How rich are private school parents?

[Anonymous]

My guess is that gross median family income at Big 3 Private would be around 500K. I would guess further that the 25th percentile is around 250-300K, the 75th percentile around 750K and the 90th percentile around 1 million. There aren't any major OBSERVABLE differences in standard of living between folks in the 25th and the 75th percentiles, other than the not-too-large differences between the size/location of houses that people live in.

We are between the median and the 75th percentile in income and are paying tuition for 1 kid in high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why are the families of upper school students richer than the families of lower school students?

They’re older.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our kids go to Sidwell. Our two working parent HHI is about 400; that's total gross HHI before deductions for taxes, healthcare, retirement, mortgage, tuition, etc. Our house is worth about 750. We have no financial aid from the school or grantparents or anything like that; just paying our own way. We consider ourselves really lucky and blessed, and quite frankly successful to be able to pay for an expensive luxury like private school. I think we're about average/median for the school. Plenty of families are far wealthier, but plenty are less fortunate. HTH. Take my opinions with a grain of salt though, because I can only guess at how other families are doing financially. But fwiw, I never have felt out of place.

This is exactly us.

Exactly us too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My guess is that gross median family income at Big 3 Private would be around 500K. I would guess further that the 25th percentile is around 250-300K, the 75th percentile around 750K and the 90th percentile around 1 million. There aren't any major OBSERVABLE differences in standard of living between folks in the 25th and the 75th percentiles, other than the not-too-large differences between the size/location of houses that people live in.

We are between the median and the 75th percentile in income and are paying tuition for 1 kid in high school.

NP here. I know there are also families that contribute several hundred thousand dollars at a time. Basically, nothing here so far begins to give you a real view of the high end. People who founded companies and made hundreds of millions at the IPO and families descended from similar circumstances. Imho none of them would post on this thread or broadcast their situation with anyone on a salary or salary plus bonus existence. They do though tend to know one another.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think we earn enough to afford private, but we are just another ordinary dual income professionals in the area, and we live in a very modest house

Can someone tell me what majority of private school families are like financially? I don’t want our kid to feel that he’s the poorest one in the class

Many are paying with wealth, not annual ordinary income (HHI). Many have grandparents gifting >$14ks/year to each kid, many have trust funds allowing for monthly payments, many have large bonus or equity payment jobs and they just set aside $500k per kid for K-12 and another $500k per kid for college.

We could not mentally stomach rising K-12 costs until we physically carved out some money, kept it in Vanguard and went on with our other retirement savings goals and lives. No way to cut it, it will set you back $500k per child and that's before factoring in opportunity cost.

My guess is at $200k HHI you'd get some financial assistance. Many people also purposely try to work at a private school, in any role, in order to get free or discounted tuition remissions.

Yes, this is us. My parents pay tuitions, I have a trust fund and my DH makes less than 150,000 per year. We live modestly, but travel often, and are not flashy. Don't worry about it OP, everyone has a different situation.

[Anonymous]

It varies with schools, but if you don't focus on how much money other families have then your kid likely won't either. I have a sense some families are much more financially well off than others, but when my kids are making friends I don't think they give any thought to who has the most $$.

[Anonymous]

Who wants to know?

[Anonymous]

most families at my son's school are making 600K-1mil per yr

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just checked and the daycare I used when my children were younger is now over $27K per year.

+1. Capitol Hill Day charges about the same for tuition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You could still receive financial aid at 200k HHI?

We went to a big-3 admissions open house @3 years ago and were told the cut-off for being considered for financial aid was something like $360,000 for a 2-spouse family. At many of the top privates in the area, the number of kids on FI is right around 25% (Maret, GDS, Sidwell, STA/Cathedral, and probably some others too), so being on FI is extremely common! That said, of the 75% of kids who are full pay, the median wealth level isn't particular high, people still have mortgages, buy on sale, keep cars for 100k+ miles, and care about not wasting money. I'd guess the median annual HHI of the full-pay families is somewhere in the $275-$400k for families with lower schoolers; $375-$550k for middle schoolers; and $450-$600k for families with upper schoolers. Yes, there are a handful (2-4) of rich, out of sight families with $100 million in wealth (not sure of HHI), but they're by far the exception and they generally do their best not to flaunt it. In sum, "most" private school parents are upper-middle class by DC metro standards.

I am surprised to read that the cut-off is $360,000. We're just above that (about $380,000), and are spending $82,000/per year on tuition. I guess I will swallow my pride, and apply for FA for next year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our kids go to Sidwell. Our two working parent HHI is about 400; that's total gross HHI before deductions for taxes, healthcare, retirement, mortgage, tuition, etc. Our house is worth about 750. We have no financial aid from the school or grantparents or anything like that; just paying our own way. We consider ourselves really lucky and blessed, and quite frankly successful to be able to pay for an expensive luxury like private school. I think we're about average/median for the school. Plenty of families are far wealthier, but plenty are less fortunate. HTH. Take my opinions with a grain of salt though, because I can only guess at how other families are doing financially. But fwiw, I never have felt out of place.

This is exactly us.

Exactly us too.

Us too but joined 9-12, not lifers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You could still receive financial aid at 200k HHI?

We went to a big-3 admissions open house @3 years ago and were told the cut-off for being considered for financial aid was something like $360,000 for a 2-spouse family. At many of the top privates in the area, the number of kids on FI is right around 25% (Maret, GDS, Sidwell, STA/Cathedral, and probably some others too), so being on FI is extremely common! That said, of the 75% of kids who are full pay, the median wealth level isn't particular high, people still have mortgages, buy on sale, keep cars for 100k+ miles, and care about not wasting money. I'd guess the median annual HHI of the full-pay families is somewhere in the $275-$400k for families with lower schoolers; $375-$550k for middle schoolers; and $450-$600k for families with upper schoolers. Yes, there are a handful (2-4) of rich, out of sight families with $100 million in wealth (not sure of HHI), but they're by far the exception and they generally do their best not to flaunt it. In sum, "most" private school parents are upper-middle class by DC metro standards.

I am surprised to read that the cut-off is $360,000. We're just above that (about $380,000), and are spending $82,000/per year on tuition. I guess I will swallow my pride, and apply for FA for next year.

If you are above the cut off, why would younapppy?

[Anonymous]

Assume the cut-off goes up with inflation. Best to call the schools to ask what the cutoff is.

[Anonymous]

A financial aid cutoff representing the top 2-3% income of the region is completely insane. Schools should be ashamed of themselves. They're giving financial aid to children of corporate lawyers while a quarter of the kids in the city live below the poverty line.

[Anonymous]

13.09 you dont get private school economics. It is price-discrimination.