Making $220K - any chance for FA at DC Privates?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here - thanks for all the comments and insights from all perspectives. It's interesting that some people immediately think one is entitled because one makes a certain amount of money. Far from it. My husband and I each owned our own homes before we got married. We lived in one initially and rented the other. We bought a house in NE DC a few years later together that cost $200k and was not habital. No functioning electric, plumbing etc. we bought it with a 203k renovation loan which allowed us to do $100k worth of renovations. Some may know that making a 3 bedroom 1 bath home liveable costs more than $100k when one needs everything (and I mean everything - hgtv has nothing on us). We've made some of what we hope are wise choices and have lived extremely frugally throughout. I still drive my very first car out of college which was 15 years old last year. My husbands car is 11 years old. Entitled we are not. Determined to continue to make wise choices we are. Hence my post asking if we'd qualify for any FA as our neighborhood schools aren't quite where we'd like them to be.

What I gather from your posting here, you just are cheap ("frugal") and don't want to pay the hefty price tag that comes along with private school. You want to get a deal on private school like you did your houses, car, etc. You will not be happy paying for the tutition plus all the other expenses that will come along with private school.

If you really believe that high school is most important than why even bother sending your kids to private now. Use public and supplement or pick a Catholic school and continue to save.

And yes, you are truly entitled.

I get FA for my child - single income, just under 6 figures, cheap, older car, renting a cheap, older house - plus little to no savings, no down payment for a house, no vacations, I barely even buy new clothes, can't eat out, - and the list go on. So you have no idea what it means to be frugal.

Op here - no I don't think you get me at all. I want to be sure that before we commit to something that we can afford it long term. So I don't want to start something and then two-four years from now realize we can't afford it. I don't equate my children's education to getting a cheap deal on something. I want to be sure we make the best long term choices for our family and our children's education.

You don't know where we've come from and what it's taken us to get where we are. Are you the only one who can claim they are frugal because of your specific circumstances? I don't want to get in a dcurbanmom tit- for-tat with you because I have no clue what your situation is.

No, I get you just fine, really I do. You are very obvious.

Again, you are cheap.

You want to get a "deal" on private school just like you got a deal on the house, the car, etc. If this was in fact not true, you would never even have considered the prospect of FA. You can afford the school at full pay but you don't want to afford the school at full pay. You want a discount because you don't truly believe that the school is worth the tuition.

Don't do it. The tuition is just the starting part. There are other expenses and you will not be happy.

This is OP and this will be my last comment to this poster. So what do you do pp when something goes wrong and you have no savings? When an aging parent needs assistance or if a spouse loses a job? We've had to deal with these types of things as most have or will have to at some point. Life happens. You seem to equate cheap to what others would consider sensible and prudent. My parents sacrificed and that is something we are doing for our kids. But our parents weren't faced with $60k plus per year for two kids starting in kindergarten.

To all the posters who've made good points I appreciate the perspectives. We would like to stay in the district if possible and selling one of the homes isn't an option. We'll see how our chances go with the lottery and see how we fare with the private school applications. I understand that the chance of getting FA from privates is slim to none and so we will factor that in to our planning and approach as well.

I was a PP who makes $180K and sends 2 kids to private and has one with a nanny share. We have very little savings. DH lost his job last year and luckily found a new one relatively soon, but we lived pretty bare bones for a while, used what savings we could, and hoped for the best.

If one of you lost your jobs, it seems like you could sell one of your properties, even at a loss, use credit cards, dip into savings, etc. You could also talk to the school and hope that they would help you out and be understanding until you get back on your feet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here - thanks for all the comments and insights from all perspectives. It's interesting that some people immediately think one is entitled because one makes a certain amount of money. Far from it. My husband and I each owned our own homes before we got married. We lived in one initially and rented the other. We bought a house in NE DC a few years later together that cost $200k and was not habital. No functioning electric, plumbing etc. we bought it with a 203k renovation loan which allowed us to do $100k worth of renovations. Some may know that making a 3 bedroom 1 bath home liveable costs more than $100k when one needs everything (and I mean everything - hgtv has nothing on us). We've made some of what we hope are wise choices and have lived extremely frugally throughout. I still drive my very first car out of college which was 15 years old last year. My husbands car is 11 years old. Entitled we are not. Determined to continue to make wise choices we are. Hence my post asking if we'd qualify for any FA as our neighborhood schools aren't quite where we'd like them to be.

What I gather from your posting here, you just are cheap ("frugal") and don't want to pay the hefty price tag that comes along with private school. You want to get a deal on private school like you did your houses, car, etc. You will not be happy paying for the tutition plus all the other expenses that will come along with private school.

If you really believe that high school is most important than why even bother sending your kids to private now. Use public and supplement or pick a Catholic school and continue to save.

And yes, you are truly entitled.

I get FA for my child - single income, just under 6 figures, cheap, older car, renting a cheap, older house - plus little to no savings, no down payment for a house, no vacations, I barely even buy new clothes, can't eat out, - and the list go on. So you have no idea what it means to be frugal.

Op here - no I don't think you get me at all. I want to be sure that before we commit to something that we can afford it long term. So I don't want to start something and then two-four years from now realize we can't afford it. I don't equate my children's education to getting a cheap deal on something. I want to be sure we make the best long term choices for our family and our children's education.

You don't know where we've come from and what it's taken us to get where we are. Are you the only one who can claim they are frugal because of your specific circumstances? I don't want to get in a dcurbanmom tit- for-tat with you because I have no clue what your situation is.

No, I get you just fine, really I do. You are very obvious.

Again, you are cheap.

You want to get a "deal" on private school just like you got a deal on the house, the car, etc. If this was in fact not true, you would never even have considered the prospect of FA. You can afford the school at full pay but you don't want to afford the school at full pay. You want a discount because you don't truly believe that the school is worth the tuition.

Don't do it. The tuition is just the starting part. There are other expenses and you will not be happy.

This is OP and this will be my last comment to this poster. So what do you do pp when something goes wrong and you have no savings? When an aging parent needs assistance or if a spouse loses a job? We've had to deal with these types of things as most have or will have to at some point. Life happens. You seem to equate cheap to what others would consider sensible and prudent. My parents sacrificed and that is something we are doing for our kids. But our parents weren't faced with $60k plus per year for two kids starting in kindergarten.

To all the posters who've made good points I appreciate the perspectives. We would like to stay in the district if possible and selling one of the homes isn't an option. We'll see how our chances go with the lottery and see how we fare with the private school applications. I understand that the chance of getting FA from privates is slim to none and so we will factor that in to our planning and approach as well.

I was a PP who makes $180K and sends 2 kids to private and has one with a nanny share. We have very little savings. DH lost his job last year and luckily found a new one relatively soon, but we lived pretty bare bones for a while, used what savings we could, and hoped for the best.

If one of you lost your jobs, it seems like you could sell one of your properties, even at a loss, use credit cards, dip into savings, etc. You could also talk to the school and hope that they would help you out and be understanding until you get back on your feet.

+1

And many, if not most people are just not in a position to help aging parents. That is a luxury and a privilege - like private school.

[Anonymous]

So, you are not dependent on the rental properties for the majority of your income, right?

If not, you are sitting on real estate assets that will be taken into consideration when applying for FA.

OP, you need to be realistic about about qualifying for FA. Frugal lifestyles have very little to do with FA. FA is determined by income, assets, and reasonable expenses. Saving up to support your parents in old age is NOT a qualified expense unless you list them as dependents on your income taxes.

[Anonymous]

Op here - got it folks. My comments were regarding not having liquid savings when deciding to commit to a $60k a year path. Life is all about choices as many have pointed out here and to which we all agree. Helping aging parents in my culture is not a luxury it's an expectation. So all of these things are things we are factoring in when making our decision as to what we intend to do school wise and when. I've been down and out before and for me am not comfortable with locking ourselves into a decision that would result in not being able to save at all or have to rely on credit cards. Been there and done that.
We will figure it out as everyone does. I know we are fortunate and blessed in our situation. There are things we can cut back on and things that we value as important that we prefer not to at this point including certain obligations we have to family if the need arises and church tithing etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here - got it folks. My comments were regarding not having liquid savings when deciding to commit to a $60k a year path. Life is all about choices as many have pointed out here and to which we all agree. Helping aging parents in my culture is not a luxury it's an expectation. So all of these things are things we are factoring in when making our decision as to what we intend to do school wise and when. I've been down and out before and for me am not comfortable with locking ourselves into a decision that would result in not being able to save at all or have to rely on credit cards. Been there and done that.
We will figure it out as everyone does. I know we are fortunate and blessed in our situation. There are things we can cut back on and things that we value as important that we prefer not to at this point including certain obligations we have to family if the need arises and church tithing etc.

Your culture =/= private school culture. Unless your parents are your legal dependents, the FA office will not see your own need to support them as a valid use of funds that could go to tuition.

You are indeed fortunate to own so much real estate. Sell some of it and move into a school district that is acceptable to you.

[Anonymous]

Either you can afford it or you can't OP. I would have loved to have gone to a private university, but I paid my own way and all I could afford was public with no loans. I had a job so that I could pay for college. Life is tough. No one owes your kid a private school education. Go public if you can't afford it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here - got it folks. My comments were regarding not having liquid savings when deciding to commit to a $60k a year path. Life is all about choices as many have pointed out here and to which we all agree. Helping aging parents in my culture is not a luxury it's an expectation. So all of these things are things we are factoring in when making our decision as to what we intend to do school wise and when. I've been down and out before and for me am not comfortable with locking ourselves into a decision that would result in not being able to save at all or have to rely on credit cards. Been there and done that.
We will figure it out as everyone does. I know we are fortunate and blessed in our situation. There are things we can cut back on and things that we value as important that we prefer not to at this point including certain obligations we have to family if the need arises and church tithing etc.

Your culture =/= private school culture. Unless your parents are your legal dependents, the FA office will not see your own need to support them as a valid use of funds that could go to tuition.

You are indeed fortunate to own so much real estate. Sell some of it and move into a school district that is acceptable to you.

This is exactly right.

[Anonymous]

Apparently OP is unable to grasp that schools will not give financial aid because one has assets one prefers to use for other purposes. . If you own three properties, you don't have a need for aid; it is merely a want because you don't actually want to pay full tuition (and like a pp noted, that is only one of the costs of private education).

[Anonymous]

OP--you are thinking long term about school. You want to put your children in an environment and know that you can afford to keep them there for the duration. In considering this, you are looking at what you have for retirement and to assist your parents. And I'm sure you're looking at college costs as well. All of these numbers are big black holes that can only be identified at the time they are needed which is not very useful for financial planning purposes.

My parents just started looking at putting my grandmother into a nursing home. The costs are astounding. Like your culture, my culture expects the younger generation to care for the older generation. My parents cared for my grandmother for the last 10 years. But now, she cannot walk, see, or hear. Her quality of life is very poor and she wishes to pass away. She is over 100 btw. At this point, my mom can no longer physically care for her. So she needs the nursing home. No one expected her to live this long, but here she is. Will she need nursing home care for 6 months, a yr, 2 yrs, more--no one knows.

I'm a planner like you. And my kids are at private. And I'm pretty sure this will be our last. I just can't stomach the unknown tuition increases which somehow do not seem to correlate to my lack of salary increase.

For you, I would recommend public. And if that means buying in the suburbs to get into a good school district, that might be a stable option.

In answer to your original question, can you get FA---most likely not. You're going to be expected to liquidate your real estate investments. In your mind, they are earmarked for the kids high school, but schools sees it as money you have available now. How you pay for high school is not their problem. It's your choice to spend your money (investments) or save them for something else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Apparently OP is unable to grasp that schools will not give financial aid because one has assets one prefers to use for other purposes. . If you own three properties, you don't have a need for aid; it is merely a want because you don't actually want to pay full tuition (and like a pp noted, that is only one of the costs of private education).

In fairness to OP, based on her comments in the last 24 hours, I think she gets it now.

[Anonymous]

Church tithing? I have to say I would be furious to contribute to FA so that op could turn around and give $ to her church. Ugh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP--you are thinking long term about school. You want to put your children in an environment and know that you can afford to keep them there for the duration. In considering this, you are looking at what you have for retirement and to assist your parents. And I'm sure you're looking at college costs as well. All of these numbers are big black holes that can only be identified at the time they are needed which is not very useful for financial planning purposes.

My parents just started looking at putting my grandmother into a nursing home. The costs are astounding. Like your culture, my culture expects the younger generation to care for the older generation. My parents cared for my grandmother for the last 10 years. But now, she cannot walk, see, or hear. Her quality of life is very poor and she wishes to pass away. She is over 100 btw. At this point, my mom can no longer physically care for her. So she needs the nursing home. No one expected her to live this long, but here she is. Will she need nursing home care for 6 months, a yr, 2 yrs, more--no one knows.

I'm a planner like you. And my kids are at private. And I'm pretty sure this will be our last. I just can't stomach the unknown tuition increases which somehow do not seem to correlate to my lack of salary increase.

For you, I would recommend public. And if that means buying in the suburbs to get into a good school district, that might be a stable option.

In answer to your original question, can you get FA---most likely not. You're going to be expected to liquidate your real estate investments. In your mind, they are earmarked for the kids high school, but schools sees it as money you have available now. How you pay for high school is not their problem. It's your choice to spend your money (investments) or save them for something else.

Op here - still checking in but no longer will be posting responses. I did want to thank this poster however for taking the time to write this post and share her/his perspective and circumstances with me. Very much appreciated. And best to your grandparent at this stage in her life which I can imagine is not easy on anyone but at the same time to have her still around at 100-plus - wow! A mixed blessing I know.