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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]For the PP who thinks all TJ kids are driventoTKj in luxury cars from McLean, I watched the summer school K&R lane this morning for you. Toyota, Toyota, Lexus, Subaru, Honda and BMW just ahead and just behind me. I'm not sure what K&R line you're watching. But the one I'm in everyday is not majority luxury cars. [/quote]

Sorry, I never was trying to indicate that all TJ kids live in Mclean, simply using it as an example of a place that is very different from a place like Burke. Just choosing two places as examples of different types of choices families can make about how they spend their money. We live in a more Burke/Springfield sort of place but my child who went to TJ had lots of TJ friends who lived in very nice houses in places like Mclean, Vienna, north Arlington.

I was in the car pool line at TJ almost every school day for four years. I didn't make a list every day, but there were a lot of BMWs, Lexuses, Mercedes-Benzes, and other expensive cars. Many of the Toyotas and Hondas I saw were the more expensive models, not the lower level models. My little inexpensive car did seem to be the odd one out most days.

My point is just that, while most of the families with kids at TJ are not super rich, they are far from poor and most have above average household incomes, if their homes and vehicles give any indication of how they're doing financially. Many are donut hole families in that they make way too much for financial aid, but they don't make so much that paying $60,000 a year for college would be painless. Especially when you can pay half that for UVa and use what you've saved to pay for grad school.

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PP you are quoting, and this is fair.  TJ has a very, very low FARMs rate.  Sad fact is, it's just hard to get in unless you come from an AAP Center feeding out of a school district, and your parents have put a lot of time and money into things like tutors, music lessons, and summer camps. Plus, lots of time focused on the education, and driving kids to and from, and sitting at the music lessons, recitals, academic teams etc.  The stuff that makes SIS statements compelling aren't found at poor performing school. And can't be accessed by kids whose parents don't have at least some disposable income.  No one would say that TJ kids are poor.  They just are't rich enough to pay full freight when costs are inching towards 70k a year. We live in a Franklin Farms house the Carson feeder and drive 5 year old cars that were about $30,000 at the time. We have no intention of replacing them in the next 5 years.  We will have no problem covering in state tuition for our TJ kid in full, no loans, through a prepaid 529 plus additional 529 savings.   But, we have two kids, and there is no way we can do 70k a year x 4 years x 2 kids. And I am very opposed to undergrad loans. Especially where grad school is likely. To go OOS or private, our kids will need to get merit aid for costs above 40K a year.  Our situation is very, very common at TJ. [/quote]

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