<p>I know lots of suburban 2 income households where they will pick the best pre-K available, then put the kid in the public school for K-12. They feel that the early years are important.
As for the original post, living in NYC is different from most other places. :)</p>
<p>Actually, @oldfort, the tuition listed is correct:
<a href=“Tuition & Financial Aid - Horace Mann School”>Tuition & Financial Aid - Horace Mann School;
Tuition Schedule, 2013-2014 Academic Year
Nursery Division<br>
Threes Program, Mornings or Afternoons $29,530
Threes Program Full Days $41,150
Pre-Kindergarten $41,150
Kindergarten $41,150</p>
<p>Basically, it’s the same tuition for threes full day as for the upper divisions - $41,150.
It’s out of my league but if there are people who will pay for it (and there are - more than there are spaces), who am I to judge? NYC is just a different world.</p>
<p>Glad we don’t live in NYC. Lots of our high-achieving public high school grads would likely not have made the cut for these competitive pre-schools or for the magnet schools.</p>
<p>But, costs of raising children in our suburb (public high school that sends a couple dozen students to Ivies and similarly ranked schools each year, and similar numbers to schools offering merit money) have also risen dramatically over the past couple of decades. </p>
<p>As an aside, though, 41k per year would strike many parents of autistic children as “chickenfeed”, not that we necessarily pay this amount out of pocket (although some do) - the price we pay is often in steep “opportunity costs” for other family members. </p>
<p>I raised my kid in NYC. Preschool/daycare cost around $250/week, 8 to 6. From public school Kindergarten through elementary school, afterschool program cost less than $1000/year–pick up at 5:50 p.m. So not only is NYC different from other places, there are many ways to raise a kid in NYC.</p>
<p>There are many ways to raise a kid everywhere. You can live in Skokie, commute to a job in the loop in Chicago, and buy a nice but modest house for 300K. You can live in Winnetka, commute to the same job, and pay 800K and feel poor all the time because your neighbors live in much nicer and fancier houses.</p>
<p>This is news why?</p>
<p>It’s news because most people can’t fathom spending $40K-plus on preschool.</p>
<p>In many parts of the country, people think $300K for a “nice but modest house” is ridiculous, too. Most people are doing far worse than they were 10 years ago, both with income stagnation and increasing cost of living.</p>
<p><a href=“The Typical Household, Now Worth a Third Less - The New York Times”>The Typical Household, Now Worth a Third Less - The New York Times;
<p>"You don’t think any high schools or undergrads include writing sophisticated papers as “homework”? Not everyone who turned them in on time got As on them at my prep school, never mind my colleges. "
-Yes, every single student who cares to do the homework at the highest possible level. Specifically, my own D. spent MOST of her homework time on writing such papers as part of her AP English Lit. class. The other class she spent most of her time was History (college level that was taught at her HS in coordination with one of the top colleges in our state).<br>
If you think that genius is required in HS or UG, I have to dissapoint you - not required. What is required is a hard work. Everybody has harder and easier classes and know that to get an A in class that either very hard for them or they might even hate with all their heart, they simply need to put in more efforts. It is not just my D. Both grandkids are following the same strategy with the same results and one of them is at the very selective HS that had 33 applicants for one spot of freshman class. As I said, my 13 y o GrandS said exactly the same: “Just doing my homework every day”<br>
People are way overestimating what is going on in American k -12 which is way behind the most of the world’s schools. Sadly, it includes all those extremely selective and the most rigorous HS (like my D’s and GrandD’s) since they are forced to follow the same program to be certified.<br>
Forward to UG, Honors English was a waste of time for D. who said that she learned nothing, easy A, but time consuming reading of boring novels. However. all science classes needed adjustment up at UG level, for one reason - HS does not prepare kids in math/sciences well at all. But again, adjustment up is also accomplished just by doing homework every day. not much more than that. Well, if anybody needs help doing this homework, help is widely available at all UGs, just go and ask.<br>
Yes, not everyone gets an A. Those who did not work hard producing good paper, will not get an A even if they turn it on time. Turning on time or doing math problems on time is absolutely required, but it is only one requirement. Another one is to write a good paper (with tons and tons of re-writing if needed) and producing the correct answer in math problem. But these are all included in “doing homework”. If it is not done correctly, than it is not done.</p>
<p>slackermom - the tuitions I posted were for the school my kids went to in NYC, not HM.</p>
<p>lol</p>
<p>Post 26…I’ve read the SAME post so many times, I’m wondering if the poster has it saved as a word doc. </p>
<p>Agree with others…just doing the homework and even just working hard will NOT guarantee A’s at many schools.</p>
<p>Well, Miami, I can tell you that not all of my students get As on their papers, and it isn’t from lack of effort. By far my hardest working student last semester really fought it out for a B +. Some student’s ideas simply don’t have the sophistication to yield “A” papers, just like some kids don’t have the ability to grasp concepts in high-level math and science courses. </p>
<p>Preschool/ elementary school can be really expensive, even in the northwest, where it isnt seen so much as necessary to be admitted to the " right" prep school & college.
Schools do usually offer financial aid though, for people who can’t afford it.</p>
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<p>Wow…these folks have money to burn. If you’ve got a couple of kids, then you’re spending an unbelievable amount of money to have your kids essentially play. </p>
<p>lol…my kids’ preschool was a Lutheran church that offered a 3 day a week program for about $200 a month! lol But, my kids did have fun, learned some things, and developed some nice social skills.</p>
<p>I think a quality pre-school/kindergarten can be very helpful. For some people or neighborhoods, 40K may not be a big deal. Also, the schools may know they can overcharge people because they can afford it, and therefore, this becomes the price. So it seems unfair to criticize parents for being overcharged. The same thing happens for birthday parties. People often make fun of celebrities for having a $10,000 birthday party for a kid, but it may just be that they paid for someone to bring a donkey and a clown or something and it cost $10,000. There’s a different price for people if they are rich.</p>
<p>I don’t know what Montessouri costs, but I think that the cost is worth it. If other pre-schools are pricier than Montessouri, then it’s a waste of money in my opinion because I don’t think it gets any better than that.</p>
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<p>Well, I agree the ivy angle is crazy. But I think public schools are basically glorified daycare for preschool through kindergarten. You can let children play, and at the same time be introducing them to things. Education at that age doesn’t and probably shouldn’t be regimented. </p>
<p>“If you’ve got a couple of kids, then you’re spending an unbelievable amount of money to have your kids essentially play.”</p>
<p>It’s really not about the content of the nursery program. The big thing, as noted upthread, is not having to worry about your kid’s admission process again for 14 years. But for some families, there’s a social access factor to these private schools, too. Depending on what line of work you’re in, it may be critical to your business to have access to the private school community. They are closed, elite circles of trust.</p>
<p>H and I bought an apartment in NYC years ago with the thought of our future retirement. At the time our realtor told us that many young couples leave the city once they become parents and start thinking about the education of their children - even though they would like to stay. </p>
<p>Those who would pay 60K+ for elite college may not understand why someone would pay around 40K (or even 50K+ if it’s a boarding school) for private high school, who in turn don’t understand why others would pay about the same amount for “just” middle school, and the cycle goes on. The truth is that everyone has a different situation, and most notable is how much the alternative costs and what you get from that alternative. It may be absurd to someone but it may make perfect sense to someone else.</p>
<p>I’m shocked–shocked, I say!–to learn that rich people are spending large sums on luxuries!</p>
<p>I agree that it is all relative - but linked directly to income. To those who view $45,000 as pocket change then what better place to spend it than on your children? To those that view $45,000 as a down payment on a house, then certainly that type of tuition is absurd for pre-school. They are both right.</p>
<p>" some kids don’t have the ability to grasp concepts in high-level math and science courses."
-There is no any high level of English in HS, neither any high level math and science. We are not talkng about PhD programs here. And it is very well known fact that while at least English is taught sufficiently in American HS, math and science education in American HS is a complete disaster that prepares kids for nothing and this includes the toughest schools in the nation.
So, I totally disagree that " some kids don’t have the ability" The fact is that many lack tremendously in working ethic and vast majority of HS math and science teachers lack in ability to teach these subjects.<br>
Absolutely no brainiak is required to complete HS with straight As. However, it is reguired to have solid hard working habits and great time management since most of those with all As are also in very many un-related ECs. They just love to stay busy, but they are no geniuses at all. </p>