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Private School?
elrodthomas January 3, 2013
Does anybody ever worry about the cost with sending their kids to private school and what the consequences could be on future money needs? (college, retirement, etc.)
How did you decide what to do?
MagnetMom January 4, 2013
Hi elrodthomas,
It is a real consideration. I have two kids, now 22 and 11. We could not have possibly afforded private schools all the way through. What we did was utilize school choice programs to find the schools that were great fits for our kids.
Now, I advise parents on how to choose a school for their children. I regularly hear from parents who realize once they start private school, they'll pretty much want to continue through out, and it's a financial burden.
Depending on where you live, there may be public school options, or even homeschooling. Good luck.81937
tammieflick January 15, 2013
I agree 100% with MagnetMom! My daughter attended a charter school in TX and both attend a magnet school here in LA.
In TX we were close to Houston and therefore had a ton of choices, here we have fewer, but I was still able to find an option that worked for my kids.
In TX we bore the cost of transportation and the school was 30+min away(it adds up quickly), in LA all children are eligible for bus service. It is a long ride for the kids(45min vs 25/30min by car), but with a new baby it has to be done both for time/convenience and financial reasons...although we would've figured it out if we needed to.
Next year my daughter is eligible to attend a magnet middle that feeds to a top 10 national high school(100%grad rate, 95% 4-yr college rate, and last year they had the first hs student to present at a NASA conference-for years the youngest was late college/graduate students-better than ANY private school I have seen) ...free of charge. I just need to drive her 15min to a bus stop.
Overall there are some great options out there, you just need to figure out what your state offers and take advantage of it. Usually charter and magnet schools come with a parent commitment(volunteer hours, fund-raising, etc), but it is SO worth it. In our experiences, for working parents they have alternate offerings for volunteer hours(printing things from home, donations in lieu of hours, etc). I have a 1yr old as well as lupus and have had no trouble meeting the several hour per month commitment(I usually exceed the requirements-just because its who I am, but also because I always fear next month I may be unable, just as when my daughter was in the charter, I underwent chemo and was unable to meet my commitment for a time-it was like a family and I was able to give it up until I was ready to return...however I was like 30X my commitment for the 2yrs prior just being involved as I would've been anywhere else-nothing extreme).
Good Luck, school is such a stressful choice!! I remember beating myself up over it for 2yrs before my daughter started kinder ;-)82118
TeacherParent January 28, 2013
Yes, private school is a huge financial commitment. Many people who might otherwise send their children to private school don't because of the cost.
People ask themselves - is it really necessary? Some people even move to a different school district rather than pay the private school tuition and understandably so given the incredible cost of private schools.
What you save by sending kids to public school could be used to pay their college tuition.82280
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