Anonymous
Post 01/05/2015 18:51     Subject: Re:Making $220K - any chance for FA at DC Privates?
Anonymous wrote:No and if someone in your situation does, I'm never donating another dime to a private school.


+100
Anonymous
Post 01/05/2015 17:59     Subject: Making $220K - any chance for FA at DC Privates?
Anonymous wrote:No, and why should they? You have enough money to own a home in the city, plus rental properties, etc. LIfe is about choices and FA doesn't exist to support the upper-middle class lifestyle. Good lord. These entitled posts get tiresome.


+1. You should be ashamed to even apply. Bet you won't be though.
Anonymous
Post 01/05/2015 16:32     Subject: Making $220K - any chance for FA at DC Privates?
Anonymous wrote:I would hope that the main goal of FA is adding to the economic diversity of the school and giving bright but disadvantaged students a better chance, not smoothing things over for upper middle class families facing the hardships of needing to renovate their various rental properties or squirrel away "somewhere between $2500-$2800/month."


+1

Anonymous
Post 01/05/2015 15:36     Subject: Making $220K - any chance for FA at DC Privates?
Anonymous wrote:I would hope that the main goal of FA is adding to the economic diversity of the school and giving bright but disadvantaged students a better chance, not smoothing things over for upper middle class families facing the hardships of needing to renovate their various rental properties or squirrel away "somewhere between $2500-$2800/month."



Agree. These posts about people making 6 figures and wondering if they can get FA gets tiresome... And IMO, equity in primary residence should count toward the amount and qualification for aid. It's ridiculous to give FA to people who have 100s of thousands in equity and I say this as someone who owns their house outright.
Anonymous
Post 01/05/2015 15:03     Subject: Making $220K - any chance for FA at DC Privates?
No. Equity beyond your primary residence will likely be considered assets that can be used towards tuition.
Anonymous
Post 01/05/2015 14:40     Subject: Making $220K - any chance for FA at DC Privates?
I would hope that the main goal of FA is adding to the economic diversity of the school and giving bright but disadvantaged students a better chance, not smoothing things over for upper middle class families facing the hardships of needing to renovate their various rental properties or squirrel away "somewhere between $2500-$2800/month."
Anonymous
Post 01/05/2015 14:27     Subject: Making $220K - any chance for FA at DC Privates?
Anonymous wrote:No, and why should they? You have enough money to own a home in the city, plus rental properties, etc. LIfe is about choices and FA doesn't exist to support the upper-middle class lifestyle. Good lord. These entitled posts get tiresome.


LOL...
Anonymous
Post 01/05/2015 13:17     Subject: Making $220K - any chance for FA at DC Privates?
No, and why should they? You have enough money to own a home in the city, plus rental properties, etc. LIfe is about choices and FA doesn't exist to support the upper-middle class lifestyle. Good lord. These entitled posts get tiresome.
Anonymous
Post 01/05/2015 13:15     Subject: Re:Making $220K - any chance for FA at DC Privates?
Anonymous wrote:Op here - thanks for all the comments and insight everyone. Yes life is about choices that is for sure. We feel (rightly or wrongly) that high school is the most important and so wanted to be sure we could afford private when that comes around. Of course we'll be saving for college as well. I just don't feel comfortable with our savings being so depleted while starting down this path. For folks who spend the vast majority of their income on private school can I ask how much you all have in emergency savings?


Backloading your costs into high school and college means you have more time to save and you're making more when the big bills come due. CHDS is a fine school but not worth 10 years of financial strain, assuming you have a decent public option. Even if you did get some financial aid, you're still looking at a huge price tag over a long period of time. Your instincts are right: save your pennies for private high school, especially if you plan to stay in NE DC.
Anonymous
Post 01/05/2015 08:36     Subject: Re:Making $220K - any chance for FA at DC Privates?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Op here - thanks for all the comments and insight everyone. Yes life is about choices that is for sure. We feel (rightly or wrongly) that high school is the most important and so wanted to be sure we could afford private when that comes around. Of course we'll be saving for college as well. I just don't feel comfortable with our savings being so depleted while starting down this path. For folks who spend the vast majority of their income on private school can I ask how much you all have in emergency savings?


Our HHI is $180K. We have 2 in private (total $30K in tuition) and one with a nanny share ($18K in cost). We dont get any aid. We applied last year when DH was changing jobs and got approx 10% off of the tuition. Our mortgage is $2100 a month ($350K mortgage in a $460K house in SS), we have no other assets, and our savings (other than 401K) is approx $32K (savings and investment account). We save very little for college, figuring we'll pay for that when we stop paying private tution and deal with loans and/or scholarships when the time comes.


I should qualify my respojnse that we didnt apply for aid this year. We felt like we could pay it, even though it left zero wiggle room in the budget and virtually no savings. It turned out that DHs job is not quite as lucrative as we thought and we are struggling. We will come back to them in the fall when #3 is in preschool at the same place. I am hoping (and fairly confident) that they will work with us. Best part about a religious private school is their willingness to help families who show need and desire to be there.
Anonymous
Post 01/05/2015 08:31     Subject: Re:Making $220K - any chance for FA at DC Privates?
Anonymous wrote:Op here - thanks for all the comments and insight everyone. Yes life is about choices that is for sure. We feel (rightly or wrongly) that high school is the most important and so wanted to be sure we could afford private when that comes around. Of course we'll be saving for college as well. I just don't feel comfortable with our savings being so depleted while starting down this path. For folks who spend the vast majority of their income on private school can I ask how much you all have in emergency savings?


Our HHI is $180K. We have 2 in private (total $30K in tuition) and one with a nanny share ($18K in cost). We dont get any aid. We applied last year when DH was changing jobs and got approx 10% off of the tuition. Our mortgage is $2100 a month ($350K mortgage in a $460K house in SS), we have no other assets, and our savings (other than 401K) is approx $32K (savings and investment account). We save very little for college, figuring we'll pay for that when we stop paying private tution and deal with loans and/or scholarships when the time comes.
Anonymous
Post 01/04/2015 19:44     Subject: Re:Making $220K - any chance for FA at DC Privates?
Yeah but where do they live? I find it interesting when people get FA and live in expensive neighborhoods. A modest home in a nice area is still worth a lot!
Anonymous
Post 01/04/2015 19:32     Subject: Making $220K - any chance for FA at DC Privates?
The families I know best who are on FA at our school live in very modest houses, have no rental properties and drive very basic older cars (like, 15 year old Saturns). They live really close to the bone.
Anonymous
Post 01/04/2015 19:29     Subject: Re:Making $220K - any chance for FA at DC Privates?
Anonymous wrote:OP - if I made what you make I would move to where the public schools were good and rent out or sell your current house. Private is really expensive - even at higher income levels it takes a huge bite of aftertax income. And tuition seems to be increasing faster than inflation - certainly faster than my income has been rising.


+1. I'm really on the fence about signing next years contracts. HHI is 500 and we now have 2 in college and 2 in private. When the other 2 were younger, we didn't make enough to save for college so we're paying it OOP. We'd like to retire in 10 yrs and on the current plan we're on that won't be possible. I just can't say private is really worth the other sacrifices.
Anonymous
Post 01/04/2015 19:24     Subject: Re:Making $220K - any chance for FA at DC Privates?
OP - if I made what you make I would move to where the public schools were good and rent out or sell your current house. Private is really expensive - even at higher income levels it takes a huge bite of aftertax income. And tuition seems to be increasing faster than inflation - certainly faster than my income has been rising.