How do you afford private?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:wife went back to work after SAHM for 15 years, and a lot of sacrifices. tuition is just part of the equation, remember to add the social aspect of it, field trips, ski club, dance..(if u have a DD, this gets expensive, etc)..

Working = sacrifice

Nope, got rid of the E55 and holding off on upgrading the Porsche...get it!

[Anonymous]

Y'all some rich motherfuckers.
I went to Exeter and dont make near what you all make.

[Anonymous]

How does where you go to high school have anything to do with your income?

[Anonymous]

50% financial aid. Live modestly in the suburbs. It's still a stretch for us, but very worth it.

[Anonymous]

We make about $300K/year, have saved about $2.5M and still don't feel comfortable spending the $ for private school. Our kids go to a top public school, so they are getting a solid education. We are planning on paying 100% for their college- there goes about $400K of our savings. Then, we have no idea how long we will live for- so it's really important to us to save a lot - just in case we live a long time.

[Anonymous]

How old are you/ your kids? That is a lot of savings even for 300k. Well done!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How old are you/ your kids? That is a lot of savings even for 300k. Well done!

We are about 50 and kids are in 10th and 7th grades. We live a nice lifestyle, but pay for our cars and keep them forever and live in a nice house but could have qualified for a much bigger mortgage. Most of our discretionary spending is on travel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here:

so, it seems like many feel we should automatically be able to afford private and that only "priorities" set us apart. we don't take extravagant vacations or drive amazing cars. we do have a nice house that we moved into this year (from a townhouse).

it seems we prioritize saving. it is important to us to pay for college and to have a 6-month cushion in case of whatever badness could befall. we also put away towards retirement.

i guess we should take another look at our numbers.

Okay, check the college savings. We made a few decisions regarding college savings. We are committed to paying the tuition for 4 years at a public college. We did 2 years prepaid and will save for another 2 years with the non-prepaid plan. For the room and board we will do what we can. Assuming we are both working we will pay as dd is in college. Whatever we are paying for dd private high school can be paid for college once she is there. If between 2 year prepaid plan, the other college savings plan equivalent for two years at a public university and the 20-25K/year (looking at parochial high schools) that we were paying for private high school we can't cover 4 years at a public college with room and board, I believe we can borrow against certain type or retirement accounts for educational purposes without a penalty.

We make about 250K now and it is doubtful we could pay for two in 30K per year private school and save the max in the 401K, and save 200-300K for private college per child, plus have outside savings including 6 month cushion.

I don't see any point in paying 30K a year for private school if you don't see a value in doing so ...especially since it could come at the expense of being able to pay for 4 years of private college. My situation is different because my child was not doing well in our highly regarded public school. It was stressful on my marriage and with work having lots of school issues to deal with. Being able to find a school that was a better fit for our child was worth every penny and I know I am fortunate that I could afford to leave the situation to find something that worked better. We ended up sending both kids partly because of logistics partly because of the perceived favoritism if we didn't aleast offer our other child the same opportunity.

[Anonymous]

These financials don't seem to be written by anyone who actually knows anything about their own personal finances.

No one earning $250K with $2.5M in savings should be bothered much my paying for private school or college. First of all, the savings should be producing investment returns equal to to their work income. Live on (and save from) the salary and only tap the investment return for your children's education. So last year, the S&P 500 was up 30%. On a $2M portfolio, that was a $600K return. This year, it is up $15%. If you siphon off the earnings from just the past two years, you have enough to fill the DCs' trust funds with nearly $1M, more than enough to throw off all of DC's education needs in perpetuity and buy them very nice houses when they turns 25. No sacrifice in lifestyle and an insignificant difference in your overall financial picture.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HHI $150k. We live in a townhouse in the suburbs, drive older cars, and do not feel the need to impress anyone with anything. We have one in private at $30,000/year and we're doing just fine. It's all a matter of priorities.

Are you receiving any aid?

No. We didn't apply for aid. This is our choice, it's what is best for our child, and we can afford it. I have no regrets, and I don't mind the naysayers. I will only be 42 when my child heads off to college, and we are raising a level headed kid who doesn't care what others are driving or living in. Stop trying to place your own insecurities on us. We know what we're doing.

I'm the PP who asked if you were receiving any aid. I make half of what you do and DC and I live in a condo (the horror!). I will also be early 40s when DC goes to college. DC will be in private through the primary years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP again: we're also at mcps in one of the smallest elem schools in the district and kids have no special needs and are very adaptable... so, private would be a total luxury.

So if you're happy with your public, who cares how others are able to afford private? Doesn't sound like you or DH were ever considering private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These financials don't seem to be written by anyone who actually knows anything about their own personal finances.

No one earning $250K with $2.5M in savings should be bothered much my paying for private school or college. First of all, the savings should be producing investment returns equal to to their work income. Live on (and save from) the salary and only tap the investment return for your children's education. So last year, the S&P 500 was up 30%. On a $2M portfolio, that was a $600K return. This year, it is up $15%. If you siphon off the earnings from just the past two years, you have enough to fill the DCs' trust funds with nearly $1M, more than enough to throw off all of DC's education needs in perpetuity and buy them very nice houses when they turns 25. No sacrifice in lifestyle and an insignificant difference in your overall financial picture.

You are a clueless optimist. I am like the family you are criticizing. Just so silly to pay for private without tremendous wealth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You are a clueless optimist. I am like the family you are criticizing. Just so silly to pay for private without tremendous wealth.

So you buy gold and bury it underneath your backyard bunker?

[Anonymous]

To those that send kids to private, why did you choose to do so? Is the education actually better (not fancier, but better)? How are your local public schools?

We wrestled with this and chose to buy in an excellent public district because we thought there would be less privilege and entitlement (not sure it actually worked out that way). Now we have a SN child so may end up in private anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To those that send kids to private, why did you choose to do so? Is the education actually better (not fancier, but better)? How are your local public schools?

We wrestled with this and chose to buy in an excellent public district because we thought there would be less privilege and entitlement (not sure it actually worked out that way). Now we have a SN child so may end up in private anyway.

My kids are in a religious school. My local public is actually stronger academically and I struggle with the tuition decision each year. But I place a strong value on the religious, community, and cultural aspect that for now it's ok. My youngest now has an IEP and the recommended course of action is smaller class sizes overall. So the private school will meet that need for my rising K. So for him, I don't even think the local public is really an option.