Anonymous wrote:We are putting my 2nd grader back in FCPS. Covid forced the private school issue for us, but I can’t commit to $20k/year forever without at least trying out public school. He got into AAP so I want to give it a go.

There will be space back in private if necessary down the road, but I’m optimistic.

Maybe so, but there will be space in AAP until 8th grade.

Anonymous wrote:Yep, our private all boys school in DC hasn’t turned out to be worth the full tuition we pay at over 30 grand a year.

Are you talking about SAAS?

We are putting my 2nd grader back in FCPS. Covid forced the private school issue for us, but I can’t commit to $20k/year forever without at least trying out public school. He got into AAP so I want to give it a go.

There will be space back in private if necessary down the road, but I’m optimistic.

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Anonymous wrote:I imagine this will be more the case at less competitive and less expensive schools (parochial, for example).

Why? They are getting bigger bang for the buck. The more pricey schools are probably not worth it for many people with limited funds, especially if they are already in a "good" school district.

It is the reverse. The pricey ones are a big difference from public, the less expensive not so much except for class size, and the teachers can be far less qualified at either compared to public.

Exactly...the schools around $40K are dramatically different than a public school...the ones around $20K not so much

Our $26K HS is drastically better than our public in ever way.

Name the school. At that price point, the odds are that the better public schools out perform it in almost every way

One kid is hopefully going to public high school if they can get in (magnet school)
One kid is staying at our private school.

Anonymous wrote:I think a lot of people underestimate how much of a stretch private school tuition was for some families. Those ones will almost certainly return to public.

Half of this forum thinks $400k/year is barely over the poverty limit, so yeah, I’d say there’s a lot of underestimation happening.

I'm on the board at my kid's PreK-8, (not DC), and this upcoming year (22-23) is the largest applicant pool and class sizes in our history.

I think a lot of people who stuck with public this year became very dissatisfied very quickly. The staffing shortages, transportation issues, food service snafus, lack of aftercare, constant quarantines... it has just been an endless cluster.

For the dual-income working families I know at privates, the cost of private school is an insurance policy for one's own sanity.

(I work in public education, so I am in touch with both the public & private worlds).

Public school kids are still dealing with a significant learning loss concern. We are staying put in private.

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Anonymous wrote:I imagine this will be more the case at less competitive and less expensive schools (parochial, for example).

Why? They are getting bigger bang for the buck. The more pricey schools are probably not worth it for many people with limited funds, especially if they are already in a "good" school district.

It is the reverse. The pricey ones are a big difference from public, the less expensive not so much except for class size, and the teachers can be far less qualified at either compared to public.

Exactly...the schools around $40K are dramatically different than a public school...the ones around $20K not so much

Our $26K HS is drastically better than our public in ever way.

Hell no! And my 8th grader will joining my oldest at private HS next year.

APS went downhill and they are adding 200 more kids to an already very large incoming Freshmen class at our public HS next year.

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Anonymous wrote:I imagine this will be more the case at less competitive and less expensive schools (parochial, for example).

Why? They are getting bigger bang for the buck. The more pricey schools are probably not worth it for many people with limited funds, especially if they are already in a "good" school district.

It is the reverse. The pricey ones are a big difference from public, the less expensive not so much except for class size, and the teachers can be far less qualified at either compared to public.

Exactly...the schools around $40K are dramatically different than a public school...the ones around $20K not so much

No way. I realized what my daughters were missing in public and we’re staying until they graduate!

Anonymous wrote:Yep, our private all boys school in DC hasn’t turned out to be worth the full tuition we pay at over 30 grand a year.

who could have ever predicted this

I know people who are moving from private back to public - mostly people who moved in the first place due to COVID. Grade probably makes a difference, since it might be harder or less hard based on younger/older.

Anonymous wrote:Yep, our private all boys school in DC hasn’t turned out to be worth the full tuition we pay at over 30 grand a year.

At least you're honest instead of trying to justify value that's not there.....