Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Friendly question:

What is the rationale for doubling tuition over the span of 15 years? Is it simply that people have the ability to pay and they are profit maximizing? Or is it truly that they provide an incredible lifetime network and or access to the top universities that people from great Publix just don’t have anymore?

Demand and supply. There is not much magic about this. There is a huge demand for schools with a low students teacher ratio, and as long people are willing to pay for it they will continue raising tuition. It is the same phenomenon as in colleges. Also it seems that the quality of public school is deteriorating so some people are willing to pay for avoiding the experience of public schools. But this is a general trend for most private schools.

There are many schools with low student-teacher ratios that are cheaper, including Catholic schools, Waldorf schools, and other smaller private schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I truly don't understand how folks posting on here seem to forget there are tons of teachers who work at all of these schools. Tuition dollars account for ~80% of a school's revenue, which is how it pays for things like salaries and health benefits, and that makes up the bulk of their expenses. Unless they're keeping salaries stagnant (which most are not), the tuition increase is usually close to what the salary increase is for teachers.

Are teachers getting a 5% raise every year?

No way! That would be nice but not even close. Way too many admin positions at schools. These people
don’t work with the kids. It’s a joke. There are k-8 schools with 20 plus admin lol.

Anonymous wrote:I truly don't understand how folks posting on here seem to forget there are tons of teachers who work at all of these schools. Tuition dollars account for ~80% of a school's revenue, which is how it pays for things like salaries and health benefits, and that makes up the bulk of their expenses. Unless they're keeping salaries stagnant (which most are not), the tuition increase is usually close to what the salary increase is for teachers.

Are teachers getting a 5% raise every year?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Friendly question:

What is the rationale for doubling tuition over the span of 15 years? Is it simply that people have the ability to pay and they are profit maximizing? Or is it truly that they provide an incredible lifetime network and or access to the top universities that people from great Publix just don’t have anymore?

Honestly, I met so many people in DMV who went to Sidwell. Not a single one is a rock scientist. Mostly have normal jobs or no jobs.

To be fair, there is not much of a market for rock scientists in the DMV.

nor are they big lawyers.

I truly don't understand how folks posting on here seem to forget there are tons of teachers who work at all of these schools. Tuition dollars account for ~80% of a school's revenue, which is how it pays for things like salaries and health benefits, and that makes up the bulk of their expenses. Unless they're keeping salaries stagnant (which most are not), the tuition increase is usually close to what the salary increase is for teachers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Friendly question:

What is the rationale for doubling tuition over the span of 15 years? Is it simply that people have the ability to pay and they are profit maximizing? Or is it truly that they provide an incredible lifetime network and or access to the top universities that people from great Publix just don’t have anymore?

Honestly, I met so many people in DMV who went to Sidwell. Not a single one is a rock scientist. Mostly have normal jobs or no jobs.

To be fair, there is not much of a market for rock scientists in the DMV.

My coworker on our writing and editing team in a marcom department graduated with a geology degree. Never used it, though.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Friendly question:

What is the rationale for doubling tuition over the span of 15 years? Is it simply that people have the ability to pay and they are profit maximizing? Or is it truly that they provide an incredible lifetime network and or access to the top universities that people from great Publix just don’t have anymore?

Demand and supply. There is not much magic about this. There is a huge demand for schools with a low students teacher ratio, and as long people are willing to pay for it they will continue raising tuition. It is the same phenomenon as in colleges. Also it seems that the quality of public school is deteriorating so some people are willing to pay for avoiding the experience of public schools. But this is a general trend for most private schools.

It’s a little more nuanced than that, as there are costs that didn’t exist in the past. There has been a trend in hiring a lot of admin (at universities too) with CEO-level large salaries. The managerial class. HOS salaries and benefits have ballooned astronomically. They frequently pay for outside consults while sipping vodka and playing golf in East Egg. There are also enormous costs for technology, software, computers, etc, and AI to teach your kids. Also, it’s not just the brown kids whose education has been hit in their underfunded public schools: private school education has deteriorated too, despite all the gold stars your gold bars pay for. First year students at universities who come from the public and private prep spectrum are not performing as well as they used to. Harvard has plenty of data on this.

It's not just the heads. Here's some math: If you have 400 full pay kids at 58K, and in your dream world you can slash your head's salary in half to $400K, you're only cutting tuition $1000/full-pay kid. There are a ton of administrative roles including CFO, US/MS/ES directors, deans, development departments, admissions, maintenance, and more. That's what it takes to run a school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Friendly question:

What is the rationale for doubling tuition over the span of 15 years? Is it simply that people have the ability to pay and they are profit maximizing? Or is it truly that they provide an incredible lifetime network and or access to the top universities that people from great Publix just don’t have anymore?

Demand and supply. There is not much magic about this. There is a huge demand for schools with a low students teacher ratio, and as long people are willing to pay for it they will continue raising tuition. It is the same phenomenon as in colleges. Also it seems that the quality of public school is deteriorating so some people are willing to pay for avoiding the experience of public schools. But this is a general trend for most private schools.

It’s a little more nuanced than that, as there are costs that didn’t exist in the past. There has been a trend in hiring a lot of admin (at universities too) with CEO-level large salaries. The managerial class. HOS salaries and benefits have ballooned astronomically. They frequently pay for outside consults while sipping vodka and playing golf in East Egg. There are also enormous costs for technology, software, computers, etc, and AI to teach your kids. Also, it’s not just the brown kids whose education has been hit in their underfunded public schools: private school education has deteriorated too, despite all the gold stars your gold bars pay for. First year students at universities who come from the public and private prep spectrum are not performing as well as they used to. Harvard has plenty of data on this.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does Holton give a lot of financial aid? Provide all school supplies? Have bus service at no extra cost? Finding it hard to justify this tuition for lower grades.

It used to be a different cost for each division, but parents found the increase at each transition jarring. The school did research and ended up making the change years ago.

Their research concluded they could charge more for the lower school and still have a waitlist.

Anonymous wrote:Based on recent rankings and tuition data, top-tier private universities with tuition/fees in that vicinity include:
Harvard University: Reported one of the lower tuition rates among top-tier schools, with 2025–2026 tuition around $59,320 (though total cost of attendance is higher).
Yale University: Tuition and fees for the 2024–2025 period were reported in the $60,000–$67,000 range.
Stanford University: Tuition and fees for 2024–2025 were approximately $65,910.
University of Pennsylvania: Tuition and fees for 2024–2025 were approximately $66,104.
Princeton University: Tuition for the 2025-26 school year is listed at $65,210.
Key Considerations:
Tuition vs. Cost of Attendance (COA): The figures above represent tuition and fees. The total cost of attendance (including housing, food, and books) at these schools often exceeds $90,000 per year.

Those are universities. Hilton is a private girl’s school, K-12 if i remember correctly.

Anonymous wrote:Does Holton give a lot of financial aid? Provide all school supplies? Have bus service at no extra cost? Finding it hard to justify this tuition for lower grades.

It used to be a different cost for each division, but parents found the increase at each transition jarring. The school did research and ended up making the change years ago.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ll take “Things that aren’t worth $60k/year for $1000, Alex.”

Considering the waitlist is a mile long I’d guess a lot of people disagree with you.

LOL not that poster, but one has to be financially stupid to pay $60,000 a year for Holton or any private.

Learn financial responsiblity and get back to the the rest of us that can do math.

I can easily afford this never would pay that for Holton. Two of mine went to Phillips Exeter hence I understand the finances here. My other kids went to a W school at MCPS excellent education same college outcomes.

Maybe you should have gone to Exeter. They would have taught you basic grammar.

Anonymous wrote:Yes. We will be importing a governess from London to live in our manor and teach our three kids. She will be much cheaper than a private school and we won’t have to trudge through the snow to get to school.

You laugh but that's actually cheaper.

Anonymous wrote:Does Holton give a lot of financial aid? Provide all school supplies? Have bus service at no extra cost? Finding it hard to justify this tuition for lower grades.

Financial aid — about 25% get some sort of aid
All school supplies? Yes (and they also serve breakfast, lunch, and all snacks at no additional cost)
Bus? Yes, but an extra fee

Anonymous wrote:Friendly question:

What is the rationale for doubling tuition over the span of 15 years? Is it simply that people have the ability to pay and they are profit maximizing? Or is it truly that they provide an incredible lifetime network and or access to the top universities that people from great Publix just don’t have anymore?

Demand and supply. There is not much magic about this. There is a huge demand for schools with a low students teacher ratio, and as long people are willing to pay for it they will continue raising tuition. It is the same phenomenon as in colleges. Also it seems that the quality of public school is deteriorating so some people are willing to pay for avoiding the experience of public schools. But this is a general trend for most private schools.