Anonymous wrote:Private schools, in my experience, churn out kids that can get into great colleges (at a cost - to both the child and the parents).

that's a loaded response PP!

My DD is a senior at our local (highly ranked) public. In her graduating class alone there are a few Stanfords AND Harvards....also a USC (Cali not Carolina), NYU, and Michigan.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you took the money you would pay for private school and instead set it aside and invested it for your child, they could be set for life. Which is better: marginally increasing the quality of your kid's K-12 education (assuming the private school is better) or giving your child complete financial freedom for life?

Couldn't agree with this more. Since birth, we invest 14k for each child each year (on top of college) into a brokerage account, this is the maximum gift allowance per child. My 10yr old has nearly 200k in his account (thank you 2016!). If they sit on this money, they will have 7 figure accounts by their 30s.

My kids go to great oublic schools. I can't imagine a private education thatbwould surely coat in excess of the 14k/yr will be more beneficial than having a net worth 500k+ upon college graduation. Its a total game changer.

Be careful--our relatives with significant money available to them after graduation ended up with drug problems and have not settled into jobs. It hasn't been such a gift in their cases.

My experience having a trust fund has not been drug abuse. I've never even smoked a cigarette. I hold down a steady well paying job despite not having to. It gave me the wonderful give of being able to SAH with my kids until they were in school and to be able to live in a nice community. Nothing, but tremendous upside.

Private school is worth it in our case. We're zoned for some of the worst performing schools in the District. DC attends Lycee Rochambeau. We move back and forth overseas and remaining in the French system gives us continuity and removes the stress of applying to new schools every 2-3 years. We're going public for HS (SWW/Banneker/McKinley/Marshall). I believe DC will have a better chance in college admissions as a trilingual DCPS student.

Otherwise, we'd have gone all public. We started in a DC immersion charter but lost our seat with the first move.

Private school is with it in our case. We're zoned for some of the worst performing schools in the District. DC attends Lycee Rochambeau. We move back and forth overseas and remaining in the French system gives us continuity and removes the stress of applying to new schools every 2-3 years. We're going public for HS (SWW/Banneker/McKinley/Marshall). I believe DC will have a better chance in college admissions as a trilingual DCPS student.

Otherwise, we'd have gone all public. We started in a DC immersion charter but lost our seat with the first move.

If not for work

Private schools, in my experience, churn out kids that can get into great colleges (at a cost - to both the child and the parents).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you took the money you would pay for private school and instead set it aside and invested it for your child, they could be set for life. Which is better: marginally increasing the quality of your kid's K-12 education (assuming the private school is better) or giving your child complete financial freedom for life?

Couldn't agree with this more. Since birth, we invest 14k for each child each year (on top of college) into a brokerage account, this is the maximum gift allowance per child. My 10yr old has nearly 200k in his account (thank you 2016!). If they sit on this money, they will have 7 figure accounts by their 30s.

My kids go to great oublic schools. I can't imagine a private education thatbwould surely coat in excess of the 14k/yr will be more beneficial than having a net worth 500k+ upon college graduation. Its a total game changer.

Be careful--our relatives with significant money available to them after graduation ended up with drug problems and have not settled into jobs. It hasn't been such a gift in their cases.

I regret putting my daughter in private school so much. She goes to an "elite" all-girls school; I'm actually not sure if I like the idea of single sex education anymore. It's been a huge financial strain on us.

Even worse, she went from being a star student at her public school to being completely average. This is completely her fault and not the school's, but it does make me question my decision every day. Considering their college matriculation list ranges from terrible private schools/the University of Maryland/many lower-first-tier private schools/a few Ivies (but I suspect those are legacy students), I'm getting increasingly upset about the whole situation. I went to a horrible public school, grew up in an abusive & impoverished situation and still "made it" to a "good" college. I'm paying every cent to give my daughter the advantage I never had... and it looks like she may end up WORSE off than me?

I recommend visiting the Private/Independent School forum, instead of the Money and Finances forum.

It seems like half of the threads on that forum are about whether private schools are worth the cost. Just search for the terms "tuition" and "worth" and you'll find many threads

Example:

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/562746.page

The upshot to me seemed to be that, among adults who are now parents, those who attended private schools themselves seem more likely to send their own children to public. They either remember it being stressful for their parents, or they remember feeling like an outsider because they were less wealthy.

Some people make huge financial sacrifices to send their kids to private.

As absurd as it sounds, even with an HHI of $375,000 (assuming two full-time workers), it is a stretch to pay tuition for 2 kids ($80,000 per year), or $8000 per month for the 10-month plan. I speak from personal experience when I say this. Every day, I question whether it's worth it.

Anonymous wrote:If you took the money you would pay for private school and instead set it aside and invested it for your child, they could be set for life. Which is better: marginally increasing the quality of your kid's K-12 education (assuming the private school is better) or giving your child complete financial freedom for life?

Couldn't agree with this more. Since birth, we invest 14k for each child each year (on top of college) into a brokerage account, this is the maximum gift allowance per child. My 10yr old has nearly 200k in his account (thank you 2016!). If they sit on this money, they will have 7 figure accounts by their 30s.

My kids go to great oublic schools. I can't imagine a private education thatbwould surely coat in excess of the 14k/yr will be more beneficial than having a net worth 500k+ upon college graduation. Its a total game changer.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids attend private schools. I remember the thread, sorry no link. Most of the critical voices came from former student who felt their parents sacrificed too much for sth slightly better. If your kid feels burdened, don't do it.

Thanks. I actually want to show it to my husband (I am against he is for it). A bit disappointed to hear it was just one person but would still love to see it.

Pretty sure student was supposed to be plural. I recall there were many people who expressed that view.

Teacher family here. We've gone back and forth between private and homeschooling several times (ruled out public very quickly) and are currently planning on homeschooling.

If you took the money you would pay for private school and instead set it aside and invested it for your child, they could be set for life. Which is better: marginally increasing the quality of your kid's K-12 education (assuming the private school is better) or giving your child complete financial freedom for life?

Anonymous wrote:My kids attend private schools. I remember the thread, sorry no link. Most of the critical voices came from former student who felt their parents sacrificed too much for sth slightly better. If your kid feels burdened, don't do it.

Thanks. I actually want to show it to my husband (I am against he is for it). A bit disappointed to hear it was just one person but would still love to see it.

My kids attend private schools. I remember the thread, sorry no link. Most of the critical voices came from former student who felt their parents sacrificed too much for sth slightly better. If your kid feels burdened, don't do it.

someone in the general parenting forum suggested that there was recently a thread in this forum about the value of private schools where (allegedly) a number of people who went to private schools were critical of their parents' choices to send them to privates. i tried to locate this thread using search but was not able to. please help! i would really love to read this!