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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Are parents really pissed if they spend $35k per year on an elite private high school, but their kid ends up at a 2nd tier or 3rd tier college (which likely could have been achieved had the kid just gone to a local public)?

I ask bc I frequently meet alums of Gonzaga and the like who went to college at, like, James Madison or something like that. Seems like a huge waste of honey on the parents’ part. [/quote]

It really depends on where you live and what the available options are. When we lived in California - a very nice coastal community - the public schools weren't great, for all sorts of reasons. So we sent ours to private. When we moved to the DC area, we settled in the Whitman district, where the public schools are pretty good. Lots of smart kids. Good families. Nice community of people. College outcomes tend to be outstanding for the students that apply themselves. There was no reason to spend $110,000 per year for two kids to go to Sidwell or wherever. Both kids now go to top 20 colleges. Zero regrets about choosing public.

But you mentioned Gonzaga. Back in CA, our private school was Catholic. That is a whole world. And an elite college admission is a very peripheral goal. That is not the point of a Catholic education at all. It's about community and values. And I can totally see why families anywhere would choose a Catholic high school, even if the college outcomes aren't particularly remarkable. More often than not, you get a good young adult by choosing a Catholic high school, and that matters more in the end than an admission to Harvard or Yale.  [/quote]

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