<p>You can all afford the cost of these prep schools? I've seen tuitions up to 40,000 dollars and it just shocks me that people go to such expensive schools even before college. What was the deciding factor in going to a prep school rather than an ordinary high school?</p>
<p>Just wondering, not meant to be offensive at all.</p>
<p>Well, yeah sure some of use (including me), are not on financial aid. I feel very fortunate</p>
<p>There are, however, many people on this forum who are on financial aid and in the same position as you. Rest assured, you are not alone.</p>
<p>… in the same position as me? I don’t care at all that I dont go to one of these schools… never even knew they existed. I was just curious about the people that decide to go to one.</p>
<p>I am a rising senior in high school, by the way…</p>
<p>A better education than is available at a local high school. We are from an large urban area where schools are very poor, especially high schools.</p>
<p>I’ll be attending one of these type schools this fall for my sophomore year. I’m getting just about half financial aid. It’s given in grants, so it’s not like a loan or anything. You’re right, these schools are expensive, but they offer an expirience that an ordinary high school can not.</p>
<p>My old highschool was extremely overcrowed and had a surplus of crappy things going on (drugs, fighting, ect). I just didn’t want to spend the next three years there. Next year I’ll actually get a chance to be in a classroom with less than thirty students and recieve a great education plus the boarding expirience before college. It prepares you for college like an ordinary school can’t. </p>
<p>Of course it isn’t necessarally better than your average high school. It’s just another option, one most of us here are choosing.</p>
<p>The only reason I can afford to go to my school is because my dad teaches there, so we don’t have to pay tuition. If he did something else, I would go to public school.</p>
<p>The top schools have great financial aid. The experience is second to none and, best of all, unlike public school, the vast majority of students want to be there!</p>
<p>yes my family is paying for it all but that doesn’t mean that it’s easy! money will obviously be tighter, and besides the fact that i appreciate deeply the amount of money they are putting behind my education, my parents groan whenever i mention i want to become a lawyer…law school anyone?</p>
<p>it all depends on what your parents prioritize. I have a friend whose parents combined income is 100k/year and they are able to afford prep school for her (she receives only a small amount of merit scholarship). They are among those who value prep school and not get stuck in credit card debt, pet care, etc. So I mean it’s entirely possible for a middle class family, it’s just the matter of whether they value prep school experience or not. </p>
<p>Money-wise, 40k is not an awful lot of money for many families. Talking about “why?”, many people live in areas where public high schools are not that great, it makes sense for them to go to prep schools. People have different circumstances, please be understanding :)</p>
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<p>Actually, many people in the US don’t make that much money. I couldn’t find an exact statistic, but I know that it’s alot of money. However, boarding schools, most with high endowments, provide enough FA to families (not all) who need it making the descion between local high school with no good matriculation stats, large classes, and uncaring teachers vs boarding schools with diversity, excellent college counseling office, and supporting faculty. Which would you choose?</p>
<p>I would not say that 40k is not an awful lot for many families. To some families who have legacies at these schools, maybe I can see why they would know of these schools and are determined to send their kids their. I on the other hand heard of Exeter through my school. An Exeter admission rep came to my school during my lunch time one day in October last year. Before then, I had never even heard of Exeter. I never even thought of boarding school until last summer, just before I heard of Exeter. I first heard of Portsmouth Abbey actually. I took the SAT in 7th grade through a program, and Portsmouth Abbey somehow got my scores and invited me to apply for a scholarship. I somewhat researched boarding schools (mainly Portsmouth Abbey) but my parents turned down the idea almost instantaneously when I brought the subject up. It wasn’t until I learned of Exeter and researched it a bit where I presented the idea to them again but this time more in depth. They agreed to let me apply.</p>
<p>I, opposite of cutiedida, am on financial aid actually. I am very very lucky to have gotten this much. I have kept my grades up all of middle school and am an active participant in my community, and I had a pretty reputation at my school. </p>
<p>My decision to go? A huge factor of it was the deteriorating status of public high schools in my county. I attended a magnet middle school, meaning all the funds were put towards select schools where the academics and such were inflated more than regular schools. Such schools were somewhat hard to get in, but based off of the lottery, so luck pretty much. Well starting from this fall, these schools are being removed from the system. There are no “good” schools in my county left. I never really felt challenged here. The only challenge was the HUGE amount of homework for some reason. It wasn’t hard, just plentiful. Like 3 language arts projects at once, science projects, history projects, math tests. Everything. I wanted something better. Oh and the 2 hour each way bus ride killed me. Horribly. Waking up at 5:30 and sleeping at 2 was taking its toll on me. Boarding school was the best choice for me. </p>
<p>Sorry for the long post if you actually decide to read it all! :D</p>
<p>I decided to go to boarding school due to all the moving I’ve had to go through. I really just wanted to settle down, instead of having to move every 1-2 years. Due to all the moving, I would have had to move again during my junior and senior year of high school…imagine how awful that would be? Now, although I didn’t ask for FA and my family is rather well off, my parents’ employer (the federal government :)) is actually paying for EVERYTHING. They’re paying for flight arrangements, hotel expenses, food, tuition, boarding, and really anything I need - as long as it doesn’t exceed $55,000. But, once you take away tuition I would have about $10,000 left, but most of that will be used for flight arrangements for all the various holidays throughout the year to…well, who the hell knows where my parents are going to be next? But, I actually find myself pretty fortunate that my parents don’t have to pay. I mean, they are well off, but I don’t think they’d WANT to spend that much on my education (they’re not horrible parents, btw :)).</p>
<p>I am pretty middle class (maybe not by your guys’ standards, though). With financial aid, boarding school is almost as cheap as living at home and going to public school. For one thing, when I’m at boarding school my parents don’t have to pay to feed me.</p>
<p>These types of schools offer an extraordinary education unlike any other. They give you every advantage.</p>
<p>I decided to go to boarding school in light of my circumstances- 3 moves during high school, and academics that weren’t up to what I had received at my magnet school before we moved. Really the only reason we can afford it is because of the move- my dad now has expatriate benefits from the company he works for, which includes an education allowance should he choose to have his child educated in his home country [e.g. boarding school], which covers most of the tuition [my parents pay out of pocket the tuition for a run-of-the-mill day school].
Beyond that, the experience is second to none. The vast majority of teachers have masters degrees at least [and several have higher degrees], the kids want to be there [for the most part], and the school generally functions far better than the public schools I have attended. Not to mention the well-rounded education and the top-notch college office. I genuinely love my school.</p>
<p>tbh 40k is a lot of money but a good amount of people (like me) get a great amount covered so that they can go. But, most people do not receive aid and do pay the full amount. And yes, 40k a year is very unmanageable for 90% of American families.</p>
<p>:D 
I take my words back then ONLY in the area I lived in, 40k isn’t a lot of money for most families. So there’s already a lot of competition among these FP families for boarding schools.
if you talk about 10% of the population, that’s 30 millions already that’s a lot of people and lot of competition, you don’t need 50% of the population or something like that</p>