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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Full pay at a private.  To avoid taking loans, I may need to stop my charitable donations (~$8k per year).  I've rationalized this by telling myself that full pay at a private is subsidizing those on need-based financial aid...effectively a charitable donation (but not for tax purposes).  Am I crazy?[/quote]

Yeah, you are. You're not subsidizing those on need-based financial aid -- people who give to the school are. The actual cost of educating your child is higher than what they're charging you. This is crazy, but it is true.[/quote]

OP here. I agree that nobody is paying the "true" full price, but they aren't charging everybody the same price. My price is higher so that somebody else's price can be lower.  That's a subsidy.[/quote]

Although I understand what you're trying to say, that's not how it works. Others pay less than you because they are not in the same financial position so they are offered aid. Your tuition is not paying for that difference in cost. [b]The people who donate above and beyond their tuition are the ones who are subsidizing that difference in cost. [/b]In fact, the people who are donating money above and beyond their tuition are also subsidizing you since those donations also go toward helping with the difference of what is actually costs to educate your child and keep the school running. This is not to make you feel bad because you should never feel bad about not being able to give more than you're able, but the facts are that you are not subsidizing anything by paying the full listed tuition.

You should also not feel bad about reducing your contributions to charities in order to pay for private school. Consider this a period of time that you will not donate financially and, if possible, contribute in others ways by volunteering or helping an organization to secure a grant, etc (their are plenty of ways to help organizations that are not monetary). I'm confident that once you are done paying for school tuitions you will start up the contributions again. This may be harsh, but trying to take credit for paying for others when that's not how it works is simply to validate your own feelings, but it's not based on fact.[/quote]

That's not exactly true either for the top colleges/universities. when I was in college, tuition per child was around $30K... and I heard that the school was actually spending over $100K per student.  So at that time, unless you were donating an extra $70K on top of the tuition you were paying, you would not have been subsidizing anyone else.
[/quote]

I understand that...I wasn't trying to say that it is a one-to-one ratio of each person donating directly toward an individual student. The money is obviously put into a larger financial aid account (or another account for other services the donation is for), but the concept is the same. Those who donate above tuition are the ones covering these extra costs, not the OP who simply pays the tuition she is charged.

Oh, and the amount of money people donate to private schools would astound you...there are plenty who are donating more than 70k...[/quote]

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