People with $1.2M+ homes and getting significant financial aid

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1000% agree PP. I don’t know why anyone thinks that they are entitled to a private school education that they cannot afford- especially around here where the public schools are excellent. It’s gross.

I think it's gross for parents to sit around and gossip about who is and is not deserving of financial aid. Do you have literally nothing better to do? And I would not describe DCPS as "excellent"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There shouldn’t be financial aid for private schools to begin with. The problem here (though really 1.2M for a house they may not own isn’t that egregious) illustrates that. If you can’t pay, you can’t go. There’s a free option.

It is egregious. Many of us bought houses at $400k or less so we’d have the flexibility. Why should someone overspending be rewarded while those in their means get nothing.

All this means is you lived here and had money when a house could be bought for 400k. People who moved later, couldn't buy then, divorced later, etc are just SOL in your world?

If you think people are lying about their assets, say that. My school knows my income and where I live. They use that information to decide who gets aid and they decided to give me some. Sorry you don't like the informed decision somebody else made.

There are still houses for $409-600, just not in the areas you want to live in. It’s tacky. That money should go to families who need it. You have two kids in private, expensive house and nice lifestyle plus your kids get supported by their dad too.

But that’s the thing, nothing is stopping families who need it from applying. Everyone can apply for FA.

Except that for many of those who really need it, even a 50% scholarship is still unaffordable. So when a school gives a 30% or 50% scholarship on 40K tuition, who do you think can still afford to pay 20-30K? That’s still a lot. Should the school give 2 scholarships at 100% vs 6 at 30? That s a school decision and something that the school decides based on their own criteria and factors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The issue is those of us living smaller and paying full freight do not want to subsidize the tuition of those living larger. Nor should we.

Anonymous wrote:First, life is not fair. There are always people who get some perk or whatever that you don’t even if you “deserve” it. This line of thinking will make you insane so just stop.

Second, schools ability to offer financial aid to families varies from year to year and from school to school. There is no simple or singular equation here. And it’s very different than the calculus that happens for college.

Third, there’s no way for you to really know someone else’s circumstances. We know quite a few people who send their kids to private school, but could not afford to do so without significant help from grandparents. They live in nice houses but a year over year commitment especially if more than one kid is a lot. Life in this area is expensive. Houses are $$$ but that doesn’t mean income is there.

Are there people who grift and low ball self reported/self employed income? Yes, I’m sure there are. But I think the gray area for who gets FA and who doesn’t is pretty big.

This is the reality of the private school world. They can more or less operate as they wish. If you don’t like it, then your choices are to either suck it up or go elsewhere. No private school is going to expect a family to sell their primary residence or take out a home equity loan, as suggested above.

This. They can do whatever they want and they do. If you don't like it, you can leave.

[Anonymous]

Those of you advocating that others should have done things differently in order to afford school as full-pay, how far do you take this?

Shouldn't the poor of DC have worked harder in school? In life? I mean, pretty much anyone could have done well enough in a DCPS high school that they could have attended a college and could have done well enough in college to become a teacher or a nurse (which in DC are both 100K careers) and they should have had married a partner with a similar income prior to having kids and then they should have only had as many kids as they could afford to privately educate.

I mean why are some people (who are poor enough in your mind) given the pass for their decisions but others are not?

Moral of the story--->when you nose around in other people's financial lives you just drive yourself crazy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There shouldn’t be financial aid for private schools to begin with. The problem here (though really 1.2M for a house they may not own isn’t that egregious) illustrates that. If you can’t pay, you can’t go. There’s a free option.

It is egregious. Many of us bought houses at $400k or less so we’d have the flexibility. Why should someone overspending be rewarded while those in their means get nothing.

All this means is you lived here and had money when a house could be bought for 400k. People who moved later, couldn't buy then, divorced later, etc are just SOL in your world?

If you think people are lying about their assets, say that. My school knows my income and where I live. They use that information to decide who gets aid and they decided to give me some. Sorry you don't like the informed decision somebody else made.

There are still houses for $409-600, just not in the areas you want to live in. It’s tacky. That money should go to families who need it. You have two kids in private, expensive house and nice lifestyle plus your kids get supported by their dad too.

But that’s the thing, nothing is stopping families who need it from applying. Everyone can apply for FA.

Except that for many of those who really need it, even a 50% scholarship is still unaffordable. So when a school gives a 30% or 50% scholarship on 40K tuition, who do you think can still afford to pay 20-30K? That’s still a lot. Should the school give 2 scholarships at 100% vs 6 at 30? That s a school decision and something that the school decides based on their own criteria and factors.

These schools hype up how much they do but they don’t. They should have full rides for very low income families. The diversity thing is a joke.

[Anonymous]

MIT is offering free tuition to those making under 200k a year. So the value of the house isn't the reason to deny aid.

https://news.mit.edu/2024/mit-tuition-undergraduates-family-income-1120

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Those of you advocating that others should have done things differently in order to afford school as full-pay, how far do you take this?

Shouldn't the poor of DC have worked harder in school? In life? I mean, pretty much anyone could have done well enough in a DCPS high school that they could have attended a college and could have done well enough in college to become a teacher or a nurse (which in DC are both 100K careers) and they should have had married a partner with a similar income prior to having kids and then they should have only had as many kids as they could afford to privately educate.

I mean why are some people (who are poor enough in your mind) given the pass for their decisions but others are not?

Moral of the story--->when you nose around in other people's financial lives you just drive yourself crazy.

We stopped at one kid due to costs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MIT is offering free tuition to those making under 200k a year. So the value of the house isn't the reason to deny aid.

https://news.mit.edu/2024/mit-tuition-undergraduates-family-income-1120

That’s gross as people will just game that system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You guys need to stop counting other peoples' money. You don't know their circumstances (nor should you). You trust your school to make the determination of who is eligible for and deserving of financial aid. If you believe you could fall into that category, please apply, and discuss the criteria with your schools financial aid office. If you don't, other peoples receipt of financial aid has no impact on you.

We do not receive financial aid. Maybe we could, as we are certainly not one of the "rich" families at our school - we go on vacations with our families, but typically drive, rather than fly. Our kids have never been out of the country, and we had to disappoint our daughter that the Eras Tour wasn't going to happen, but all of their needs, and many of their wants, are met. We live in a house currently valued at about 1.4M, but we definitely have to budget well.

Since we don't apply for aid, it doesn't matter to me if a "richer" family receives it. It is simply none of my business, and I have more important things to worry about.

You could do more but you choose to be house poor. That’s really tone death.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You guys need to stop counting other peoples' money. You don't know their circumstances (nor should you). You trust your school to make the determination of who is eligible for and deserving of financial aid. If you believe you could fall into that category, please apply, and discuss the criteria with your schools financial aid office. If you don't, other peoples receipt of financial aid has no impact on you.

We do not receive financial aid. Maybe we could, as we are certainly not one of the "rich" families at our school - we go on vacations with our families, but typically drive, rather than fly. Our kids have never been out of the country, and we had to disappoint our daughter that the Eras Tour wasn't going to happen, but all of their needs, and many of their wants, are met. We live in a house currently valued at about 1.4M, but we definitely have to budget well.

Since we don't apply for aid, it doesn't matter to me if a "richer" family receives it. It is simply none of my business, and I have more important things to worry about.

You could do more but you choose to be house poor. That’s really tone death.

Why do you care if I'm house poor? I don't get financial aid, pay all my bills, etc. I was saying that maybe I would be eligible, because we are certainly not one of the "rich" families (nor would we be if we lived in a cheaper house), but we never applied, and it's literally none of my business who receives it. It is not tone deaf to tell people to mind their own money. The school determines financial aid distribution. If you have an issue with it, take it up with them, or send your kids to a school at which you have no issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don't hate the player, hate the game.

No, I still hate grifters.

[Anonymous]

This type of gossip (and these threads) have made me give much less to our school's annual drive which benefits financial aid. We are full pay and lucky enough to have grandparents who help with some. Its a financial sacrifice and it didn't occur to me to ask for aid at our income (around 350k which is pretty low in the private school works). I now give more money when there are requests for specific things - a new science lab, new bus, field trips etc. Maybe if the school was more transparent about who qualifies for aid I would feel differently but for now I'm considering my full pay of tuition to be my contribution to financial aid.

[Anonymous]

It’s called “house poor”.

They are actually siting on an appreciated asset but living in poverty cash flow wise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Those of you advocating that others should have done things differently in order to afford school as full-pay, how far do you take this?

Shouldn't the poor of DC have worked harder in school? In life? I mean, pretty much anyone could have done well enough in a DCPS high school that they could have attended a college and could have done well enough in college to become a teacher or a nurse (which in DC are both 100K careers) and they should have had married a partner with a similar income prior to having kids and then they should have only had as many kids as they could afford to privately educate.

I mean why are some people (who are poor enough in your mind) given the pass for their decisions but others are not?

Moral of the story--->when you nose around in other people's financial lives you just drive yourself crazy.

This is ridiculous. We're talking about people who have assets that they don't want to use to pay tuition - preferring to keep them, and let others foot the bill. And you have somehow compared that to someone with a low income job who should have done better in high school, gone to college, gotten a six figure job, and therefore been able to be full pay at a $50,000 private school?

Yeah, those are the same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This type of gossip (and these threads) have made me give much less to our school's annual drive which benefits financial aid. We are full pay and lucky enough to have grandparents who help with some. Its a financial sacrifice and it didn't occur to me to ask for aid at our income (around 350k which is pretty low in the private school works). I now give more money when there are requests for specific things - a new science lab, new bus, field trips etc. Maybe if the school was more transparent about who qualifies for aid I would feel differently but for now I'm considering my full pay of tuition to be my contribution to financial aid.

I'm in a similar boat and a similar mindset. Never occurred to me to even think there are families taking aid away from those WHO ACTUALLY NEED IT. I will be adjusting my giving to be more targeted on transparent items as well.