2018 Private School Admissions - Anyone else having a hard time deciding?

[lastminutemom]

Originally Posted by chabang

My child is like this too and the main reason I sprang for private school the last several years. Unfortunately though, I think she also fell through the cracks at Woodward. I mean, I thought it was a nice school, great facilities, teachers were very responsive to my questions, etc., but I really did not see any evidence that my child was getting some significant amount of personal attention or any personalized learning that all the schools rave about doing. I mean, if we'd received financial aid and only paid 8-10K yearly, I'm sure I would have been happy but there's no way she received an education there even close to valued at 23K+.
My nephew is the same age and goes to a public school in Georgia and I didn't see that the curriculums were even that different.
She's smart and a rule follower and I think largely ignored unless I stood on them to pay attention to something I thought was an issue. It was tiring and I was extremely resentful due to the high tuition we paid. Anyway, she's going to public for middle school and I am THRILLED. I would never recommend an expensive private school for elementary; I think it is a waste of money. Much better to save it for high school in my opinion if you have a decent elementary option (we don't so it was either move or private). For my younger child, I plan to find the cheapest Catholic school I can for elementary and then public for middle. We'll regroup for high school.

I have a different thought -- send her to public elementary and save your money for private middle -- those are the most challenging years.

[chabang]

We're zoned for Hope-Hill elementary which is a big NOPE and Inman Middle which is one of the best middle schools supposedly so I want to give it a try (I agree middle school is probably horrible no matter where you are though). I wish I could homeschool them for middle but just not an option.

[ATL Golfer]

Originally Posted by CMMom

It's still cheaper than out of state private college. Duke, for example, lists its cost for one year as follows:

"Undergraduate tuition in 2018-19 will be $53,760, a 3.9 percent increase, and the total cost for the next academic year, including tuition, room, board and fees, will be $70,873."

We have 529 plans for our kids. My 14 year old's plan (which we started contributing to when she was only a month or two old) currently holds less money than the all-in fee listed above for one year at Duke. Makes UGA look like a pretty tempting alternative! If money is no object for a family, of course, it's a different story.

Skies the limit with student loans! I have 4 rental properties that I plan to cash-out refinance when the time comes for college. I also purchased a foreclosure in Athens a few yrs ago in the off chance our boys go there.

Would love for my kids to go to Georgia but the reality is they won't get in more than likely and we will be looking out of state as I did. Hope has done nothing but to serve as the vehicle to dash many students hopes of attending the college of their choice.

[rickms]

It doesn't matter if one is in state or out of state for private colleges. Also, Duke is an extreme example in terms of cost, but yes private ones will be pricey.