Anonymous
Post 03/04/2026 18:24     Subject: I can’t afford this, right?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:With an AHI of 550k with all of that money saved for college and retirement, you can afford private school tuition of 180k per year for all of your kids. You can add, and figure this out, pretty easily.

If you have other reservations, that are not financial, which you certainly could, that's another thing altogether, and could contribute to it being "insane" for your family. But you didn't ask about that.


It's 180k after taxes. So it's really 240. It's close to half OP's income, and ultimately will cost millions. It's an insane amount of money when you're living in a good public school district.


When your AHI is 550k, and you have that much in retirement and college savings accounts, you can spend "close to half" of it on tuition for your kids pretty easily. And it won't be tuition for all three of them for four years in a row, it will be staggered, assuming the kids aren't triplets, which they aren't.


I mean that still means stopping retirement and college savings as well as all the extras that makes working hard worthwhile.
If the child is 6th grade, there's 6 more years of school before college
I wouldn't do it, cos private school costs a bit more than tuition. Do you want your kid to be the only one not going on the class trip to Europe or who can't join the ski club?
Anonymous
Post 03/04/2026 18:03     Subject: I can’t afford this, right?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Ignore most of these posts, OP.

You have got a very bitter contingency of people who can't afford private school here desperately feeling the need to label it as "stupid." It isn't, there are many reasons to send kids to private if you can afford it. Which you can.

NP. I agree it doesn’t make sense to label OP’s question as stupid, but it strikes me and clearly many others as financially unwise to send 3 kids to private in this situation, especially if there is not any compelling need to do so. Maybe there is. OP has not provided one.

I’m not anti-private school at all. Several of our friends whose kids were overwhelmed in public are doing better in private. While we could easily afford this, our kids had/are having a great experience in MCPS. The college outcomes for our older two were at least as good as those of unhooked peers with similar high stats at DC area privates, and they were very well prepared for college. We were able to put enough into each of their 529s to easily cover any college and grad school for all 3, while growing our net worth and being in a position to retire early, which I did in my mid 50s. Most people on the Money and Finances forum are going to think that path is preferable to worsening your future financial prospects without a very good reason to do so.



Otoh, you could have raised your net work by not retiring 20 years early.

I’m not mad at you, I’m just pointing out that there are all kinds of paths and choices. This isn’t a game. People can choose differently for more reasons than their “score.”

Retire at 75+? No thanks. In my particular case, even had I done so, it would not have affected our net worth significantly when my DH makes multiples of my former Fed salary, will be working until his early 60s, and I worked long enough to secure a decent pension and affordable, subsidized health insurance for both of us. All the details matter, and OP hasn’t given us enough to allow posters to give a thoughtful analysis.

If OP’s family is fine with sending just the one child to private school, or sending the child/children back to public if there is a job loss/reduction in HHI (both likely to have negative effects on the kids), then of course they can afford to do it for now. But most of us who post on this forum are probably looking beyond the year-to-year.
Anonymous
Post 03/04/2026 15:24     Subject: I can’t afford this, right?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Ignore most of these posts, OP.

You have got a very bitter contingency of people who can't afford private school here desperately feeling the need to label it as "stupid." It isn't, there are many reasons to send kids to private if you can afford it. Which you can.

NP. I agree it doesn’t make sense to label OP’s question as stupid, but it strikes me and clearly many others as financially unwise to send 3 kids to private in this situation, especially if there is not any compelling need to do so. Maybe there is. OP has not provided one.

I’m not anti-private school at all. Several of our friends whose kids were overwhelmed in public are doing better in private. While we could easily afford this, our kids had/are having a great experience in MCPS. The college outcomes for our older two were at least as good as those of unhooked peers with similar high stats at DC area privates, and they were very well prepared for college. We were able to put enough into each of their 529s to easily cover any college and grad school for all 3, while growing our net worth and being in a position to retire early, which I did in my mid 50s. Most people on the Money and Finances forum are going to think that path is preferable to worsening your future financial prospects without a very good reason to do so.



Otoh, you could have raised your net work by not retiring 20 years early.

I’m not mad at you, I’m just pointing out that there are all kinds of paths and choices. This isn’t a game. People can choose differently for more reasons than their “score.”
Anonymous
Post 03/04/2026 08:44     Subject: I can’t afford this, right?
Anonymous wrote:Ignore most of these posts, OP.

You have got a very bitter contingency of people who can't afford private school here desperately feeling the need to label it as "stupid." It isn't, there are many reasons to send kids to private if you can afford it. Which you can.

NP. I agree it doesn’t make sense to label OP’s question as stupid, but it strikes me and clearly many others as financially unwise to send 3 kids to private in this situation, especially if there is not any compelling need to do so. Maybe there is. OP has not provided one.

I’m not anti-private school at all. Several of our friends whose kids were overwhelmed in public are doing better in private. While we could easily afford this, our kids had/are having a great experience in MCPS. The college outcomes for our older two were at least as good as those of unhooked peers with similar high stats at DC area privates, and they were very well prepared for college. We were able to put enough into each of their 529s to easily cover any college and grad school for all 3, while growing our net worth and being in a position to retire early, which I did in my mid 50s. Most people on the Money and Finances forum are going to think that path is preferable to worsening your future financial prospects without a very good reason to do so.

Anonymous
Post 03/04/2026 08:18     Subject: I can’t afford this, right?
You’re going to spend more than 10% of your gross income on middle-school tuition for 1 out of your 3 children.
What if your other kids want or need private at some point?
Anonymous
Post 03/04/2026 08:17     Subject: I can’t afford this, right?
Anonymous wrote:With an AHI of 550k with all of that money saved for college and retirement, you can afford private school tuition of 180k per year for all of your kids. You can add, and figure this out, pretty easily.

If you have other reservations, that are not financial, which you certainly could, that's another thing altogether, and could contribute to it being "insane" for your family. But you didn't ask about that.

This is absolutely idiotic.
Anonymous
Post 03/04/2026 07:09     Subject: I can’t afford this, right?
You can do it. What was the rationale for applying?
Anonymous
Post 03/04/2026 07:00     Subject: I can’t afford this, right?
I don’t think you have enough in the 529s unless you are planning to cash flow the rest of the college tuitions. In which case you haven’t factored in a potential job loss or income deceleration. You can afford private today but it could be a strain to sustain if something happens to your income.
Anonymous
Post 03/04/2026 06:27     Subject: I can’t afford this, right?
Anonymous wrote:Put that money in investment accounts for your kids and they'll never work a day in their life. I mean, how could private school possibly be worth that much money under any circumstance?

How is it that I was able to go to two top 20 universities out of a normal public school without any difficulty?


Is this a cruel joke about math skills?
Anonymous
Post 03/04/2026 06:26     Subject: I can’t afford this, right?
We do it on less income. But I’m sure your lifestyle is much nicer than ours. You just have to figure out your priorities. Only you can do that.
Anonymous
Post 03/04/2026 06:17     Subject: I can’t afford this, right?
You can afford it, but what was the reason again? Don't overdo it. My average kid coming from DCPS finds college easy. He went to work nearly full time just to keep busy.
Your smart kid should do fine coming from nearly any school. It's the ability of the child more than schooling.
Younger kid, a 6th grader, refuses to have his inheritance spent on private school. He is well aware how money doubles.
Op, you may have your reasons, but you didn't mention them. Your child being super smart is exactly why you stay in public. You also didn't say what the child would like after going through the process.
Anonymous
Post 03/04/2026 01:14     Subject: I can’t afford this, right?
Put that money in investment accounts for your kids and they'll never work a day in their life. I mean, how could private school possibly be worth that much money under any circumstance?

How is it that I was able to go to two top 20 universities out of a normal public school without any difficulty?
Anonymous
Post 03/04/2026 00:22     Subject: I can’t afford this, right?
Anonymous wrote:Ignore most of these posts, OP.

You have got a very bitter contingency of people who can't afford private school here desperately feeling the need to label it as "stupid." It isn't, there are many reasons to send kids to private if you can afford it. Which you can.


I don’t know. I’d be nervous paying that much and we have similar income amount, one income. We have no mortgage, no loans, college paid for, just regular expenses and 1/3 all ready gone by taxes.

But there are many good reasons for people to look at private school. I looked for one child with learning disabilities but the public school was the best choice. Every kid is different.
Anonymous
Post 03/03/2026 22:55     Subject: I can’t afford this, right?
There's no way in h@ll I would put one of 3 kids in private - it's all or nothing (unless there is a SN situation), or you are building resentment among siblings.

We had one in a $60k school at $340HHI and it was a stretch
Anonymous
Post 03/03/2026 21:59     Subject: I can’t afford this, right?
Anonymous wrote:2 working parents, 550k, 3 kids, piti $4500, $15k in other spending a month, 3 kids, $100k in 529’s for each kid, $2.5 in retirement, 41 yo.

Tuition for private school would be $60k for one child in 6th grade. Other two are in public but may not be able to stay in public.

It just feels insane to pay for private school. Am in mcps. Kid is super smart and just got accepted.


Of course you can if you cut back your other spending. Is this a joke?