<p>Some families making as much as $300,000 are applying for help — and getting it — which shuts out those further down the income ladder.</p>
<p>There’s some conversation on this over on the Miscellaneous Ramblings thread. </p>
<p>My dd is currently in a private school with generous FA. Her classmates (and her) that needed a generous amount of FA were all WL at the private day schools. The one kid that got offered FA was the a shocker to me…I had no clue they even applied for FA until his mom said she received great FA from all of the schools. They live in a soho loft (they apt is the entire 8th fl of the building which in NYC could sell for over 4million) and they have a house in west Hampton. I had no idea you could be so well off and get FA… :-/ this is def. making getting funding for those of us farther down the income ladder </p>
<p>Not everyone well off gets financial aid, though. </p>
<p>@needtoboard that’s not what was said or meant (from what I wrote or read) but I can tell you that one FA officer was telling me about the increase in people (this admission season) asking for FA that really don’t need it (when looking at their HHI). She said that many ppl are looking for a deal. She said this increase is making things difficult for those families who need a larger amount of FA. The DOA at our day school has also told me how many people with HHI that can easily afford tuitions, apply for FA for Kindergarten but when denied FA, they miraculously come up with the money. This is not to say that all well off people are looking for a deal or trying to pull one over on the schools but there will always be those who do try. </p>
<p>@NTCMomof3 I understood what you were saying. I meant that not everyone well off who applies for FA gets it.</p>
<p>$140k puts you in the top 10% of earners in the country. If this is considered modest, that says a lot about who applies to prep school. </p>
<p>140k is a lot of money to make in one year, but that still does not take away from the fact that most boarding schools are $50,000 annually. Also, many families have multiple children that go to boarding school as well. A family could easily pay 100k for two kids to attend boarding school and 70k or above if one attends boarding school and the other attends a day school. With that on top of taxes and paying for necessities, the only way for a family to send kids to these schools is to apply for financial aid.</p>
<p>@needtoboard I’m not saying they don’t need aid. I understand that one cannot see the whole picture from just that number, but it makes me wonder about the people who make a tenth of that. </p>
<p>I was kind of shocked at the “modest” label given to $140K a year too. I remember several years ago when I finally had a fulltime salary job and my husband and I combined made $65K a year. I wouldn’t have even called that modest, I was thrilled. And we have 3 kids. As they get older, the do expenses rise, though. I’ve got 2 in competitive gymnastics and it’s a fortune.</p>
<p>I did some math and would like people check for me whether I get things correct. In a typical board school, about 35% of the students get financial aid. So there are 65% of the students don’t get financial aid. The cost of attending a boarding school that many have talked about here would cost 55,000-60,000 a year including fees, but not any trips outside the country. These are after-tax money. Therefore, the corresponding before tax money can be close to $100K. For a family that will spend this money to send the kid to BS, I would think they may also need another $100K before tax for living, or even saving for college. So the family need to make at least $200k a year. A family that makes $200k a year is among the top 5% of households in the USA. So the conclusion is that 65% of the students in boarding school come from the top 5% of US households. </p>
<p>Actually the above is only somewhat correct. If you take that 65% of the BS population and break them down geographically, you will see that the majority come from NY Tristate area, especially Ct as well as NYC. To live comfortably in NYC and have an apartment with a bedroom for each kid, (say for a family of four, two adults, two kids) one must pay around 2/3 Million minimum for such an apartment plus maintenance costs, or between 10-15k per month rent. Alternatively to live in a suburb like Greenwich, one pays over 2/3 Mil for a house. plus incidentals. Im talking within past ten year prices. Keep in mind that the overwhelming majority of kids from NYC coming into BS are coming from private schools which cost around 40k per year. Starting in K, and of course there were two or three years in preschool as well. Many CT kids also go to private schools prior to boarding. Babysitters easily cost 500$ per week. So I hate to say it to Wilburig’s post, but the top 5% of US households cant afford to be full pay bs parents. To do what I described comfortably, just paying for housing and schools, a family needs to earn about 1.5 Mil a year pre tax. Thats why for this type of life 140k is a modest income.</p>
<p>Wilburig, in my opinion, mhmm gives a somewhat inflated view, but is clearly correct that the majority of the BS kids (around 50-65%), paying full tuition, are from the top 1%, not 5%, of American families. Income is over $350k per year, or assets are over $1M, and, yes, from NYC that’s more like $1.5M income. (Three to six million American households meet either criteria.) Look at the top “sending states”, and you will see heavy representation from the tri-state area, but also Boston, Washington DC, Chicago, Texas, NC, FL, and CA. Look at the actual address directories, and I suspect that counties like those in the article linked below will be well represented:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.newgeography.com/content/004154-rich-poor-and-unequal-zip-codes[/url]”>Rich, Poor, and Unequal Zip Codes | Newgeography.com;
<p>What is interesting is how different schools choose to address the fact that they have so many financially privileged teenagers in their midst.</p>
<p>At what point is someone not “financially privileged”? Average HHI? Just curious about other people’s opinions.</p>
<p>S1’s school had an article about the “barbell” distribution in its student body: </p>
<ul>
<li>a majority of wealthy fullpay kids</li>
<li>a respectable number of full-FA kids aggressively recruited via outreach programs
- a dearth of middle class kids in between.</li>
</ul>
<p>The middle class kids are the hardest to attract, because the prep schools are competing w FREE, reasonable-quality public schools. Middle class parents have to weigh the prudence of diverting savings earmarked for college, for a discretionary luxury product.</p>
<p>I disagree with part of your statement. ^. I am middle class and the public schools around me are pretty bad. I don’t live in the inner city or the middle of nowhere, I live in a suburban area. I understand your generalization but I don’t think it’s entirely true. For some middle class families who live in areas with bad public schools, the prep schools are competing with local, typically cheaper (in day tuition - boarding tuition can’t really even be compared) private schools. This is the case in my area at least, as the schools are historically bad so we have an incredible number of private school options around. </p>
<p>From my experience and what I’ve been told (and my family and I do know a fair amount of people/friends involved in the boarding school world) the issue is not as much attracting these middle class kids as it is giving them enough aid once accepted - if accepted at all - to be able to attend the school. Most middle class families cannot afford 50k a year for tuition. @GMTplus7 </p>
<p>Poor choice of word. I should have said “enrolling” middle class kids, rather than “attracting” middle class kids.</p>
<p>I’ve heard that Andover actually celebrates a school-wide “end of tuition day” which is the day that funding from tuition runs out and alumni and parent giving kick in to fill the void. I think it is typically in the early spring. The students are all aware (it is a school wide celebration) and take time to appreciate that. I suppose other schools may also do this too. But this is the only one that I have affirmatively heard about doing this.</p>
<p>@gratefulmom89 Yup. Exeter does too, but they call it Thank a Donor Day. </p>
<p>I agree with the fact that they have trouble enrolling middle class kids 100%. @GMTplus7 </p>