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The job is in SoHo. We have a junior girl and freshman boy needing high schools. Moving from Ann Arbor, MI. Overwhelmed with what is best for kids. We don't have a million dollars to spend on housing. Priorities are: less than an hour commute and good schools. Can possibly afford $10,000 a piece for private school. Should we live in New Jersey? Can we possibly live in the city? Can possibly pay $4500 a month in rent.
The job is in SoHo. We have a junior girl and freshman boy needing high schools. Moving from Ann Arbor, MI. Overwhelmed with what is best for kids. We don't have a million dollars to spend on housing. Priorities are: less than an hour commute and good schools. Can possibly afford $10,000 a piece for private school. Should we live in New Jersey? Can we possibly live in the city? Can possibly pay $4500 a month in rent.
$10,000 will get you about one third of a year or less at many NYC private schools. Your money will go further at catholic schools. Seeing as your job is in SoHo you could commute in from Jersey, where there are many good school districts with house rentals within your range. You might want to consider districts where you can make any easy connection to the PATH train and estimnate the commute time, but don't forget the walk at either end! Post on the Jersey boards.
If you can do 4500 a month for rent I don't see what would stop you from being able to live anywhere you want. Rye, NY is a little ways out of the city (probably about 20 minutes if you're driving), and has the 4th best school system in the entire state of New York, so that would probably be a good place to start. On your budget you could easily afford to live there.
If you're dead set on living in the city though, I've heard really good things about Fort Hamilton High School in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn and Edward R. Murrow in Midwood, Brooklyn. Forest Hills High School in Queens is pretty good too, but from what I understand has been going downhill. Forest Hills would be a great area for a family though and you could probably afford a pretty nice house out that way.
The best zoned high schools in NYC -- meaning ones a kid can go to just by virtue of living in the district -- are in Queens neighborhoods like Bayside, Douglaston and Forest Hills (the nearest of these three to Manhattan). These are schools like Bayside, Cardozo, Frances Lewis, and Forest Hills. All are large schools, some have specialized programs within them, and a kid can get an adequate to top-notch education at all of them. They're very large and quite diverse if that matters to you. I suggest these places because aside from a few other not-as-good high schools, all high schools here are via application, and you have to have a NYC address in the fall of the kid's 8th grade to participate in the process.
Otherwise you go to the Dept. of Education and take your chances as to where they'll place your kids. Could turn out great, could suck big time. I've known parents new to the city who've had both outcomes. But only you can decide if its a chance worth taking.
Only other exception are the specialized high schools (Brooklyn Tech, Brooklyn Latin, Bronx Science, HS of American Studies @ Lehman College, Stuyvesant, and two or three others whose names I forget) which give a late August exam for new residents. But that test is quite difficult and only about 20%of the kids who take it score high enough to get into any of these schools. Same for LaGuardia, the specialized arts school which also in August has late auditions for kids who've moved into. Laguardia looks at grades too, however, and academically is no joke.
And yes, unless you receive some financial aid, ten grand will not foot the tuition at any private NYC school save the Catholic ones--and not even at some of them.
FYI, the neighborhoods these zoned schools I first mentioned are in are somewhat more car-dependent than most of the city and sometimes quasi-suburban. (Forest Hills not so much). The catch is that the commute to Soho by public transit would not be short, probably 45 minutes at the minimum, depending on where exactly you'd go. Strong school diustricts in Westchester and NEw JErsey, I suspect, would be just as far.
Check out insideschools.org for the best info on local public high schools. The have write ups on all of them and more info as well.
Last edited by citylove101; 10-24-2012 at 03:24 PM..
I would not recommend putting your kids in the NYC public school system (not in any borough), and your education budget is too low for private schools. Would you consider Catholic schools? If not, definitely focus on the suburbs. To Soho, the easiest commute would be from NJ, but you can also get there in about an hour from parts of Westchester and Nassau County, Long Island.
What kind of housing are you looking at? If you can settle for a 2-BR apartment, you can rent in central Queens (Forest Hills, Kew Gardens) for much less than $4500 [maybe $2500 max], send kids to the more affordable private or Catholic schools and commute to SoHo in 30-40 mins via LIRR. Look in Craigslist for 2BR listings and check out the tuitions in Garden School, Archbishop Molloy HS, St. Francis Prep, Mary Louise Academy as well as Sacred Heart Academy and Kellenberg and see if you can apply the savings you will get in rent to the tuition. You don't have to spend a fortune for private or Catholic schools and just note that rent prices are very attractive for 2BR apartments because of abundant stock.
Alternatively, you can also rent 2BR in an Avalon in Westchester (Bronxville, Mamaroneck) towns that have good public schools but not sure if you will make it to SoHo in under 1 hour. Similarly, neighborhoods in NJ with good schools like Summit, Short Hills, Livingston and Montclair can be a bit of a commute depending on many factors.
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