrichment, etc. We joke that our kids have 100% of MoCo public plus 50% home school on top.

I assume your children are in elementary school right? The home school / parent enrichment doesn’t work as well for middle and high school students. That’s when we sent ours to private!

Our income is comparable to the pp. Our kids are in middle school. I posted earlier, but our kids are in public. It’s just a value that is important to us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. And we make multiples of that. But public school is an important value to us.

Similar here. Our HHI will be > 5mm this year, and we send our kids to MoCo public schools. While we aren't leading the PTO, we are regular volunteers at the school (one spouse with part time work far more than the other). It's the right community for our family, and we wouldn't change it.

While we make a lot now, one of us grew up poor/lower middle class, the other middle-middle class. MoCo public schools suit us well. Yes, not everything is absolutely "perfect." In our view, that is sort of the point--we think our kids learn a bit more resilience when not everything is always perfect.

I will admit though that one high-earning spouse's income provides an advantage that helps make public schools work for us: The spouse who works part-time is *super* involved with kids' homework, enrichment, etc. We joke that our kids have 100% of MoCo public plus 50% home school on top.

We have a $2.5m HHI and also send our kids to public. DH and I both grew up in middle class families so we also valued sending our kids to public. Now that our kids are getting older, I’m wondering if we should switch our kids to private for a better educational experience.

I wonder if my poor background has clouded my judgment on what is best for our kids. I drive myself and DH crazy thinking about where to send our 3 kids.

I was similar but, we switched out kids this year. I’m telling you to switch. Break out of your upbringing and give your kids the leg up.

If PP’s kids are settled and happy in their public then there is no reason to switch

- Parent of K-12 lifers

+1000

Not sure it's really the leg up that the PP thinks it is. My kids got excellent educations at our local Public schools. One thru college and excelling at adulting. The other in college and thriving at a T30 school. Academically motivated and smart kid---private HS would not have done anything more than ensure they were at school with rich kids and kids who don't live in our neighborhood (ie they'd have to drive 30-45 mins to see friends, so isolated from their friends).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you want your kids only associating with other kids whose families can pay $50k/year for private school? For some families, the answer is emphatically yes. For me its emphatically NO. Already the conspicuous consumption at our public school is ridiculous - private school would only magnify that.

This is highly personal though.

I’m the PP whose kids attended both a top private and public school.


There’s WAY more socio economic diversity in our private school (because of all the students that get scholarships) than there was in our highly rated public school.

At our public school you have to afford to buy a million dollar plus house in order to attend the school. There are no scholarships available for poor minority black or Hispanic kid to attend our public school. The student population was mostly white and some Asian kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. And we make multiples of that. But public school is an important value to us.

Similar here. Our HHI will be > 5mm this year, and we send our kids to MoCo public schools. While we aren't leading the PTO, we are regular volunteers at the school (one spouse with part time work far more than the other). It's the right community for our family, and we wouldn't change it.

While we make a lot now, one of us grew up poor/lower middle class, the other middle-middle class. MoCo public schools suit us well. Yes, not everything is absolutely "perfect." In our view, that is sort of the point--we think our kids learn a bit more resilience when not everything is always perfect.

I will admit though that one high-earning spouse's income provides an advantage that helps make public schools work for us: The spouse who works part-time is *super* involved with kids' homework, enrichment, etc. We joke that our kids have 100% of MoCo public plus 50% home school on top.

We have a $2.5m HHI and also send our kids to public. DH and I both grew up in middle class families so we also valued sending our kids to public. Now that our kids are getting older, I’m wondering if we should switch our kids to private for a better educational experience.

I wonder if my poor background has clouded my judgment on what is best for our kids. I drive myself and DH crazy thinking about where to send our 3 kids.

I was similar but, we switched out kids this year. I’m telling you to switch. Break out of your upbringing and give your kids the leg up.

If PP’s kids are settled and happy in their public then there is no reason to switch

- Parent of K-12 lifers

+1000

Not sure it's really the leg up that the PP thinks it is. My kids got excellent educations at our local Public schools. One thru college and excelling at adulting. The other in college and thriving at a T30 school. Academically motivated and smart kid---private HS would not have done anything more than ensure they were at school with rich kids and kids who don't live in our neighborhood (ie they'd have to drive 30-45 mins to see friends, so isolated from their friends).

You don’t know what you don’t know.

I’ve never been to public school ..prek through college in privates.. but my wife was public her whole life.

The career trajectory of my friends is exponentially better than her friends. Sure there are outliers but like minds attract. People that drop 45k+ a year on 3rd grade will raise kids to be successful (financially or academically). I don’t know a single kid from my graduating private that isn’t doing something fairly impressive.

By 30, most have made the leap to VP, Sr. Manager, entrepreneur, director, attorney, dr, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. And we make multiples of that. But public school is an important value to us.

Similar here. Our HHI will be > 5mm this year, and we send our kids to MoCo public schools. While we aren't leading the PTO, we are regular volunteers at the school (one spouse with part time work far more than the other). It's the right community for our family, and we wouldn't change it.

While we make a lot now, one of us grew up poor/lower middle class, the other middle-middle class. MoCo public schools suit us well. Yes, not everything is absolutely "perfect." In our view, that is sort of the point--we think our kids learn a bit more resilience when not everything is always perfect.

I will admit though that one high-earning spouse's income provides an advantage that helps make public schools work for us: The spouse who works part-time is *super* involved with kids' homework, enrichment, etc. We joke that our kids have 100% of MoCo public plus 50% home school on top.

We have a $2.5m HHI and also send our kids to public. DH and I both grew up in middle class families so we also valued sending our kids to public. Now that our kids are getting older, I’m wondering if we should switch our kids to private for a better educational experience.

I wonder if my poor background has clouded my judgment on what is best for our kids. I drive myself and DH crazy thinking about where to send our 3 kids.

I was similar but, we switched out kids this year. I’m telling you to switch. Break out of your upbringing and give your kids the leg up.

If PP’s kids are settled and happy in their public then there is no reason to switch

- Parent of K-12 lifers

+1000

Not sure it's really the leg up that the PP thinks it is. My kids got excellent educations at our local Public schools. One thru college and excelling at adulting. The other in college and thriving at a T30 school. Academically motivated and smart kid---private HS would not have done anything more than ensure they were at school with rich kids and kids who don't live in our neighborhood (ie they'd have to drive 30-45 mins to see friends, so isolated from their friends).

You don’t know what you don’t know.

I’ve never been to public school ..prek through college in privates.. but my wife was public her whole life.

The career trajectory of my friends is exponentially better than her friends. Sure there are outliers but like minds attract. People that drop 45k+ a year on 3rd grade will raise kids to be successful (financially or academically). I don’t know a single kid from my graduating private that isn’t doing something fairly impressive.

By 30, most have made the leap to VP, Sr. Manager, entrepreneur, director, attorney, dr, etc.

Born on home plate and staying there. So?

[Anonymous]

If the private school option was better than the public school option, yes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. And we make multiples of that. But public school is an important value to us.

Similar here. Our HHI will be > 5mm this year, and we send our kids to MoCo public schools. While we aren't leading the PTO, we are regular volunteers at the school (one spouse with part time work far more than the other). It's the right community for our family, and we wouldn't change it.

While we make a lot now, one of us grew up poor/lower middle class, the other middle-middle class. MoCo public schools suit us well. Yes, not everything is absolutely "perfect." In our view, that is sort of the point--we think our kids learn a bit more resilience when not everything is always perfect.

I will admit though that one high-earning spouse's income provides an advantage that helps make public schools work for us: The spouse who works part-time is *super* involved with kids' homework, enrichment, etc. We joke that our kids have 100% of MoCo public plus 50% home school on top.

We have a $2.5m HHI and also send our kids to public. DH and I both grew up in middle class families so we also valued sending our kids to public. Now that our kids are getting older, I’m wondering if we should switch our kids to private for a better educational experience.

I wonder if my poor background has clouded my judgment on what is best for our kids. I drive myself and DH crazy thinking about where to send our 3 kids.

I was similar but, we switched out kids this year. I’m telling you to switch. Break out of your upbringing and give your kids the leg up.

If PP’s kids are settled and happy in their public then there is no reason to switch

- Parent of K-12 lifers

+1000

Not sure it's really the leg up that the PP thinks it is. My kids got excellent educations at our local Public schools. One thru college and excelling at adulting. The other in college and thriving at a T30 school. Academically motivated and smart kid---private HS would not have done anything more than ensure they were at school with rich kids and kids who don't live in our neighborhood (ie they'd have to drive 30-45 mins to see friends, so isolated from their friends).

You don’t know what you don’t know.

I’ve never been to public school ..prek through college in privates.. but my wife was public her whole life.

The career trajectory of my friends is exponentially better than her friends. Sure there are outliers but like minds attract. People that drop 45k+ a year on 3rd grade will raise kids to be successful (financially or academically). I don’t know a single kid from my graduating private that isn’t doing something fairly impressive.

By 30, most have made the leap to VP, Sr. Manager, entrepreneur, director, attorney, dr, etc.

The career paths most likely have more to do with their family life (finances, push to attend college and be a striver, rich people connections, etc) than where they attended school K-12.
Someone who grows up in a home with HHI (over $500K), parents who both have graduate degrees and high power positions, and grew up expecting to do well in school and go onto undergrad and most likely grad school, will do well in life no matter where they attend school---they have the support and drive mentality from home.