Q&A: Why Not Just Enroll in Private School?

Reader questions (our first!) and this week's recommendations

Welcome to our first WSUL Potluck! This is where we tackle questions big and small, share recommendations, and check in with each other. Whatever the invitation, this is our place to come together in a more informal way. 

I received some great questions in my Instagram DMs, as well as comments on Twitter and LinkedIn last week (and yes, I’ve reactivated my social media accounts for this!). I have thoughts, but more importantly, I want to open it up to this community and hear your take.

First up, we have a reader with a question on private schools. Leave a comment with your thoughts. Then, take a peek at my reading recommendations for the week. 

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“Why not just enroll them in a private school at this cost? [ie, an extra $270,000 to buy a home in a good school district] We’ve enrolled [our child] and the school isn’t crazy much more than daycare… good and SAFE schooling should be available to all. It’s sad we have to pay so much for a good school.”
- Crystal

OK, let’s start with the most obvious angle here, finances.

In one of the most expensive places to raise a child, the DC area, you might pay around $24,081 per child per year for daycare or a high-quality preschool. By the time your child(ren) are ready to enter Kindergarten, many families are eager to save on this out-of-pocket cost. 

Photo by Dayne Topkin on Unsplash

Private school tuition is expensive (more than you think), not to mention many private schools go heavy on fundraising asks. Let’s assume your private school tuition is a conservative $35,000 per child per year. Multiply that by thirteen years of schooling (K-12) and you can expect to pay at least $455,000, but you will need to manage that cost out-of-pocket each year.

The alternative is a one-time $270,000 home-buying premium, which, if you qualify, is not all that much when spread out in a monthly payment as part of a 30-year mortgage. Many parents also consider home appreciation which is more-or-less guaranteed in a high-ranking district. The idea is you get a return on your child’s education as well as a return on your home. (Of course, WSUL readers now know that you don’t need to pay a premium for good schools.)

While private school tuition may be manageable for an upper middle-class family for one child, it’s often out of reach for two or more children. A reader shared with me that if your household income is 7X the annual net tuition per child, you should consider private; however, if you’re comfortable with public school, then it may be better to invest that money with 4-10% compound annual return. 

These are financial decisions that every family needs to look at for themselves and weigh the potential return on that investment for their child’s future.

But school choice isn’t just about finances. Private schools are full of students from the same socioeconomic status (SES). An upper-middle class family may struggle to make ends meet while paying private school tuition, but they are still in the top 10%, a group that is remarkably homogeneous. In school year 2019–20, just over half (55 percent) of traditional public schools had more than 50 percent White enrollment, compared with 70 percent of private schools. This lack of diversity can be a significant turn-off to many parents. 

Others may value the friendships and playdates that public schools make available in your neighborhood, while private school friends may be more spread out geographically. A private school may be farther away and include a significantly longer commute or bus ride for your child. The private Montessori preschool our kids attended was only a 10 min drive, while the public school they will both attend is a short walk away…. but I am still counting down the days until we no longer have any sort of car-related drop-off or pick-up!

On the flip side, private schools often have unmatched facilities and amenities. They often pay teachers more, presumably attracting better-quality teachers. Private schools offer prestige, a built-in guarantee of sorts, while public schools often feel like they need to be managed in order to get the most out of their halls for your child. 

Some families may perceive private schools as safer than their neighborhood public school. As reader Crystal notes, all students deserve safe schooling. This is a not insignificant point that deserves more than we can cover in today’s Q&A; luckily, we’re already scheduled to dive deep into the issue of safety in Tuesday’s newsletter.

I also want to note that many families - most families - won’t even be able to consider private school. For parents with the privilege of choosing between public and private, what is their responsibility to the children of their community? This also bears significant consideration as the story of Where Success Lives unfolds.

We’ve only scratched the surface, and I’d love to hear your take. Would you or have you ever considered private school for your child? Why or why not?

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Read This

1. San Francisco and Washington, DC priced out low-wage workers. Now college graduates are leaving, too.
   

2. Almost 85-year old Elaine Soloway shares with

   Sari Botton
   that when she was 30, she moved to a neighborhood in Chicago called South Commons, designed to integrate white and Black people in a variety of housing styles, income, and ages. That neighborhood changed her.
   

3. When being economically disadvantaged in America poses seven times as large an obstacle to high student achievement as does race, it’s time to smash the college admissions process.
   

4. Here’s a great first-person account from

   Addison Del Mastro
   of what it’s like to buy a home in Northern Virginia, or anywhere in the country. There's a sense of "trust us" without much to back that up.
   

5. Walking is good medicine. But many local policies outlaw walkable neighborhoods, reports

   Andy Boenau
   . Consider supporting his documentary about unhealthy infrastructure (I did!).

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