Assuming that it’s only one child, what income/wealth level is required to be able to comfortably afford schools like Loomis, Choate, Kent etc without financial aid?
3 Likes
There is no one income level that can be pointed to that will answer that. It will really depend family to family what feels comfortable. For example, if a family lives in a home that is paid for already (no mortgage), has lower cost of living expenses for things like utilities and food, etc, and no other financial obligations, they might not need to have an income as high as a family that lives in a more expensive area and has other financial obligations (health/medical bills, caring for elderly relatives, education/home/car loans, etc).
6 Likes
The house is paid off and the area has a MCOL.
That is a very personal decision based on what your financial goals / plans are.
5 Likes
There are still too many variables for anyone to say what another family will be comfortable with. Previous investments, future planning, lifestyle, etc. No one will be able to answer this question. A family could make a million dollars a year and not feel that $70k+ for private school is “comfortable” because of other factors we know nothing about. A family could make $200k/year and feel that it is a comfortable expense for them. And vice versa and everywhere in between.
7 Likes
You have to be as rich as you can afford.
2 Likes
Whatever level the family feels comfortable in terms of paying the costs. There is no actual cut off.
2 Likes
This is certainly a very personal question. But I think a general rule could be that your family’s lifestyle will not be materially affected by the tuition payments.
I don’t like the idea of borrowing money or selling major property to fund BS education. So a 60-70k annual payment after taxes translates into 90-100k pre tax. You should be able to pay that amount from your income in addition to other expenses. Don’t forget annual fund raising. I heard some prep schools have a target amount per family.
Just my 2 cents.
4 Likes
Well in my opinion, the answer to this question is very simple and straight. If you are wealthy enough then you won’t think about money before spending in your education but if you comes from a moderate family then thinking about studying in top school without financial help won’t be possible
2 Likes
There really is no easy way to answer this, too many variables and everyone has different priorities.
2 Likes
Is the root of the question ‘where is the cut-off for getting financial aid’? as somebody with experience of being at the borderline between qualifying and not qualifying for finaid, the answer is that each school has it’s own zones, and they won’t tell you what they are. Instead you show them what you have & they tell you what (if anything) they will give you.
In the olden days you were either a scholarship student (not a button to your name) or you weren’t (your surname was on the button), but the BSs realized that they were ending up with really polarized student bodies, so they instituted sliding scales that took into account things such as number of kids in ‘independent’ (the polite word for ‘private’) schools so that there was more socio-economic diversity in the student body.
IF that was the root of the question, the only way to know if BS is affordable for you is to do the sums (how much are you comfortable spending), ask a couple of schools what the numbers would look like for you, and compare the numbers.
5 Likes
Most wealthy people who stay wealthy consider their spending quite carefully. Those who don’t think twice over spending $75,000 a year per kid on school generally won’t stay wealthy for long.
6 Likes
You can manage with 250k if you really tighten everything else for the next 8 years (if you are starting with high school). You will have no savings during that time. Just one kid. Realistically, you need to plan for as many kids as you have if you are planning for one.
I don’t know. Certainly, at a certain income level, private school is a non-starter without financial aid. It just isn’t doable. However, I think some of it depends on how highly you value a boarding school education and also whether or not your alternatives (at a local public or independent school) will be good enough experiences for your child.
We are not even close to a full pay family at my kids’ schools, but I actually think the calculus is the same (and highly personal) whether you are full pay or your kids receive FA. I don’t think there is anything wrong with changing your lifestyle in order to pay for K-12 or college tuition.
My rule of thumb is that I was unwilling to penalize my younger children (much) to send an older child to boarding school or college for that matter. That means that I wanted to still be able to pay for some of the younger siblings’ discretionary expenses like soccer/dance/music lessons etc. On the other hand, I was absolutely willing to give up family treats like travel and eating out. I was also willing to live in smaller apartments, make my kids wear hand-me-downs, curtail some summer/camp choices for my younger kids, and insist that my teenagers get jobs to help cover their personal expenses. I would argue that some of the choices that I’ve made qualify as our lifestyle being materially affected by tuition payments. Were those painful sacrifices to make? Yes, absolutely in some cases. Were they impossible sacrifices to make? Nope, I think my kids’ K-12 education has been worth it.
Finally, one thing that I noticed after the eldest headed for boarding school is that certain household expenses went down with her gone. And I was no longer paying for some out of school activities because she was doing those activities at school as part of the all inclusive tuition.
8 Likes
I personally don’t consider those terms as synonymous, though there is fuzziness.
Catholic schools are private, but not independent in my use of term. (And where I live play in different, non overlapping sports leagues).
“independent schools” are members of NAIS - accredited by certain bodies, etc.
2 Likes
The cost of attendance is listed online. As parents you need to make a personal determination as to affordability. Keep in mind that you will likely have significant college and perhaps even grad school expenses down the road.
2 Likes
You sound like an excellent parent!
2 Likes
I love a good nomenclature discussion! When I was coming along there was public / private / parochial… and then we moved to a place where 100% of schools are controlled by religious institutions and the distinction is simply ‘fee-paying’ or ‘state’!
2 Likes
so interesting…
And I realized at one point that Catholic does not equal parochial. Some catholic schools are tied to a Parish, others not! (at least that is my understanding). I think there are administrative differences…
I remember when kids were little I always had to clarify what people meant by “PreK” vs. “preschool” vs “daycare” vs. “nursery school” as so many had different expectations of what that meant. I always thought PreK was the single year before K, but other used it as same way as “preschool” etc.
2 Likes
That’s a difficult answer to quantify since every family has different income tax exposures, household numbers and lifestyle patterns/ambitions. For someone coming from a simple lifestyle like myself and my family, without the expenses of an above average home for our community (which is 1.5 mm and above) and driving a 10+ year old car without country club expenses, I’d say that per kid pre tax income should be above 200 K to afford private school without FA. That number would be double I’d estimate IF I had the expenses of an above average home, car and social lifestyle expenses.