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So we all know that houses in towns that are in close proximity to Cambridge/Boston and with excellent public elementary schools are very expensive. E.g. Lexington, Winchester, Brackett area of Arlington, etc.
For an entry level price into these towns, say $650K, you could buy a really nice house in areas like west Medford, which is a very nice neighborhood. To get that sort of house in say Winchester, you're probably looking at $900K. Except that you probably are going to send your children to private school instead of the local public school.
I did a quick check, and saw that private schools costs about $20K per year? Public schools cost a few thousand as well. So it seems that one could also put the $250K saved in housing towards putting kids into private school.
Which camp are you in? I'm just wondering what are people's thoughts on this.
Well you might save $250 on the house in Medford but
1. For that extra $250 in Winchester you are "buying" neighbors of a higher socio economic status (if that matters to you)
2. When you sell the house in Winchester you get the $250 back. There's less guarantee your kids will get rich and pay you back.
I have the same dilemma. There is no comparison even between the best public schools and the private schools. It comes down to whether you would like your child to get the best education possible and whether you would like to increase his/her chances of getting into an Ivy League college... I mean, for example, the most famous prep schools have an Ivy League success rate of more than 33% (one out of three). There is no public school that is even close to this success rate.
Studies have shown that private schools are considered safer, they offer better education and kids are more satisfied.
Obviously, the best combination is to own a house in a great area and send the kids to private school. If this is not possible, the next best thing, in my opinion, is to prioritize sending the kids to private school.
I am so glad you asked this question, because as I said, we are currently debating this issue as well and I am curious to know what others think...
I have the same dilemma. There is no comparison even between the best public schools and the private schools. It comes down to whether you would like your child to get the best education possible and whether you would like to increase his/her chances of getting into an Ivy League college... I mean, for example, the most famous prep schools have an Ivy League success rate of more than 33% (one out of three). There is no public school that is even close to this success rate.
Studies have shown that private schools are considered safer, they offer better education and kids are more satisfied.
Obviously, the best combination is to own a house in a great area and send the kids to private school. If this is not possible, the next best thing, in my opinion, is to prioritize sending the kids to private school.
I am so glad you asked this question, because as I said, we are currently debating this issue as well and I am curious to know what others think...
You raise an excellent point about the quality of education in public vs private school. The question really is how good is good enough for your kids? No one can answer this question for you. You have to answer it for yourself.
The other side of this coin is the financial perspective. From a dollars & cents view, the most rewarding decision is to buy a house in a town with top notch public schools. These towns tend to hold their RE values well and appreciate nicely too. In addition, you can currently get a nice tax break for mortgage interest. Plus, don't forget that the principal portion of your mortgage payment is a form of forced savings. Last I checked, anything you pay in private school tuition never comes back to you. At least when you buy a house, you can hope to get the equity back (down payment + principal portion of your mortgage payments + appreciation) and you get the tax break. At $20K/year, private school will eat up any of the "savings" created by buying in a less expensive town very quickly.
Clearly, if you look from one perspective or the other the decision is easy. When you take into account both the decision is very difficult. So, you have to decide for yourself what is more important: making a sound financial investment or getting your children the absolute best education they can get.
We considered this exact thing. Some factors that add to the private school cost though and tip it onto the side of just buying in a town with good schools:
-multiple kids
-top private schools are not 20k. they are in the 30s. (some even more.)
I have the same dilemma. There is no comparison even between the best public schools and the private schools. It comes down to whether you would like your child to get the best education possible and whether you would like to increase his/her chances of getting into an Ivy League college... I mean, for example, the most famous prep schools have an Ivy League success rate of more than 33% (one out of three). There is no public school that is even close to this success rate.
Studies have shown that private schools are considered safer, they offer better education and kids are more satisfied.
Obviously, the best combination is to own a house in a great area and send the kids to private school. If this is not possible, the next best thing, in my opinion, is to prioritize sending the kids to private school.
I am so glad you asked this question, because as I said, we are currently debating this issue as well and I am curious to know what others think...
What $20k/year private school has a 33% Ivy Placement? Top prep schools like Belmont Hill/Rivers/Exeter run more like $40k but I'm not that knowledgeable about private schools. It's true that going to one of those schools generally bodes well for your future college placement, but being able to go to one of those schools probably bodes well for your current situation.
And yes, there are public schools that come close to that placement efficiency. They're called exam schools. If you look at Harvard placement, the best thing you could do is live in Boston and hope your kid is smart enough to test into Boston Latin. Alternately you could live in Lexington. Those are the two Harvard feeders in the Boston area
In total, one out of every 20 Harvard freshmen attended one of the seven high schools most represented in the class of 2017—Boston Latin, Phillips Academy in Andover, Stuyvesant High School, Noble and Greenough School, Phillips Exeter Academy, Trinity School in New York City, and Lexington High School.
That being said (or maybe it's obvious) I'm firmly in the "send your kid to public school" camp. You'll likely get back whatever money you put into your house back out (maybe even adjusted for inflation), but you will never get the tuition money back. Maybe your kid will be more successful, but I've yet to see compelling evidence to back that up, certainly not compelling enough to spend $250k.
The only schools that matriculate those numbers in metro boston are Roxbury, winsor, Andover, and Groton.
Plus unless you are a millionaire you won't pay the full bill. So my advice would be buy into the best public district possible and when the time comes apply to the top tier privates. If you get in your gold, if not you have a good backup. There is nothing worse than playing full price for an average school because your public school system in sub par.
If you are Asian or White, and from an upper middle class or middle class background with no special connections, at one of these private schools, your chances of getting into an Ivy League college, will be no better than a very good public school. In fact, if you are not covered by a full scholarship, your family may be worse off financially in the long run. If you want your kid to go to an Ivy League, I wouldn't send your child to one of these elite private schools unless your kid is a minority with a compelling life story (e.g. overcome adversity, first in the family to attend college) or as a parent, you are a rich, celebrity, legacy donor (or some combination thereof, but preferably a super rich donor).
As for Lexington, if you stretch, you risk being house poor and having your kids get super stressed out competing against the kids of MIT professors and millionaires. It will be hard to standout because many ambitious families gravitate toward Lexington.
I almost don't want to tell anyone the strategy I devised with my husband, but I'm honestly tired of people thinking the worst about Boston Public Schools and even insinuating I'm a lunatic. One of us went to the fancypants college mentioned in the thread. Since we don't have the money to make a huge legacy donation or pay for an expensive educational powerhouse town, we're going to buy a house in Boston and try our luck with the exam schools. We would also save on taxes, have a short commute, and not have to maintain a second car. Getting into an Ivy League is a statistical crapshoot nowadays. Whatever happens, we would at least like to be able to retire safely.
Last edited by sharencare; 08-07-2014 at 01:15 AM..
Great discussion and very informative.
However, I still want to challenge a bit more the “buy a more expensive house - go to public school” camp
Quote:
Originally Posted by MikePRU
The other side of this coin is the financial perspective. From a dollars & cents view, the most rewarding decision is to buy a house in a town with top notch public schools. These towns tend to hold their RE values well and appreciate nicely too. In addition, you can currently get a nice tax break for mortgage interest. Plus, don't forget that the principal portion of your mortgage payment is a form of forced savings. Last I checked, anything you pay in private school tuition never comes back to you. At least when you buy a house, you can hope to get the equity back (down payment + principal portion of your mortgage payments + appreciation) and you get the tax break. At $20K/year, private school will eat up any of the "savings" created by buying in a less expensive town very quickly.
This is really an excellent point and you mention some key things like the "forced savings argument". I think that the financial gains of buying a house are widely overstated and the general perception is that buying a house is a "good investment". If one does the math, acutely realizes that if they buy a house with a 30-year mortgage, there is absolutely no chance (or a tiny chance) to get the money that they put on the house back. The only way that one might minimize their loses is if they put a huge downpayment (and a 30-yr loan) or a 15-year loan.
So, I cannot see how buying a house is a good “investment”. It might be a good way to indirectly “save” some money for retirement. Probably it was a great way to make money in the 90s and earlier, but I do not think this is the case anymore.
So, I think that instead of paying a bank, it is better to give the money to a private school…. plain and simple
Even if the family includes 3-4 kids, the cost of the private school starts at $100K/year (at least)... But owning a nice 4-5+ bedroom house in an area with good schools that does not need major renovation/repairs and a lot of maintainance is not cheaper than at least $800K (and most likely over $1M). So, in my opinion, it is a trade-off that comes down to whether you would like to "save" the money for yourself or you would like to "invest" in your kids' education...
Quote:
As for Lexington, if you stretch, you risk being house poor and having your kids get super stressed out competing against the kids of MIT professors and millionaires. It will be hard to standout because many ambitious families gravitate toward Lexington.
Don't you think that life in the States is generally competitive, ambitious and quite stressful and actually the (professional) competition gets worse as one gets older? I think that the "competition" among kids in schools is actually nothing compared to what happens later... Clearly, the whole idea of getting the kids to a better school system is a desire to offer them a more uplifting an inspiring environment and not to stress them out. So, obviously, as parents we should avoid a particular environment that will make our kids miserable and stressful. However, I would like to quote the recent studies (and the National Center for Education Statistics is an excellent official source that can provide info on the private vs public school comparison) that state that kids attending private schools are more satisfied overall. But, in any case, the decision to get the kids to a private school implies a certain degree of willingness to "compete" with kids from super-wealthy families etc.
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