Anonymous
Post 02/26/2026 22:38     Subject: HHI of private school parents
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Last year was $5.5 mm, but that was our highest ever. DC in high school now. When DC was in K, HHI was more like $1.8 mm.


Question for you: have behaviors / culture of student body changed as parent income has accelerated?

Kids are in lower school right now but curious on whether there's materialism / lifestyle inflation that becomes further pronounced in later years. Obviously this differs by school / class composition but curious to get your personal viewpoint!


For some kids, yes. They start to do more expensive hobbies/trips, carry expensive bags, wear labels, etc. And there definitely seem to be some cliques based on money, though not universally across the grade. But as far as I can tell, no one is ridiculed, made fun of, or otherwise singled out for lack of wealth, at least according to my DC. And the richest families are often hosting events and whatnot for friend groups, which is nice of them.
Anonymous
Post 02/26/2026 22:32     Subject: HHI of private school parents
Anonymous wrote:Last year was $5.5 mm, but that was our highest ever. DC in high school now. When DC was in K, HHI was more like $1.8 mm.


Question for you: have behaviors / culture of student body changed as parent income has accelerated?

Kids are in lower school right now but curious on whether there's materialism / lifestyle inflation that becomes further pronounced in later years. Obviously this differs by school / class composition but curious to get your personal viewpoint!
Anonymous
Post 02/26/2026 22:24     Subject: HHI of private school parents
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
There are lots of great neighborhood public elementary schools. There are obviously also lots of great public high schools but the are culturally very different than a private HS. A top public elementary is not as dramatically different from a private.


It is not about academics, but behavior and manners. You can identify a public school kid based on how they behave.


Not as much anymore. Lots of kids at top public elementary schools blend seamlessly with private school kids, and many go on to private for middle school and/or high school and adjust very easily. At our public elementary there were a few families that had very significant money. One of those families had a child who was a total punk - money does not give class.
Anonymous
Post 02/26/2026 22:18     Subject: HHI of private school parents
Last year was $5.5 mm, but that was our highest ever. DC in high school now. When DC was in K, HHI was more like $1.8 mm.
Anonymous
Post 02/26/2026 22:14     Subject: HHI of private school parents
Anonymous wrote:There are a lot of families (such as mine) who are at the lower end of the range who do public K-5 or K-8 then go to private. Many of them do this because they can afford the four years of HS but not all of the years from K-12. Some of their financial situations change while their kids are in elementary or middle school so they might not have been considering it but now that it is more affordable due to significantly higher income, inheritance, or whatever else, they have changed their minds.


Also frankly even if you can afford private school tuition for all those years, it’s very very difficult to know what sort of school would be right for your kid at age 4.
Anonymous
Post 02/26/2026 22:13     Subject: HHI of private school parents
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Most full pay households I’d estimate to be in high six figures up to multiple 7.

Likely increases by middle and upper school.

Though given this is nyc - and with the endless hamster wheel - I don’t think parents making the high end here may feel anymore secure that the lower end.


There are a lot of families (such as mine) who are at the lower end of the range who do public K-5 or K-8 then go to private. Many of them do this because they can afford the four years of HS but not all of the years from K-12. Some of their financial situations change while their kids are in elementary or middle school so they might not have been considering it but now that it is more affordable due to significantly higher income, inheritance, or whatever else, they have changed their minds.

There are lots of great neighborhood public elementary schools. There are obviously also lots of great public high schools but the are culturally very different than a private HS. A top public elementary is not as dramatically different from a private.


PS6 seems far wealthier today than when I attended.


The joke back in the day was that it was the kids of all of the supers of the wealthy UES buildings. Now it is people who own apartments in lots of those buildings (mixed in with children of supers). It is a great school. There are a few similar ones on the UWS. And a few downtown.


It was very middle class back in my day. Then when I toured it recently, the wonderfully smart child leading the tour began talking about private school exmissions in this completely fluent, matter-of-fact way. That made me realize how much of the scene there had changed. Multiple parents showed up to the tour in Moncler.

This is the same dynamic that sadly has gripped many privates too -- there's more and more an sense of outward signaling that seemed far less visible in 90s NYC.
Anonymous
Post 02/26/2026 22:04     Subject: HHI of private school parents
Anonymous wrote:It is not about academics, but behavior and manners. You can identify a public school kid based on how they behave.


Yeah, public school kids are nicer and don’t bully people because their families make less than $1M/year.
Anonymous
Post 02/26/2026 21:55     Subject: HHI of private school parents
Anonymous wrote:
There are lots of great neighborhood public elementary schools. There are obviously also lots of great public high schools but the are culturally very different than a private HS. A top public elementary is not as dramatically different from a private.


It is not about academics, but behavior and manners. You can identify a public school kid based on how they behave.
Anonymous
Post 02/26/2026 21:36     Subject: HHI of private school parents
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Most full pay households I’d estimate to be in high six figures up to multiple 7.

Likely increases by middle and upper school.

Though given this is nyc - and with the endless hamster wheel - I don’t think parents making the high end here may feel anymore secure that the lower end.


There are a lot of families (such as mine) who are at the lower end of the range who do public K-5 or K-8 then go to private. Many of them do this because they can afford the four years of HS but not all of the years from K-12. Some of their financial situations change while their kids are in elementary or middle school so they might not have been considering it but now that it is more affordable due to significantly higher income, inheritance, or whatever else, they have changed their minds.

There are lots of great neighborhood public elementary schools. There are obviously also lots of great public high schools but the are culturally very different than a private HS. A top public elementary is not as dramatically different from a private.


PS6 seems far wealthier today than when I attended.


The joke back in the day was that it was the kids of all of the supers of the wealthy UES buildings. Now it is people who own apartments in lots of those buildings (mixed in with children of supers). It is a great school. There are a few similar ones on the UWS. And a few downtown.
Anonymous
Post 02/26/2026 21:30     Subject: HHI of private school parents
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Most full pay households I’d estimate to be in high six figures up to multiple 7.

Likely increases by middle and upper school.

Though given this is nyc - and with the endless hamster wheel - I don’t think parents making the high end here may feel anymore secure that the lower end.


There are a lot of families (such as mine) who are at the lower end of the range who do public K-5 or K-8 then go to private. Many of them do this because they can afford the four years of HS but not all of the years from K-12. Some of their financial situations change while their kids are in elementary or middle school so they might not have been considering it but now that it is more affordable due to significantly higher income, inheritance, or whatever else, they have changed their minds.

There are lots of great neighborhood public elementary schools. There are obviously also lots of great public high schools but the are culturally very different than a private HS. A top public elementary is not as dramatically different from a private.


PS6 seems far wealthier today than when I attended.
Anonymous
Post 02/26/2026 20:56     Subject: HHI of private school parents
Anonymous wrote:Most full pay households I’d estimate to be in high six figures up to multiple 7.

Likely increases by middle and upper school.

Though given this is nyc - and with the endless hamster wheel - I don’t think parents making the high end here may feel anymore secure that the lower end.


There are a lot of families (such as mine) who are at the lower end of the range who do public K-5 or K-8 then go to private. Many of them do this because they can afford the four years of HS but not all of the years from K-12. Some of their financial situations change while their kids are in elementary or middle school so they might not have been considering it but now that it is more affordable due to significantly higher income, inheritance, or whatever else, they have changed their minds.

There are lots of great neighborhood public elementary schools. There are obviously also lots of great public high schools but the are culturally very different than a private HS. A top public elementary is not as dramatically different from a private.
Anonymous
Post 02/26/2026 20:48     Subject: HHI of private school parents
Most full pay households I’d estimate to be in high six figures up to multiple 7.

Likely increases by middle and upper school.

Though given this is nyc - and with the endless hamster wheel - I don’t think parents making the high end here may feel anymore secure that the lower end.
Anonymous
Post 02/26/2026 15:44     Subject: HHI of private school parents
We make a million plus and it feels like we are in the bottom half.
Anonymous
Post 02/26/2026 15:41     Subject: HHI of private school parents
We make a little over 400K and have some assets. We applied (and got into) a bunch of private schools ranging from 65K-over 70K and a couple of catholic schools for 9th grade. If we go with the 70k private schools we will be full pay. It's doable but maybe not wise especially considering colleges are almost 100k. Haven't made the final decision yet but leaning towards catholic. I feel like my eyes have really been opened this year to the cost/benefit ratio of many NYC privates.
Anonymous
Post 02/26/2026 15:27     Subject: HHI of private school parents
If you send your kids to private (not including parochial) full pay, how much do you make a year? Our kids are still young, but curious what is manageable if we start in 6th or 9th grade.