Interested in Private Schools?

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Just my opinion... but I'm more concerned about kids being kids.

A good school with attentive staff, even without GATE or whatever advanced academic program, will probably be just as beneficial.

I dunno... maybe because my parents pushed me to excel so much when I was a kid I don't want to subject mine to the same pressures. That's why part of me is actually worried about putting my kids into the highly competitive IUSD schools.
 
I'm necro-mancing this thread because of what SGIP said on the Laguna Altura thread:
sgip said:
Why not buy a $700k house and invest the savings in a much better private high school education? From there also USC / Stanford will be a pretty big nut to crack so saving now instead of paying for new seems to be a wiser use of resources.
Click to expand...
Not sure about high school, but a big con I see to sending kids to private schools is the lack of local neighborhood interaction. Most of the kids on my street go to the same school... but not mine. Conversely, most of my kids' school friends don't live in our hood... or even Irvine... we've been to bday parties in Orange, Aliso Viejo and Lake Forest.

I think for younger kids, that kind of makes it harder for them to socialize... and I am of the thinking that socialization at an early age is more important than academics.
 
I know of some parents who send their kids to public school but supplement their education with 1) private tutors 2) extra curricular classes (music, art, language, sports, etc...) 3) additional home schooling. You get the best of both worlds--public school socialization and customized education.

The downside to the above would be lack of a cohesive education program you would find in a private school. You might be picking all the wrong programs for your child's education.

I've posted my opinion many times before but I will say it again--California public education K-12 will get worse. As much as Gov Brown is trying to protect further budget cuts, the poor economic outlook and the falling tax revenue means automatic budget cuts will be enacted--$1.5B! Yes that is billion with a B. It could mean cutting the school year by 1 week.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-state-budget-20110810,0,1467043.story

 
I was doing some math the other day (which is hard for me because I usually just let the computer do it)... and this is what I figured:

Private School Costs:

- Avg $1000 per mo... 10 months (I hedge here because although we pay for year-round tuition to include a summer program... many just go 9.5 months) so about $10k per year.

- K-8th grade (not counting high school yet), 9 years = $90k

- 2 kids = $180k

So after 9 years... I would have spent $180k on private school. $260k if I count 4 years of high school.

Not sure if that's really worth it because I can barely claim tax deductions for that (Child Care Credit is $6000 up to age 12) and an extra $2000 per month towards any mortgage seems like that can buy more house than a total difference of $180k-260k in sales price.

Is my math right?
 
irvinehomeowner said:
I was doing some math the other day (which is hard for me because I usually just let the computer do it)... and this is what I figured:

Private School Costs:

- Avg $1000 per mo... 10 months (I hedge here because although we pay for year-round tuition to include a summer program... many just go 9.5 months) so about $10k per year.

- K-8th grade (not counting high school yet), 9 years = $90k

- 2 kids = $180k

So after 9 years... I would have spent $180k on private school. $260k if I count 4 years of high school.

Not sure if that's really worth it because I can barely claim tax deductions for that (Child Care Credit is $6000 up to age 12) and an extra $2000 per month towards any mortgage seems like that can buy more house than a total difference of $180k-260k in sales price.

Is my math right?
Click to expand...

Math looks right. But if I was going to spend the money for private schooling I would probably leave Irvine.  I know it is NOT only the good schools that make the city but it would make more sense for my family to find a cheaper place to live.
 
@iacrenter:

That was the point of the analysis, many say buy somewhere other than Irvine and put the difference into private school tuition... but I don't know if that is actually a financially smarter decision (private vs. public quality of education aside).
 
The best values are still in the immigrant cities with good schools. Value ratio at $190/sf resale in the excellent school boundaries. The cities may not have the brand but they are a solid Kirkland white label brand. It is funny to see people living in brand cities become house poor wearing Kirkland brands while people living in Kirkland brand cities have more disposable income to spend on brand labels.
 
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