Ft Belvoir (Woodbridge, Springfield, Lake Ridge: rent, house, catholic schools)

[kmpkmp97]

Does anyone live on base at Ft. Belvoir? If so, I'd love to throw a few questions your way. Thanks.

[Mrs. Hos]

I don't actually live on post. We looked into it and we have a few friends who live on post. I might be able to help if you'd like.

[kmpkmp97]

Great, I really appreciate the offer. I am an O-4 with 4 dependents who will be moving this summer. I was looking to get in touch with a few military folks with kids and get an overall impression of the base housing (which looks great online) and the schools (looking at private Catholic schools right now). My wife and I are coming out next week to look around so I'm trying to gather as much info up front as possible. Thanks again for the offer to help us out. Cheers.

[Alanboy395]

Originally Posted by kmpkmp97

Great, I really appreciate the offer. I am an O-4 with 4 dependents who will be moving this summer. I was looking to get in touch with a few military folks with kids and get an overall impression of the base housing (which looks great online) and the schools (looking at private Catholic schools right now). My wife and I are coming out next week to look around so I'm trying to gather as much info up front as possible. Thanks again for the offer to help us out. Cheers.

I work in the Ft. Belvoir area and travel onto the base quite often (dependent.) Most of the base housing near the main gate is quite new and looks very appealing. It can be a little expensive (remember this is the DC area.) I would probably stick with the Catholic schools. Even though Ft. belvoir is in the touted Fairfax County district the area that Belvoir is in has the lowest scoring schools in that county. I know they have a DOD elementary school but all bets are off with the middle and high schools.

[lindy112]

Hey - we PCSed to DC last June and, like you, looked into base housing on Belvoir (my husband is an O-5). Alanboy is right - the new housing is very pretty but, when we arrived, they told us there was an 18-month wait for that housing. However, we could immediately move into Woodlawn (which is NOT the pretty new housing). We decided against waiting and ended up in West Springfield. The elementary school on Belvoir is OK but really big. Don't really know anything about the middle schools or high schools.

[Mrs. Hos]

The new housing is very nice, but the wait list is pretty long. My husband is an E-6. We were offered old housing. We live in Lake Ridge and our BAH covers our rent and utilities. Being an O-4 I'd think you could get something fairly nice off post if you go south. Fairfax county is much more expensive than Prince William if you choose to live off post.

The school on post is NOT DOD. It is Fairfax County. I work for Prince William County as a teacher and my friend teaches on the Elementary School on post. She really doesn't think that it's a fantastic school. They are overcrowed and have very large class sizes because the school is too small for the amount of kids they have (around 1500). High school and middle school go off post.

I don't know anything about private schools in the area. Hope I helped a little!

[roundrock]

We live on post. My husband is an O-3, and we just moved into Lewis Village, which is one of the newer communities. We have two kids and love the house and location (having previously lived off post for 18 mos), though we have yet to meet many of our neighbors. Let me know if you still have specific questions about living here!

[ChristineVA]

What grade levels for the Catholic schools are you looking at?

There are several Catholic High Schools:
Bishop Ireton (about 15 miles north of Belvoir with no bus service)
Paul VI, in Fairfax, about 15 miles west of Belvoir with bus service leaving from Springfield Mall
Bishop O'Connell (in Falls Church, probably has bus service)
John Paul the Great (new high school in Woodbridge that does offer bus service from up Belvoir way)

As for elementary schools, you are probably best served by the ones in Springfield. There is one about 8 miles south of Belvoir in Woodbridge. This is the one my kids go to.