DH and I make 200K a year, together. 2 DCs. No way do we have 40K X2 for private school. How do people do it? We do NOT live extravagantly. Reasonable mortgage on 2 BR apt in so so neighborhood, one vacation a year in upstate NY at a friend's country house, eat out rarely, etc. We were offered a small amount of financial aid, but still could not figure out how to pay tuition. Feel like there is something wrong with us as other MC or UMC families seem to manage... Seriously, how do people with more than 1 DC afford it????
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07.08.11, 04:58 PM
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There are very few MC families in private school.
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07.08.11, 05:01 PM
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i live in 'hood where won't dare send my kid to public. just move u saaY? pay 4gs in rent? thats 2500 more than i pay now. X12 mos +
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07.08.11, 07:13 PM
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w
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07.08.11, 05:01 PM
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200k a yr is not brok
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07.08.11, 05:02 PM
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broke
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07.08.11, 05:03 PM
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OP: We are not broke. 200K seems like a LOT of $ to us. But, there is no way we have the funds for private for both DC. Know of other families who seem "like us" in terms of job/profession who send their kids to private, but can't imagine how they do it. Feel like we must be doing something wrong.
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07.08.11, 05:05 PM
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those families get financial support from their parents.
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07.08.11, 05:07 PM
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np: ITA. I know a handful of families whose parents pay for the entire tuition or most of it. I've been told by them that they wouldn't be going private if it weren't for their parents help
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07.08.11, 05:13 PM
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wow
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07.08.11, 05:44 PM
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NNP: Heard this as well, I think also written about in the times a few yrs ago
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07.08.11, 06:49 PM
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np: With all due respect, it would be insane to pay for private school x 2 on that income. I'm not knocking your HHI, mine is significantly lower, but think about it -- you bring home what, maybe $120K after taxes? You're going to spend TWO-THIRDS of your disposable income on school? Impossible. You're not doing anything wrong, it's just that private schools are incredibly expensive.
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07.08.11, 06:29 PM
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nnp: OP when they offered you FA you could have asked them to reconsider and outline your monthly bills. Many ppl don't realize when they're applying for FA...they should submit a detailed letter about their monthly bills..down to what you pay for phone and cable. You need to show the schools realistically what you can afford and not what a computer says you can afford to pay.
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07.08.11, 06:34 PM
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A lot of the people I know who are sending DCs to private schools are getting help from their parents. They have openly told me this.
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07.08.11, 05:06 PM
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This.
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07.08.11, 06:13 PM
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whats a small amount of fa?
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07.08.11, 05:06 PM
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OP: For older DC we were offered $5000 for the year.
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07.08.11, 05:07 PM
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yikes!
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07.08.11, 05:11 PM
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np; as a parent who receives FA for her dcs and have been for many yrs. This past application season for FA has been the worst in 6 yrs. We even received less FA this year because the number of applications and requests from current families were up.
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07.08.11, 05:11 PM
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^^^ mind you our financial situation hasn't changed but we had to pay more tuition because of the smaller award.
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07.08.11, 05:12 PM
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Sometimes they will up it after you have been there for awhile - esp. if it is really difficult for you.
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07.08.11, 06:49 PM
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Where do you live and what are the ages?
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07.08.11, 06:09 PM
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I cannot understand this fascination with private school among non wealthy people. Just send your dc to one of the fine gen Ed schools. Even in so so neighbs you will find the elementary schools quite good. Private school is a choice for people who have more money than they know what to do with. If you cannot live in an area with acceptable public schools, just move. Sorry to be blunt. $200k in NYC is going to be tough.
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07.08.11, 06:11 PM
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np: you make a lot of assumptions: like moving is easy (it's $$$) and also that so so neighborhoods have schools that are quite good? Not in my 'hood. You really shouldn't assume that the poor areas have good schools...most don't
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07.08.11, 06:26 PM
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nnp: You know what, though, I don't understand why people say, "Private school is too expensive! But I have to send the kids to private because I can't move, because moving is too expensive." It is clearly cheaper to do one move to a better zone than pay for 14 years of private school. I get that there are very few truly excellent publics but most Americans don't expect their child's school to be "excellent", they just expect it to be decent. I think the private school obsession is a form of extreme perfectionism where nothing less than perfect is good enough.
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07.08.11, 06:39 PM
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what I've found in NYC (as a native NYer who is 43 yr old) is that the public schools haven't changed much since I was a kid. The "rich" neighborhoods have very good to excellent schools and the poor 'hoods have shitty schools. Really no in between for the poorer 'hoods. Not many ppl can afford the District 2 'hoods in manhattan and are just stuck dealing with the crappy schools that the other areas offer. As someone who was stuck going to a shitty public, I wouldn't want that for my dc
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07.08.11, 06:46 PM
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IA to some extent but if the argument is financial, it still doesn't hold up. If you can't afford to move to a better zone, how can you possibly afford to pay for private without a terrific FA package? And FYI, there are PLENTY of MC neighborhoods in Queens with very good publics.
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07.08.11, 06:54 PM
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My hhi is $500k and I am UMC for my neighborhood. Choosing public school despite multiple accepts so we can live comfortably without struggling. live in a good zone.
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07.08.11, 06:16 PM
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and?
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07.08.11, 07:19 PM
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key words, "you live in a good zone" What is your point?
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07.08.11, 07:20 PM
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Go public. We are not in NYC and make $240 K. Could afford private for our 1 DD but didn't even apply for K. We are zoned for a great K-4 school and private is not worth it for the lower grades. I'll reconsider for MS and HS.
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07.08.11, 06:17 PM
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I find it amazing that ppl say go public so easily as if all NYC publics are created equal.
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07.08.11, 06:28 PM
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she's not in nyc... doesn't get it.
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07.08.11, 06:30 PM
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np: This is true, however, if you have 2 kids, it seems more cost-effective to spend more money to rent/buy in a better zone than stay in a mediocre zone and pay what amounts to $6K a month in tuition. Obviously, moving can be a big PITA, but in the long run this seems like a better option than financial ruin.
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07.08.11, 06:34 PM
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if u live in mediocre zone its obviously because u have to. Where is move and rent money coming from. Maybe fa is the best option
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07.08.11, 07:21 PM
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I would agree but then that takes the affordability problem out of the equation...I'm thinking more about people who are paying full-fare for private instead of moving. I'm not against it, I just don't buy that anyone who can afford private school does not have the financial ability to move. I'm also not anti-FA, I can totally understand why people apply for it and prefer private to their zoned school if they can get aid.
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07.08.11, 08:05 PM
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u don't live in NYC so you cannot comment
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07.08.11, 07:16 PM
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I don't know anyone at that income level with 2 kids in private. I suspect anyone in that situation has a trust fund or help from grandparents. I know a couple of families with similar HHI who have one kid in private and they are usually in a very good position - no debt, apartment paid off, etc.
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07.08.11, 06:23 PM
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big savings. We don't have a huge hhi (by nyc standards), but if we wanted to send our 2 dcs to private, we could swing it thanks to years and years of aggressive saving and investing. Also, yes, help from parents I think is largely underestimated. I imagine many parent are paying grandchild tuition as a tax effective way to transfer wealth.
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07.08.11, 06:28 PM
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It's because 200K is really not a lot in NYC, at least among the private school set. If you even made 300K, and had some assistance from the grandparents, it would be doable.
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07.08.11, 06:34 PM
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np: ita. That's why ppl making 200k could apply and get FA for school
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07.08.11, 06:35 PM
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not "fascinated." live in "hood where would not dare send ds to public. move? Where? pay 2500 more in rent? X 12 = 25,000. can't afford that. take chance with fa. no choice
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07.08.11, 07:15 PM
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but op said she was only offered 5000
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07.08.11, 07:17 PM
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you can't afford it. we are similar. in public. it's great. don't get the issue.
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07.08.11, 07:23 PM
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All our friends have incomes similar to yours (so do we)--the only ones with dcs in private have parents (grandparents) footing the bill.
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07.08.11, 07:45 PM
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As others have stated, it's all about the Grandparents. Keep in mind, ours is the first generation that is financially worse-off than the previous, so this trend won't last too long.
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07.08.11, 07:55 PM
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IA, this is not going to continue into the next generation. No one is going to be able to afford it, especially with crazy tuition increases.
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07.08.11, 08:08 PM
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We do it on half that much, one child. Get FA (zero help from grandparents), but it is still very hard. Probably the biggest thing we don't spend on was our own retirement -- we contribute, but probably not enough. To me it feels worth it, because our child was in public school for 4 years (middle school) and it was a disaster.
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07.09.11, 02:29 AM
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