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[quote=Anonymous]By so called DC private school standards we are poor.

We have a combined HHI of $220K (a top GS scale government employee and a teacher). We have two DC, one in private and one in daycare. While we get about 65% FA, we pay $1200 a month for tuition plus about another $300 month for afterschool care and activties -- a total of a minimum of $15,000 a school year (and we also contribute to the annual fund and participate in the annual scholarship fundraising auction); add in about $5000 for private school summer camps and we are looking at about $20K. When our second DC starts we can assume it will be another $15K - $20K per year. Call me silly, but what poor person can afford to spend $20,000 on something that is considered a luxury? And before anyone starts ranting and raving about whether we can actually afford to, yes we are saving for college and retirement. We own a 3000 square foot home (with a $3K monthly mortgage) in a suburb of DC. We drive cars that most of America would consider luxury vehicles. We take nice vacations as well. We do not care about fancy clothes or jewelry. We only shop when necessary and when we do, the most expensive place would be at Macy's and we head straight to the sales rack. We eat out ocassionally, but again we rarely go anywhere we have to spend more than $70 to feed all four of us. In what world, is this lifestyle poor?

OP, when you choose to send your DC to private school in DC (and you are not one of the million plus dollors a year familes) whether or not you are poor is quite frankly a state of mind. I do not feel poor and when my DC even begins to venture into "why don't we have X or Y" mode, I am quick to point out how much more DC and sibling have in comparison to what many others living less than 15 miles away have, and certainly how much more than I had at DCs age. There will be people of all income levels at any private, and there will be people who care and people who do not care. There will be people who will assume who is on FA and who is not -- and they over and under estimate on many. Another family at DCs schools make substantially less and they do not get any FA. They did not apply because their DCs grandparents (on both side) each contribute 1/2 towards the monthly tuition. Their DCs grandparents are not wealthy by any strech of the imagination. They are retired with minimal expenses and take pride in doing for their grandchild what they were not able to do for their own children. Many assume that family is on FA. The parents and I often giggle over this.

My mom was poor and I had no idea. Back in the 80s/90s she made $40K and raised 2 kids as a single parent. We always had a roof over our head, clean clothes that were not second hand and we never went hungry. We had no idea we were living very much within poverty standards.

So when I hear people say that $200K income is "poor" - in any setting - I can only shake my head. People who make millions and look at people who make $200K and think those people are poor are pathetic quite frankly. [/quote]

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