Is the ROI that good for private high school? Do those kids go to better colleges and have better career paths than public school kids? No. If you are okay with their schools now, don’t send them to private! Especially if they might be math/science oriented- that is way better in a good public than in private.

This is obviously a bad idea based in the information shared.

That said, OP says she has $100k in each kids 529. That has to mean she's getting help from parents. I'd bet on it.

It's also the only explanation for even considering this - because it just doesn't make sense. At a minimum, OP has extremely wealthy parents and one day in the distant future will inherit or be gifted enough that saving for retirement or paying of a house doesn't matter.

So OP - by all means spend half your income on private schools!!

Anonymous wrote:We have a similar income in DC proper and sent our 3 kids to private for high school only. The expectations were a giant step up from DCPS. 2 of the 3 are now at Ivies and doing incredibly well. Third is still in high school. It was (and is for one more year for the youngest) a lot of money but we don't regret paying it. We're not people who want a lot of fancy things and we have no desire to retire early so we I don't look back and think "wow, I wish I could have spent that money in a different way." I'm at peace at having spent it on education.

Very similar to us. It might be cultural but people boasting how they retired early because they were refused to spend much on education jars with me. I get it if you really hate your job or are in a very unstable industry. But not if you sacrifice education for the sake of quitting work and doing not much.

Anonymous wrote:

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.

$550k is not much these days. That’s barely middle class. I wouldn’t do private at that income.

LOL.

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.

This. Everyone forgets taxes. OP you are in the 32-35% bracket so subtract that off the top

You can afford it. It’s not a choice I would make, but the money is there.

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.

$550k is not much these days. That’s barely middle class. I wouldn’t do private at that income.

I think it really depends on how stable your jobs are and whether your family could help if you were laid off. My family income was higher than yours when we decided to stick with public but that was because by DH and I are both in fields where we could easily get laid off and neither family could step in and cover private school tuition if that happened. I was not comfortable paying for private school until I had saved enough that I would be OK never getting another job if I was laid off. That took me until age 48 and by then my oldest had started high school and was pretty happy (school is not perfect but he is getting a good education) so we are just saving the money we would have spent on tuition. Honestly with the way things are going for AI part of me thinks it is better to focus on building generational wealthy in case there are no more jobs.

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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.

This is such a typical response. And it’s simply not true. I was a Biglaw partner making just shy of 7 figures two decades ago when we decided not to put our kids in private. Thanks in large part to that decision, I was able to retire in my early 50s with plenty of money while still in a position to help our kids out in much more practical ways — large down payments for houses, etc. Kids all went to public schools all the way through college (except for one who got a large merit award) and all are now doing just fine in the DMV, doing the same jobs and making the same money and living the same lives in the same neighborhoods as their private school friends and classmates. Of course, none of them is in Biglaw like I was, but that’s a blessing!

Okay, but when you were in biglaw and using public schools, what neighborhood did you live in? Let’s not get carried away with the value of Janney when you need a fortune to go there in the first place. Private school is just another flavor of the same game.

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.

+1.

And these jobs are not guaranteed.

^but, not because

What is your end game? We had plenty of money for private because we were fine with our kids going to UVA, which you can easily do from public school (we are in VA obviously.)

We plan to have a nice retirement while also helping our kids with grad school, down payments, and 529s for their own kids. That is more meaningful and valuable to us but everyone is different.

We have a similar income in DC proper and sent our 3 kids to private for high school only. The expectations were a giant step up from DCPS. 2 of the 3 are now at Ivies and doing incredibly well. Third is still in high school. It was (and is for one more year for the youngest) a lot of money but we don't regret paying it. We're not people who want a lot of fancy things and we have no desire to retire early so we I don't look back and think "wow, I wish I could have spent that money in a different way." I'm at peace at having spent it on education.

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.

This is such a typical response. And it’s simply not true. I was a Biglaw partner making just shy of 7 figures two decades ago when we decided not to put our kids in private. Thanks in large part to that decision, I was able to retire in my early 50s with plenty of money while still in a position to help our kids out in much more practical ways — large down payments for houses, etc. Kids all went to public schools all the way through college (except for one who got a large merit award) and all are now doing just fine in the DMV, doing the same jobs and making the same money and living the same lives in the same neighborhoods as their private school friends and classmates. Of course, none of them is in Biglaw like I was, but that’s a blessing!

Provide the same for all, so unless you're paying for private school for all 3, no.