Can only the rich afford Christian Private schools? (Full Version)

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SeminoleTom -> Can only the rich afford Christian Private schools? (8/29/2008 1:29:49 PM)

My brother lives in Atlanta and was looking at some private Christian schools. All of them have nice facilities, good teachers, and a manageable student enrollment. Then the bomb hits--- $8,500 a year for the school. Maybe my bro and I are old fashioned but I never imagined private schools are that much. He has three kids-- so if he sends them all there it's going to cost $23,000 a year (nice 1K discount for mutliple kids). He is a single parent and on his own--- who can afford this unless you are making at least six figures? Good grief... he jokes about home-schooling them I'm not sure how he would do that as a single parent.

I would love to hear the thoughts of everyone hear about this....thanks.



Jenny-Fair -> RE: Can only the rish afford Christian Private schools? (8/29/2008 1:48:11 PM)

I'm a single homeschooling parent.

Anyway, a lot of Christian schools have scholarships for lower-income students, and the rates he is seeing are probably average for that area. The public schools probably get more than that per student (here, for instance, in central WA, they get about 8,000 per student last I checked). And in this area, I know a woman who is spending 27,000 a year for her two kids to go to a montessori preschool! And this is not a big city.

As it is, private school teachers make less than public school teachers, and the schools have fewer resources. However, the education is usually superior.



SurpassingPeace -> RE: Can only the rish afford Christian Private schools? (8/29/2008 2:17:30 PM)

That is rather on the low side of average for the St Louis area. Many of our better private schools will easily run over 15,000 a year. St Louis is filled with private schools especially since the city schools are failing miserably.

The cost makes sense when you realize private schools are funded by tuition and alumni. It is expensive to educate children in an institution. I agree with Jenny Fair that even with lower paid teachers and less resources, often private schools give a better educatoin.

Since our choices are public schools that graduate children that cannot read and expensive private schools that I would have to get a job just to pay for school, we will be homeschooling. We would probably homeschool for a myriad of other reasons but this just makes the decision easier.



SeminoleTom -> RE: Can only the rish afford Christian Private schools? (8/29/2008 2:22:37 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Jenny-Fair

I'm a single homeschooling parent.

Anyway, a lot of Christian schools have scholarships for lower-income students, and the rates he is seeing are probably average for that area. The public schools probably get more than that per student (here, for instance, in central WA, they get about 8,000 per student last I checked). And in this area, I know a woman who is spending 27,000 a year for her two kids to go to a montessori preschool! And this is not a big city.

As it is, private school teachers make less than public school teachers, and the schools have fewer resources. However, the education is usually superior.


Jenny--
Thanks for the reply. How do you home school as a single parent? My bother has to be on-site for his job... he can't work from home. I know you can teach the kids at anytime during the day and weekends....but the problem I think of who is going to watch the kids while he works from 8-5 everyday.



Jenny-Fair -> RE: Can only the rish afford Christian Private schools? (8/29/2008 2:30:24 PM)

Over the years different situations have worked (and not worked, lol). When they were really little my grandmother was able to care for them while I was at school/work. Later we had an extremely good daycare providor and we did school on weekends and evenings. After that I was able to work part-time and do some babysitting, and then I babysat and also had a paper route that the boys helped me with. Then I worked for my dad for a while 22 hours in the office and 140 hours on duty (but not actually working most of that time...I was dispatching for him) at home. Since then I have worked full-time about half the time and been unemployed the other half (that is not intentional...well, not by me, but perhaps by God) and that has worked well for their schooling. When I work, I leave them assignments (well, I have only one student this semester, and he's in the 7th grade) along with their chore list and info for the day. Then we do anything they couldn't get on their own in the evening, and do added work on weekends. They are old enough to stay home alone now.



TrustingGod -> RE: Can only the rish afford Christian Private schools? (8/29/2008 3:36:47 PM)

We paid around $3500 per year for our son. We aren't rich and we had to sacrifice to keep him there from K-12 (accept 3 years in public).



Jenny-Fair -> RE: Can only the rish afford Christian Private schools? (8/29/2008 3:54:39 PM)

BTW, when your friend was checking around, did he ask how much it costs for three students? Because a lot of the time there is a discount for multiple kids from the same family.



SeminoleTom -> RE: Can only the rish afford Christian Private schools? (8/29/2008 5:00:06 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Jenny-Fair

Over the years different situations have worked (and not worked, lol). When they were really little my grandmother was able to care for them while I was at school/work. Later we had an extremely good daycare providor and we did school on weekends and evenings. After that I was able to work part-time and do some babysitting, and then I babysat and also had a paper route that the boys helped me with. Then I worked for my dad for a while 22 hours in the office and 140 hours on duty (but not actually working most of that time...I was dispatching for him) at home. Since then I have worked full-time about half the time and been unemployed the other half (that is not intentional...well, not by me, but perhaps by God) and that has worked well for their schooling. When I work, I leave them assignments (well, I have only one student this semester, and he's in the 7th grade) along with their chore list and info for the day. Then we do anything they couldn't get on their own in the evening, and do added work on weekends. They are old enough to stay home alone now.



Thanks for the info. I just don't see him being able to home school though. He doesn't have the patience and to be frank his kids need to be out of the house everyday....they are social butterflies. I know home schooling has programs that get the kids out of the house but I don't think it's the same.



Kath -> RE: Can only the rich afford Christian Private schools? (8/29/2008 9:26:39 PM)

moving from General Faith to Parenting



Georgia-Peach -> RE: Can only the rich afford Christian Private schools? (8/29/2008 9:31:20 PM)

I don't know much about private schools for elementary and highschool in our area. I do know the private preschool we plan to use for a 3 day/half day program for 3 year olds is $80 a month.



csl7037 -> RE: Can only the rich afford Christian Private schools? (8/29/2008 9:48:38 PM)

My kids are in a great school and we're paying just under $9000 total for the year for the two (in 2nd and 4th). We live in a small suburban area so I'm sure the cost of living factor between where we are and Atlanta is substantial. Makes me feel very blessed to have what we have when I see pricetags like what your brother's looking at. I sympathize...it's not easy! And our public schools are just not good here. I'd be a miserable wreck if I had to send my kids into that every day.



NotDoneYet -> RE: Can only the rich afford Christian Private schools? (8/29/2008 9:58:25 PM)

I looked into sending our girls to private schools...12K/year for both girls. That is above and beyond our budget....by twice what we pay for child care. Even if I cut our budget to the bare bones, paid off all our bills, it still would be a stretch beyond what I am willing to stretch our budget.
We are a 2 career couple...and there's NO WAY I could either go part time or quit my job, as I am the main breadwinner...my husband funds our medical insurance, our retirement investments, and my pay pays most of the bills.
It's hideous...totally hideous.
We've also had bad experiences with private schools...some years ago, we sent our youngest son to a decent private, Christian school. The kids were "marked". The ones who's parents wrote the fat checks to the building fund, the endowment fund basically got away with murder. The kids who's parents were barely scraping up the tuition payments were always getting written up for the slightest discipline infractions, the slightest "out of uniform" infractions. I got totally fed up by that, and I think we'll stick with the magnet schools we have here.

NDY



artemis -> RE: Can only the rich afford Christian Private schools? (8/29/2008 10:09:31 PM)

When I was in 1st grade, my family was below the poverty line, but my parents sent me to a private school (no scholarship). My mom said it wasn't an expensive one... like $250/month in 1986. They made sacrifices though-- there were 4 of us kids sharing one bedroom and our house didn't have heating, air conditioning or an oven [8D] After that year, we were all sent to public school (it was actually better than the private school) but now my youngest brothers go to a private school for learning disabled students. My mom said they pay more per semester for the private school than it costs to send my other brothers to college for a year [:o]

My aunt and uncle send my cousins to a private Christian school. My aunt teaches there, so their [reduced] tuition comes from her paycheck. A lot of families send their kids to private school by working for the school in exchange for a tuition break.



29redballoons -> RE: Can only the rich afford Christian Private schools? (8/30/2008 4:43:18 AM)

Our daughter graduates this year from a local private Christian school. We are in rural south Ga...we pay approx. $5000 per year...not including extras. We are not "rich", you just do what you have to. We homeschooled prior to this school.



zoebob -> RE: Can only the rich afford Christian Private schools? (8/30/2008 12:23:36 PM)

My brothers and I all went to a Christian school growing up. My parents sacrificed a lot. No cable, rarely eating out, no movies, etc. We got a discount because my dad was in full time Christian ministry and my mom started teaching there once we were all in school full time so then it was free and a big help. However, I was in the school for 7-8 years before my mom started working.

I am a single mom who is HSing her kids. I work before and after school providing extended care to families that need it. My kids can come with me. I have looked at sending my kids there. If I did I would probably be able to get a teaching job. However, I don't want to give up the hsing. I don't want to work full time just to send them when most of us prefer HSing. However, they do have scholarships. Also, no family is expected to pay more than either 5 or 10% of their income in tuition. If I was teaching full time they would get half tuition automatically and then I still wouldn't have to pay more than the stated percent of my income...including the child support I receive.

SO, no you don't have to be rich. It does take some sacrifice though.



LovingtheSavior -> RE: Can only the rich afford Christian Private schools? (8/30/2008 12:27:19 PM)

We send our children to a terrific christian school. It costs about $8000 for our two children after tuition and fees, but completely worth it. We are blessed to have found such a great school and I'm sorry to hear others that have had less than ideal situations. Our teachers are serving the Lord and look at their jobs as a ministry. The school is fully accredited and has some of the top test scores in the state.

I have heard of private scholarships that can be applied for, your bother might be able to ask the school if they know of any local programs. I now our school has advertised a couple of programs like this. ( In the mean time we can all be praying that a national voucher system might be put into place. )



garsyt -> RE: Can only the rich afford Christian Private schools? (8/30/2008 8:49:02 PM)

Honestly - for us it IS impossible. The only Christian school that I would consider sending my kids to in my area would cost me $16, 885 next year for 1 high schooler, 1 middle schooler and 2 in elementary. This is WITH the multi- child discount. This is not including school lunches or transportation. That is just less then HALF of our yearly income.

Sometimes the BEST Christian schools ARE out of reach for the average family.

Blessings,

Garsy



csl7037 -> RE: Can only the rich afford Christian Private schools? (8/31/2008 3:46:18 PM)

Where do the current Presidential candidates stand on vouchers? Is it even an issue at the moment? Even if it is, I know I don't see it happening any time soon. We've had a huge push for this in our State the last few years, even a Governor in favor, it's just a hard sell (with the Teacher's Unions so powerful). I'd give anything for a small fraction of my tax dollars back to put toward my kids' tuition!!! I'm probably just dreaming.



Leslie_JnJs_mom -> RE: Can only the rich afford Christian Private schools? (9/1/2008 9:06:28 PM)

[sm=rollingeyes.gif]Wow and I thought 2500 was expencive for a christian school in Springfield. It was compared to the 1,200 for the church school in our little town.



iluvatar -> RE: Can only the rich afford Christian Private schools? (9/2/2008 8:55:45 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Leslie_JnJs_mom

[sm=rollingeyes.gif]Wow and I thought 2500 was expencive for a christian school in Springfield. It was compared to the 1,200 for the church school in our little town.


Try to think of what it costs to run a school. If you've got 20 kids in a classroom (which is fairly high for a private school) and each kid is only paying $2500 a year, that's $50K for everything, including the teacher's salary. If the teacher makes $35K/yr (which IMO is too low for a decent teacher), the school's actually paying something like $42K. That leaves $8K per classroom for building maintenance, utilities, support staff, etc.

IIRC, the schools my brother and I went to (I graduated in 97, he in 99) were about $2K/yr, and really, they were terrible. The teachers didn't know the subjects they were teaching; I could count all electives ever offered on one hand; guidance counseling was unheard of; sports were poor; art was worse; music consisted of some lady giving piano lessons; the curriculum emphasized rote memorization over critical thinking and analysis. I could keep going on.

Those sorts of things are, hopefully, what you get when you pay more for school.

-Dan.



SeminoleTom -> RE: Can only the rich afford Christian Private schools? (9/2/2008 9:02:05 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: garsyt

Honestly - for us it IS impossible. The only Christian school that I would consider sending my kids to in my area would cost me $16, 885 next year for 1 high schooler, 1 middle schooler and 2 in elementary. This is WITH the multi- child discount. This is not including school lunches or transportation. That is just less then HALF of our yearly income.

Sometimes the BEST Christian schools ARE out of reach for the average family.

Blessings,

Garsy


Garsy,
So do you send them to public school? Just wondering what you decided to do....

Thanks



SeminoleTom -> RE: Can only the rich afford Christian Private schools? (9/2/2008 9:04:30 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: NotDoneYet

I looked into sending our girls to private schools...12K/year for both girls. That is above and beyond our budget....by twice what we pay for child care. Even if I cut our budget to the bare bones, paid off all our bills, it still would be a stretch beyond what I am willing to stretch our budget.
We are a 2 career couple...and there's NO WAY I could either go part time or quit my job, as I am the main breadwinner...my husband funds our medical insurance, our retirement investments, and my pay pays most of the bills.
It's hideous...totally hideous.
We've also had bad experiences with private schools...some years ago, we sent our youngest son to a decent private, Christian school. The kids were "marked". The ones who's parents wrote the fat checks to the building fund, the endowment fund basically got away with murder. The kids who's parents were barely scraping up the tuition payments were always getting written up for the slightest discipline infractions, the slightest "out of uniform" infractions. I got totally fed up by that, and I think we'll stick with the magnet schools we have here.

NDY


What exactly is a magnet school? Is it just for high schoolers? It's been a while since I've been involved with the public schools so I'm not really sure what that is. Thanks.



garsyt -> RE: Can only the rich afford Christian Private schools? (9/2/2008 9:24:45 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: SeminoleTom

quote:

ORIGINAL: garsyt

Honestly - for us it IS impossible. The only Christian school that I would consider sending my kids to in my area would cost me $16, 885 next year for 1 high schooler, 1 middle schooler and 2 in elementary. This is WITH the multi- child discount. This is not including school lunches or transportation. That is just less then HALF of our yearly income.

Sometimes the BEST Christian schools ARE out of reach for the average family.

Blessings,

Garsy


Garsy,
So do you send them to public school? Just wondering what you decided to do....

Thanks


Yes we do. We even made a point of moving into the district we wanted our children in and we homeschooled until that was possible. The district they are in does have it's problems but so far the academics have been wonderful and we have had few problems. There were other options but the prices at those are comparable to the school I described but the academic instruction was not nearly as strong as the first school. The other private Christian schools in the area were flat out NOT options. Either the instruction academics were sub-par or the rules so legalistic that I would not be able to agree to them. The closest church school to us actually would be doable for us price wise - BUT God would have to physically pick me up by my ears and shake me silly before I would even consider enrolling my children there.

Blessings,

Garsy



kernsfamily -> RE: Can only the rich afford Christian Private schools? (9/2/2008 11:15:23 AM)

Our church has a Private Christian school....it's "sticker price" is anywhere from around $7,000/yr. for the elementary grades....up to around $11,000/yr. for the higher grades. Many, many people can easily afford "full sticker price".

While sincerely looking at EACH and EVERY available option for our kids a while back....we looked into it.

Being an active member of our church certainly helps. We know the business administrator to the school and he "clued" us in.......while many families DO afford it with no problem, for people in our situation, they would REALLY REALLY work with us to make sure that it could be affordable (IF our kids were actually accepted).....he said, that they try to make tuition no more than 10% of a family's household income....it just depends on how much "scholarship" money they have at their disposal each year.....and, there are a certain number of kids who go there for $0.

the 'issue' i have with our school isn't so much the cost (though, the kids going there aren't learning ANY MORE than what our kids learn at their school), it's the rigorous "enrollment" testing/acceptance procedures that bug me. If we wanted ALL 3 of our kids to attend there, all 3 would have to get "Accepted".....after "testing" and making sure they "pass muster"......How would you tell your 8 year old, "Your 2 sisters are accepted into this Christian school, but, for some reason or another, YOU weren't "accepted" and weren't "good enough"....?

unfortunately, that's where the school falls in line with the "ways of the world".....they are in "competition" with many other private schools in our area (christian and otherwise)....they are under pressure to produce the highest achieving students, in order to "attract" the types of students they want.....so, they are obligated to admit ONLY those students that they are certain will achieve those high test scores.....and, turn away the "more average" students (which is why there is the "perception" that private schools "produce" higher achieving students.....those schools can "pick and choose" who they want....and, reject those that they do not want)....

taking that into consideration....having our kids go to a school like that day after day.....with kids whose families can "afford" as much as we can pay....and many who can pay "full price"....they would be in a 'bubble of affluency' at school. Many parents talk about this...and, they do have problems with their kids regarding this issue (of those kids who DO go to the school)......while, at our current school, there are families that are more affluent...many are "average".....some are "below average".....and, our kids fit right in the middle....they have friends who they learn with and play with who are of ALL demographics (rich/poor, white/black, Christian/non-christian, etc..etc...).....and, the list goes on....

just a few things to think about.....



NotDoneYet -> RE: Can only the rich afford Christian Private schools? (9/2/2008 10:50:53 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: SeminoleTom

quote:

ORIGINAL: NotDoneYet

I looked into sending our girls to private schools...12K/year for both girls. That is above and beyond our budget....by twice what we pay for child care. Even if I cut our budget to the bare bones, paid off all our bills, it still would be a stretch beyond what I am willing to stretch our budget.
We are a 2 career couple...and there's NO WAY I could either go part time or quit my job, as I am the main breadwinner...my husband funds our medical insurance, our retirement investments, and my pay pays most of the bills.
It's hideous...totally hideous.
We've also had bad experiences with private schools...some years ago, we sent our youngest son to a decent private, Christian school. The kids were "marked". The ones who's parents wrote the fat checks to the building fund, the endowment fund basically got away with murder. The kids who's parents were barely scraping up the tuition payments were always getting written up for the slightest discipline infractions, the slightest "out of uniform" infractions. I got totally fed up by that, and I think we'll stick with the magnet schools we have here.

NDY


What exactly is a magnet school? Is it just for high schoolers? It's been a while since I've been involved with the public schools so I'm not really sure what that is. Thanks.


Magnet schools are schools that "specialize" in certain subjects...for example, we have schools that are "fundamental schools" (think 1950's readin', 'ritin', 'rithmatic). We have schools that are science/tech magnets, arts (music, dance, fine arts), etc.

We'll see what happens after Kindergarten...

NDY



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