$450-500k household income and a one year old, where would you live and how much would you spend? (Scarsdale: house, neighborhood)
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Because private schools are not necessarily always better than public schools. Adults with expensive homes, latest gadgets, and high end cars often get that way because they make smart decisions. Using a product that is free but just as good as a really expensive alternative is smart. Moreover, there are a lot of other variables at play. Location is important - having your child be able to walk to school or have a very short commute is very valuable for a lot of people. Adds much more time to be productive during each school day. Very often the public school option is a lot closer. The public school option may also be better socially and/or athletically.
Thank you for a well thought out response..we picked the closest private school for the logistics! I just dont get a public school being better than a private school..it is likely, but too many people to cater to, and slowing down the curriculum is bound to happen. Education is the single most Important aspect of my childs life. If you think it's expensive...try ignorance! There is an abundance of it in the teachers and parental level in all schools.
Again, I used Hackley as an example of the top tier school people tell me about. Followed by "hedge fund managers kids go there". That wouldnt be my first choice, but public school would be my last.
Thank you for a well thought out response..we picked the closest private school for the logistics! I just dont get a public school being better than a private school..it is likely, but too many people to cater to, and slowing down the curriculum is bound to happen. Education is the single most Important aspect of my childs life. If you think it's expensive...try ignorance! There is an abundance of it in the teachers and parental level in all schools.
Again, I used Hackley as an example of the top tier school people tell me about. Followed by "hedge fund managers kids go there". That wouldnt be my first choice, but public school would be my last.
There are many public schools that are better than many private schools. The opposite is also true. A well educated person would understand this. Also, reasonable people will differ as to which school is "better" when comparing two. There are a ton of moving parts concerning what a school does and what a school is.
Some of your comments illustrate a lack of exposure to schools in general, and to public schools specifically. Many public schools have smaller enrollments than many private schools. So I don't understand your comment about "too many people to cater to". Slowing down the curriculum??? All (or nearly all) public schools in the NYC area offer extensive honors/AP classes and similar, wherein high achieving earners are not slowed down by lower achieving ones.
Basically, you are saying that the worst private school is better than the best public school - for all people in all instances. This opinion is simply bizarre.
I think Pandermonium is "old money", and all they know how to do is spend money for status reasons, even if it's irrational. Since they didn't earn it in the first place, they don't really care if they waste it. What's important is that people know their kid is in private school, not the actual academic outcomes.
Scarsdale, Bronxville, and Edgemont private schools in particular out-perform nearly every private school for example. In addition to having small class sizes.
I don’t really think 400k-500k W2 money is enough to afford larchmont village or edgemont (especially with 2 kids). I also don’t understand peoples obsession with Scarsdale schools. How old is OP’s kid? How competitive/bright is the kid? Is the kid interested in science at all?
We bought in Eastchester. Wasn’t on my radar but the house and the block were amazing (we aren’t handy at all so we were afraid of old houses although I have nothing against them). Our neighbors are white collar (lawyer and doctor) and we both work in finance. Our income is more than OPs but we didn’t want to stretch (main reason I passed on Larchmont which I loved!) and we have a 15 years mortgage which to me was a nice compromise. It is all a trade off- if you want to live comfortably and have a moderately good house, you may want to look outside Scaradale. Plenty of towns have great schools, not every kid will go to Harvard (I personally know folks from Armonk and Chappaqua whose kids ended up in great tier 2 schools where kids from my town also go).
We do have trump supporters (and I am central to the left) which I don’t like but there are also lots of moderately conservative people (which you may like). I do however like there are teachers and firefighters living in my town (many teachers actually). There are also quite few expats from Japan. We are immigrants and feel pretty comfortable living in this town. My daughter was in city wide gifted and talented program in the city and she does extra math and I find her school (greenvale) really good. She has kids from Brazil and Japan in her class, I love this little diversity.
I don’t really think 400k-500k W2 money is enough to afford larchmont village or edgemont (especially with 2 kids). I also don’t understand peoples obsession with Scarsdale schools. How old is OP’s kid? How competitive/bright is the kid? Is the kid interested in science at all?
We bought in Eastchester. Wasn’t on my radar but the house and the block were amazing (we aren’t handy at all so we were afraid of old houses although I have nothing against them). Our neighbors are white collar (lawyer and doctor) and we both work in finance. Our income is more than OPs but we didn’t want to stretch (main reason I passed on Larchmont which I loved!) and we have a 15 years mortgage which to me was a nice compromise. It is all a trade off- if you want to live comfortably and have a moderately good house, you may want to look outside Scaradale. Plenty of towns have great schools, not every kid will go to Harvard (I personally know folks from Armonk and Chappaqua whose kids ended up in great tier 2 schools where kids from my town also go).
We do have trump supporters (and I am central to the left) which I don’t like but there are also lots of moderately conservative people (which you may like). I do however like there are teachers and firefighters living in my town (many teachers actually). There are also quite few expats from Japan. We are immigrants and feel pretty comfortable living in this town. My daughter was in city wide gifted and talented program in the city and she does extra math and I find her school (greenvale) really good. She has kids from Brazil and Japan in her class, I love this little diversity.
My kid is turning one and our lease is up - which if why im starting to research now...alternatively we may just stay in manhattan for a while. We may or may not have a second child in 2-4 years. Our income likely has not peaked. We would do 30 year mortgage. As stated in my prompt, I DONT want a big house.
You may consider staying in the city if your kid is that young. It is a bit too early to think about schools (in my opinion). Why pay 2/3 of your 20+K in school taxes that you won’t even use? Lots of city schools have wonderful programs in elementary schools. But it is a matter of preference, of course. The only aspect that’s definitely better is the classes are less crowded in Westchester.
You may consider staying in the city if your kid is that young. It is a bit too early to think about schools (in my opinion). Why pay 2/3 of your 20+K in school taxes that you won’t even use? Lots of city schools have wonderful programs in elementary schools. But it is a matter of preference, of course. The only aspect that’s definitely better is the classes are less crowded in Westchester.
A lot of people move from the city to the suburbs with the mindset that they will no longer be paying the 4% NYC income tax. $500k combined income is $20k in NYC city taxes. That savings is basically rolled into your property taxes in the suburbs.
A lot of people move from the city to the suburbs with the mindset that they will no longer be paying the 4% NYC income tax. $500k combined income is $20k in NYC city taxes. That savings is basically rolled into your property taxes in the suburbs.
Yes. I thought I'd save money when I moved to the suburbs -- but no, actually paying more here. However, my house is much much much larger than my new york city apartment so I do get more in return. And I'm not even considering paying for private school here, whereas I would probably be doing that in the city, so if you factor that in, then you do save money in the suburbs...
I think Pandermonium is "old money", and all they know how to do is spend money for status reasons, even if it's irrational. Since they didn't earn it in the first place, they don't really care if they waste it. What's important is that people know their kid is in private school, not the actual academic outcomes.
Scarsdale, Bronxville, and Edgemont private schools in particular out-perform nearly every private school for example. In addition to having small class sizes.
Did you Mean their public schools are better than every othet private schools? The public school here has 10 1st grade homerooms, more than a little overburdened. Chappaqua parents are telling me their kids have no homework, and the advanced kids arent challenged. I feel education as extremely important, and no old money here sadly. Though it would be nice. Maybe in High school the public schools start to outperform, but they need a solid base to get there.
I see people driving 100k luxury cars and 800k mcmansion yet choose a public school. I just don't get it
Did you Mean their public schools are better than every othet private schools? The public school here has 10 1st grade homerooms, more than a little overburdened. Chappaqua parents are telling me their kids have no homework, and the advanced kids arent challenged.
You underestimate that it's the same at most privates (at least compared to the "good" public schools). Before covid, I thought we'd do private school -- turns out NYC has a couple hundred private schools (https://www.parentsleague.org/sites/...ls_2022-23.pdf) so I toured two dozen and was shocked that on most of them (at least on the elementary school level) I couldn't see any evidence whatsoever that they were better than PS 89 (our zoned school in battery park city).
A small handful of the privates at least have prestigious names that might open doors later (although for those even if you can afford it, you won't be admitted into the school anyway unless you have a connection). And a few of them do have much nicer facilities than the publics. But the majority on that list? I was shocked that most of them didn't even *claim* to have great academics.
The big advantage of private school is every single kid there has educated parents who value education and naturally practice reading and math with their kid at home. Having those kinds of kids in your peer group is definitely better for learning than a public school that draws half the kids from families that don't value education (and sadly there's lots of schools like that in NYC).
But for the suburbs of Bronxville or Edgemont? Come up, those parents are just as Type A about getting their kid the best possible education as any private school parent. Maybe you think the handful of "prestigious" private schools like Trinity or Dalton are better than Bronxville public school...but look at the majority of the other private schools on that list above, and it's not at all clear why they'd be better...
Last edited by heapchk; 04-09-2023 at 08:21 PM..
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