Great private elem schools that are less $$ than Latin, Parker, etc (Chicago: insurance, home)

[Pebbles81]

My husband and I are trying to learn as much about schools in the city as possible since we are new to the city, are planning to buy a place in the city next year, and have a little boy who will be starting school in the next year and a half or so.

While I plan to apply to several Cps magnets, I was wondering if anyone could provide the names of some private elementary schools that are great but don't cost what lab, Latin etc cost.
I don't really care if there is a religious slant or what part of the city since we are just beginning our search for a place to buy.

I already searched through the posts here, but they all seem to focus on schools like the above or the British school, waldorf, etc, which are out of our price range and CPS. I also went on greatschools and schoolmatters and npnparets.org but its hard to tell which private schools are good when numbers aren't published for many of them (I know numbers aren't everything but its a starting point).

Any recommendations on wonderful schools that don't necessarily have a brand name?

And or any information financial aid lab, etc award?

[Manigault]

For grammar school, I would go with one of the public Chicago magnet schools, just for the diversity and infrastructure. Local sholarship money is available through the Daniel Murphy Foundation for high school, but eligibility tops out at about $40k per family per year.

Good luck.

[Pebbles81]

I would love for him to go to one of the magnets, but there's no guarantee considering it's a lottery system. :/

[chet everett]

The Catholic schools in the City are generally a good option. They are safe, demand a lot of parent involvement and do a good job with all the basics. Generally the nicer the parish the tougher the enrollment is -- parishes with lots of well off families might be just about as hard to get into as the magnet schools...

Personally I have know people that have sent their kids to Catholic schools all over city, from St. Thomas the Apostle in Hyde Park, to St. Monica near Harlem & Foster, to Frances Xavier Ward at Old St. Pats. Most of liked it, and the price is pretty good, especially as they mostly have deals on the before care/after care that a lot of working families need. Most will expect people that can afford more than the tuition to contribute to the schools fundraisers, as the tuition covers only about 2/3 of what it really costs to run the schools...

You can probably do the math and determine whether it makes more sense to shop for a home in a 'burb where the schools are good OR factor in the money that you'd need to spend on a non-public school in the City...

[Sailaway50]

Catherine Cook especially for the lower grades, Sacred Heart School/Hardy Prep on Sheridan Road, Francis X Warde/Old St. Pat's, and several of the other parochials. Sacred Heart is not affiliated with a parish or the archdiocese.

You are correct and a wise parent in searching for "insurance" schools in case the magnet lotto does not work in your favor.

The Daniel Murphy not only tops out around 40 thou a year, but the family asset qualification is pretty low and depending on your race/nationality, you have to figure that the outlay is about the same percentage ratio, racially and/or demographically, as the CPS seeks...which is approx 30-30-30-10.

[Anthera]

Sacred Heart is just as expensive as Latin and Parker.

[Sailaway50]

Originally Posted by Anthera

Sacred Heart is just as expensive as Latin and Parker.

Just got finished putting 2 children through the school. It is significantly less (though not "inexpensive") than both Latin, Parker...and less than Lab also.

Check the website.

[Anthera]

You're right it is cheaper. I guess I just don't see a huge difference between $15k for JK and $19k. I would consider neither affordable for most people. SH has a wonderful school though and its affiliates are all over the world.

[Sailaway50]

Originally Posted by Anthera

You're right it is cheaper. I guess I just don't see a huge difference between $15k for JK and $19k. I would consider neither affordable for most people. SH has a wonderful school though and its affiliates are all over the world.

Well, I guess I was thinking about the upper grades. Honestly, I don't know when except for high schol that the tuition at Latin goes up over 20 thou, and I think perhaps significantly over (I don't know, 22? 24?). If it goes up in middle school (6th or 7th), I don't know. I thought it did, could be wrong.

It's kind of a shame that Sacred Ht increased so much, but it really has. The school has also gotten much larger in recent years, which I am not sure is a positive thing. I remember when it was around six thou. No wonder you see fewer and fewer kids over very young ages living in the city anymore, very sad. It has seriously impacted the vitality and live-ability of the city, the education problem. So many families I know w/younger kids are booking to the burbs just because of the school thing. The magnet system is such a lottery, it really is..I can only speak for the high school level on that, but know very many highly successful, academically motivated (and great testers!) elem school students who didn't get into any of their first four choices for HS. Even Whitney Yg and Jones are not the schools for every kid. The student body at N. Side and Payton are so small, there are just so few spaces there.
Small parochial schools might be the only option; don't know the prices there, either. FX Warde I heard looks favorably on Catholic families, and I suppose being a parishioner at either Old St Pat's or Holy Name would be a help when it came to aid......

[Anthera]

The school issue does drive many families out of the city. Even if you can afford to pay multiple tuitions for your child, not every family chooses to spend their money that way. When we did the math (3 tuitions x 14years) and realized that without inteest we were looking at almost 3/4 of a million dollars, the north shore started looking really good.

I'm not surprised that SH increased their tuition. They spent a great deal of money remodeling and building an addition.