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<p>Give me a break. Do you realize what a SMALL proportion of “the northeast” Manhattan represents?</p>
<p>Let’s generalize the entire West Coast based on Los Angeles. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>My own experiences echo oldfort’s. When I toured a NYC public elementary school I was told, with pride, how the school makes sure the kids do well enough on the test to pass and move to the next grade. Hours were spent each day on test prep. Facing that, with the money in the bank, was there any wonder why I would chose a private school?</p>
<p>^The Northeast revolves around Manhattan like the earth revolves around the sun, or so I’ve been told.</p>
<p>It’s not just the northeast that revolves around NY, in many ways, the world does.</p>
<p>I would move before I had to be in a position to spend $40,000 on preschool. I just couldn’t do it. There are plenty of other cities around the country if that is the life you want with at least as stimulating jobs as you will find in NY that have perfectly good public schools–or even reasonably priced private schools that come no where near costing $40K. You NYC people would probably croak to learn I spent $560/YEAR for preschool for our kids. They are doing just fine in high school too.</p>
<p>When my kids were in kindergarten it was only 
$15,000 at the NYC private. That was 10 or 11 years ago. I wouldn’t pay $40k either. </p>
<p>Crazy inflation.</p>
<p>IDK…most of my friends went to NYC public schools at least through 6th grade and went on to special publics or privates and then on “CC favorite” colleges.</p>
<p>I’d be surprised to learn that public elementaries are now *that *bad.</p>
<p>Still curious to know what exactly a $39K nursery school does to be worth that kind of money. What specifically are they teaching and what do the students learn that can’t be taught at a more reasonable price?</p>
<p>Time2, it’s an admissions strategy: the parents are trying to get a foot in the door early at the school, because the chance of getting admitted in the school later diminishes rapidly with each higher grade.</p>
<p>Every time we have this kind of discussion, it seems to me that people just don’t get the concept of luxuries. A luxury item doesn’t have to be ten times “better” than an ordinary item for rich people to be willing to pay 10 times as much for it. A Rolex doesn’t tell time “better” than a Timex, and it doesn’t even look all that much “better” than a cheaper watch. It is probably somewhat better in some respects, and for rich people who want the “best,” that’s enough. Also, scarcity makes things seem better. Seats at the top schools are scarce.</p>
<p>Hunt, are you saying that these schools are “luxuries” like Rolex watches? Some of the parents in this thread already described how they are middle-class, but they think it worth the financial sacrifice to give their kids a competitive leg-up in life. </p>
<p>Parents have different priorities. Some parents think nothing of taking out a 2nd mortgage on their house to buy an even bigger big screen TV. The parents who are willing to cough up this kind of money for their kids’ education are NOT asking me to pay for it. Quite the contrary–many of these same parents also contribute to the public school system by paying property taxes.</p>
<p>Middle-class, and even poor people, also buy luxuries. A $40,000 preschool is a luxury. Some people think it’s worth it, if they can spare the money. As I’ve said with respect to colleges, it’s an unusual luxury, because some people can get it for free or at a great discount, through financial aid. For them, it’s a GREAT deal.</p>
<p>But it’s not really about what they’re getting in Nursury School for $40k. It’s about what they’re ultimately going to get for their kids in high school, if they jump the admissions cue now.</p>
<p>I would be curious to see where these kids are going to college, not just the top one or two kids but ALL of them. Also, if these parents put that $40K/year into investments for these kids, by the time they are 18 they wouldn’t NEED to go to college because they would have enough money to live very comfortably for the rest of their lives.</p>
<p>A $40,000 preschool isn’t an “investment.” It is highly unlikely that it will pay off financially over much less expensive options. This is why I prefer to say that it’s a luxury. This doesn’t mean that it’s stupid to spend the money, if you’ve got it. I enjoy the luxuries that I splurge on (and can afford).</p>
<p>People should understand that to many families, especially in NYC, $40K per year is not a considerable sum, and the dent in the wallet barely goes noticed, if at all. For them, it’s “worth it” for the kids to attend a school near their home which provides a great learning environment, and makes extra services and opportunities easily available - making their life much easier.</p>
<p>My children attended/attend private school in the price range discussed here. I will tell you that while it is a wonderful environment - exquisite campus, great teachers, lots of one on one attention, and unique opportunities, it’s not worth going into debt or making a significant financial sacrifice for. There are many families at our school who can barely afford it, and I have to question their reasoning, but I do think that these people would say that they value education above other things, are willing to sacrifice for their kids, etc. IMO, the school is not so much better that it really is worth it. In terms of college admissions, the best students do get into top schools, but the majority go to a broad range of colleges, although they have 100% matriculation. Compared to the good local public school, other than about 15% who don’t attend college and another 15% who attend CCs, admissions results are about the same.</p>
<p>I don’t know if you are talking about NYC or not Gourmetmom.</p>
<p>The prices are crazy but you should all understand: in NYC often the neighborhood choice for public school is unacceptable. It’s not like there is always a decent free school to go to. The private schools, on the other hand, are often great. In high school there are more good choices for public schools, so a certain population (the ones who do worry about money) will put their kids in public at that time. Maybe that sounds counterintuitive, but when you have Stuy, Bronx Science, Brooklyn Tech, and Bard to go to free, after paying years of private tuition, you are happy to do it.</p>
<p>The kids at the private schools get into all the best colleges. They have fantastic college advisors with excellent communications with the top colleges. The top kids go to ivies, the middle kids go to Kenyon, Oberlin, etc., and the bottom kids go to Skidmore or Northeastern. That’s not a put down of Skidmore or Northeastern at all! I’m just saying that the connections get those kids into those schools. And those bottom kids are still well educated if they got through these schools. In many schools there is also a massive amount of tutoring to get those struggling kids to have decent GPAs and SATs.</p>
<p>My kids have been in public and private. The level of attention to every detail of the child’s well being in the private is 100 times greater than at the public. And the public is considered one of the best, and the kids get into excellent colleges there, too, but that’s because it’s a highly regarded school. That won’t be the case at a regular public, where each guidance counselor takes care of 100s of kids.</p>
<p>Gourmetmom–there are people all over the country where $40,000 is pocket change but that doesn’t mean they are spending that on preschool. Most people here operate on the “just because you can doesn’t mean you should” principal and spending that kind of money on a 3 year old would just be ridiculous here. I can rattle off 100 people I know personally that could easily afford that, but would never even CONSIDER it.</p>
<p>Regarding public preschool in NYC. It is often a lottery. There are by far not enough spaces for every child. This is key. If you want preschool you may have to pay for it, although there are less expensive, but not inexpensive, options, such as church run preschools.</p>
<p>The other thing is there are also not enough spaces in kindergartens, even if you are zoned for them. Your little child might be assigned out of the neighborhood. If you don’t live here, you may not understand what it’s like. It’s not the same as it is in the rest of the country where you automatically have a school to go to.</p>
<p>I’m in the northeast, though not in NYC. A close relative in Manhattan went through the preschool ordeal a few years ago. She hired a temp for a week just to deal with the phone calls necessary to just get the application. I realize that many parents in NYC have few public options - I’ve seen it first hand. NYC is a tough place without deep pockets.</p>
<p>MN - this is probably a regional difference - I know very few people who can easily afford private, but choose public, even though many of the local publics are very good. Like I said, I also know many who sacrifice to afford private, which makes no sense to me. They are well intentioned and want the best for their kids, but if there really is not enough value there to warrant the sacrifice, IMO. We all make different choices for different reasons in different places, so I can certainly understand that someone would have a different view than I do. The notion that people would not spend what they can easily afford because it is “ridiculous” is not prevalent in my area. I don’t make judgements that way - I don’t really care what people spend their money on.</p>