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<p>Someone seems to be pocketing $12k between your mom’s coworker’s pocketbook and the registrar’s office. [Costs:</a> Freshmen Undergraduate Students](<a href=“Cost | Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships | UCI”>Cost | Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships | UCI).</p>
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<p>I have no idea where your area is. As I said, I rented a three bedroom in PVE for 1800 a couple years ago. There are similar apts renting for around 2K that I know about now. My family of three fit very nicely into it, and there were others with two kids linig in similar places. It wasn’t spacious, but it was fine. And if Palos Verdes Estates doesn’t meet your concept of decent, you truly are in a dream world.</p>
<p>I couldn’t take the nonsense here so I went to a rental website and picked the very FIRST place on the list. I’m sure there are cheaper places as well, and places right on the sand in the Redondo Beach Esplanade for around this price -</p>
<p>2,000.00 - SOME CALL IT A VACATION, WE CALL IT A WAY OF LIVING!
Unfurnished, Upper, 2 bedrooms, 2 Baths, Pet ok with deposit, One year minimum lease, 2-car Carport parking, pool, laundry on site, quiet neighborhood, stove, dishwasher, balcony, Breathtaking ocean views!!! Beautifully located at the top of the hill overlooking the ocean and the Los Verdes Golf course, you will find P.V. Victoria Apartment Homes with all the luxuries you need in an apartment community, including private balconies, a gym, four sparkling pools, extra storage and carports. The landscaped garden style living environment is so peaceful you will feel like you are living at a resort!, Paid water & trash & gas & gardener & pool service, $2,000.00 800 OAC deposit</p>
<p>I live on the coast. I walk my dog to the beach almost every day. From my house it is roughly a 10 minute walk. I don’t earn $100K, never have. I live in a neighborhood where I doubt that there are many $100K earners. Lots of retired people, or young parents with young children, or people with working-class jobs. Many renters, of course – though I own. Of course I got my house many years ago – but there are adults with families on my block who grew up here. Even though these are just tract homes, some have stayed within a family from one generation to the next – plus there are sometimes good bargains available on “fixer-upper” type homes.</p>
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<p>Nope. Three year average median incomes by state show that California ranks 13th highest, ahead of some northeastern states such as New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode island, and Delaware.</p>
<p>[Income</a> - State Median Income](<a href=“http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/income/statemedfaminc.html]Income”>http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/income/statemedfaminc.html)</p>
<p>Actually, I was rather appalled at how low starting salaries are in NYC for college grads. My d. considers herself lucky to be offered a position in the mid-30K range – and before she got a job, while I was scouring the internet looking for listings, I saw plenty of jobs in her field that sought a candidate with a Master’s degree and paid $35K or less.</p>
<p>Re: tutoring at FUHSD, I know two parents there, one has a freshman at Homestead and the other a freshman at Monta Vista, they both have tutors during the school year and summer as well. Monta Vista especially is very competitive.</p>
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<p>I’m really not a supporter of public schools anywhere so don’t have a horse in this race but the fact is from all angles California has the places with highest median household income:
a. by ZIP - Atherton, California
b. By population
— at least 10,000 - Hillsborough, California
— at least 50,000 - Cupertino, California
— at least 300,000 - San Jose, California</p>
<p>So, at least get your facts right.</p>
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<p>The median household income in NYC is significantly less than in the SF Bay area – it is roughly $48K ($64K in Manhattan) [Demographics</a> of New York City - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“Demographics of New York City - Wikipedia”>Demographics of New York City - Wikipedia)
[Manhattan</a> (borough) QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau](<a href=“http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/36/3651003.html]Manhattan”>http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/36/3651003.html)</p>
<p>Chicago is even worse - you are looking at a median household income of roughly $40 - $46K.
[Demographics</a> of Chicago - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“Demographics of Chicago - Wikipedia”>Demographics of Chicago - Wikipedia)
[Chicago</a>, Illinois (IL) profile: population, maps, real estate, averages, homes, statistics, relocation, travel, jobs, hospitals, schools, crime, moving, houses, sex offenders, news, sex offenders](<a href=“http://www.city-data.com/city/Chicago-Illinois.html]Chicago”>http://www.city-data.com/city/Chicago-Illinois.html)</p>
<p>I didn’t even have to look this up to know that the figures cited by Futurenyustudent were way off base – I’ve just returned from NY and all I had to do was ride the subways with my eyes open to know that the city is full of low income people. </p>
<p>When you have “urban” (or “metropolitan”) you also have poverty – and I think that is probably true of every city in the world. So median incomes tend to be depressed in cities, higher in suburban areas. </p>
<p>The 10 cities with the highest median incomes are as follows:</p>
<p>Atherton, California ($200,001)
Hillsborough, California ($193,157)
Cherry Hills Village, Colorado ($190,805)
Scarsdale, New York ($182,792)
Los Altos Hills, California ($173,570)
Woodside, California ($171,126)
Winnetka, Illinois ($167,458)
Glencoe, Illinois ($164,432)
Chappaqua, New York ($163,201)
Travilah, Maryland ($160,323)</p>
<p>New York and Chicago don’t even make the top 100. </p>
<p>Source: [Top</a> 100 Cities with Highest Median Household Income (pop. 5000+)](<a href=“http://www.city-data.com/top2.html]Top”>http://www.city-data.com/top2.html)</p>
<p>Given the total implausibility of the numbers cited – I went to realtor.com (the purported source of the figures) and could find no information whatsoever on median incomes. My guess is that Futurenyustudent saw some figures as to median home value (or purchase price), and confused the concept of cost of home with household income. (I don’t know what he studied at NYU, but his posts make me very glad my d. turned down her spot at NYU in favor of a college that expected its students to have critical thinking skills.)</p>
<p>Homefinder.com reports a median household income for “Chicago metro” (60602) ([Chicago</a> Metro, IL Homes for Sale - Real Estate Listings | HomeFinder.com](<a href=“http://www.homefinder.com/IL/Chicago-metro/]Chicago”>http://www.homefinder.com/IL/Chicago-metro/)) as $82K and for New York (zip 10029) as $28K. ([New</a> York, NY Homes for Sale - Real Estate Listings | HomeFinder.com](<a href=“http://www.homefinder.com/NY/New_York/]New”>http://www.homefinder.com/NY/New_York/)). I think the disparity in figures is simply a result that they are actually reporting on single zip codes.</p>
<p>Well put on every level, Calmom</p>
<p>I have heard great things about the schools in Moraga, Lafayette, etc. I will agree that it’s a tragedy that a great state like California has had its education decline so precipitously in recent years. It is shocking–a moral crime–that such a fabulously rich state should rank in the bottom decile of public education. People in the top ranked states spend a lot of money per pupil, and contrary to what some people say, that money actually pays off. I was shocked at the discrepancy between what teachers in expensive California make, and the classroom conditions in which they teach (begging parents for kleenex and pencils, no libraries, huge classes, high cost of living … ) and those of teachers I know in New Jersey, who get decent salaries, reasonable class sizes, well-stocked libraries, etc.–and the highest graduation rate in the country. Yes, there can be corruption in education funding, and that is certainly something to fight (not that there isn’t corruption in the private sector, thank you Goldman Sachs, Enron and BP). Those tax dollars must actually go to the children’s education. But when they do, the difference is GREAT.</p>
<p>For facts and figures I like [Stats</a> about all US cities - real estate, relocation info, house prices, home value estimator, recent sales, cost of living, crime, race, income, photos, education, maps, weather, houses, schools, neighborhoods, and more](<a href=“http://www.city-data.com/]Stats”>http://www.city-data.com/) though the latest are from 2008. Individual cities from this source were cited by calmom.</p>
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<p>I’m sure many people could come up with anecdotes about knowing parents who hire a tutor. I know parents whose kids attend private schools here in the SF Bay Area who have hired tutors, and I do have a couple of friends whose kids attend public schools who have hired tutors. Any time a student struggles with a subject in school, a family that can afford it will think of hiring a tutor, and that will happen whether your child is enrolled in Leigh high school in San Jose, or Bellarmine College Preparatory.</p>
<p>My point about the FUHSD was this: there is no perception in the communities served by that district, as far as I am aware, that leads families to believe they need to supplement poor teaching with outside tutoring.</p>
<p>I agree with what CalAlum has said about tutoring in post #112.</p>
<p>My one data point… we were in private school at the elementary level and at the school we were at, if a student had any difficulties (eg learning to read), the school recommended to hire a tutor. My impression was that the school was happy to cash the tuition check but had no real commitment to educating the students they had selected to be in the school. Due to personal circumstances, we moved to a public school district which actually had free learning resources.</p>
<p>Hello! You mentioned that your son has an interest in USC. Some schools that have a good relationship with USC and are known as feeder schools are Whitney Gretchen High School, Harvard-Westlake, Troy High School, and Oxford Acadamy.
However, the only downsides are the relatively expensive neighborhoods of the schools and the competitiveness to get into them.
If you would like to know more about these schools please PM me.</p>
<p>While San Diego seems to have fallen off the map a bit, I would second the suggestions of the San Dieguito or Poway School Districts. The weather is excellent here and no smog to speak of! Housing prices in the former tend to be a notch above ones in the former, but depending on what price range you’re looking at, either could be an excellent investment.</p>
<p>I personally have experience with the Poway Unified School District. Recent budget cuts have inevitably taken a toll on school offerings, but your son could easily still find 4-5 AP classes of varying quality to take. There is some competition at the top at most of these schools, but as an B+/A- high school student myself, I was still able to graduate just within the top 10% of my class and get into some high quality schools. It seems like your son could do the same. </p>
<p>If you have any more questions, feel free to shoot me a PM.</p>
<p>I’d like to suggest you also look at some of the high performing charter high schools in those areas as an option. Some charter schools in CA have definitely had problems – my son attended one that crashed and burned – but some of them are rising up state and national best lists. I’m of course biased for Summit Prep and Everest here on the peninsula, but there are some other great schools, too.</p>
<p>So, looking over the rest of the thread, here’s what I can add. Summit Prep is a <em>great</em> choice for a student who doesn’t want a hypercompetitive top 10%, is a B+ student, and doesn’t want to be “tracked” into a set of classes. Every student takes the same all AP courseload, and the school has been placing students into Ivies and lots of top tier schools. Additionally, someone mentioned that they fill up in the spring. Yes, that’s true, but the junior class has had openings the past couple of years; students move away or change their educational goals. There is reasonably affordable (for the bay area) housing in San Carlos, Belmont, parts of Redwood City, and even San Mateo. Again, I’m biased for the mid peninsula. </p>
<p>There are certainly tradeoffs in attending school in California, but one of the things my children have taken advantage of is FREE community college courses for high school students. My children have taken languages, advanced math, and art courses for only the cost of their books. My son’s independent coursework definitely helped him stand out in his college apps.</p>
<p>Thank you all for all your suggestions! I am a bit overwhelmed with so much info (good stuff) while bogged down with the final exam week for both kids. One of them is with high fever in bed!!</p>
<p>I quickly looked at most of the options…Ninja, Gretchen is over 60% Asian!! My god, my kid will not survive there!! :)</p>
<p>Anyone here heard of West Ranch High school in LA (Valencia/Stevenson Ranch). My friend lives near there, she sends her kid to a private school but says its a great school. Was hoping someone had some first hand info.</p>
<p>Greatschools review is good.</p>