Boston Gal's Open Wallet

i wonder if the kindergarden/grade school is an extension of the preschool and she's just comfortable with teachers/atmosphere at the school. maybe it's a religious school which has a curriculum that is not offered at a public school. does texas waive some of the college tuition costs for in-state students? (maybe only for low income students?)

 

That is a lot of money to spend on private education, but I wonder if she has plans to sacrifice other expenses. I struggle with wanting to send my kids to private school, but maybe it would be cheaper to move to a better school district. It would be a wonderful opportunity to compare costs. We have several private schools in our area that cost between $400-900 a month and would require many family sacrifices. I know this single mom can't do it, but homeschooling has become popular for many families seeking cheaper alternatives to public school.

 

University of Texas is about $9,000 a year in tuition for residents. Add other fees and dorms and you probably come to the $16,000 pretty quickly. Not clear if she lives in City of Houston or not. Probably the city schools aren't much good. The kindergarten does sound like overkill but who knows... But earning $128k with no state income tax and a pretty reasonably priced home she should have no problem in theory saving for retirement and giving her daughter a great education. These "makeovers" often seem to be of people earning top 10% household incomes...

 

@Scott: You think $8200/yr for preschool and $10,000/yr for high school is expensive? That's actually on the cheap end for the price of private school here in Mass. I wasn't aware that prices fluctuated that much around the nation for schooling.

 

Being a single parent means she has to have childcare during working hours - 13,700 a year sounds about right for Delaware. Even if you are in public school, our extended care programs are about 600 a month, x 10 months of the school year, plus a summer camp program (plus extended hour care) easily runs $8-10k a year.

Private schools are expensive, and have other costs ... extended hours, extra vacation ... some of the private schools have 30 or so fewer days of school ... meaning more camp programs or vacation.

In the end, Jacqui seems like she has a high enough income to provide for both her retirement and to help her daughter through college. It was incredibly brave and challenging for her to become a single mom. As a parent, I don't think children can be easily measured on an ROI basis ...

 

Daycare/preschool can bust a budget. I'm in Mass and paid $16,000 for two kids, under the age of 5 last year. Supposedly, it gets better this year with my elder daughter going to public kindergarten and needing only after-school care.

I also work for a state college. My husband and I are saving for our retirement and not for the kids' education. I plan to stay with the state until after my kids graduate from college.They can get a free education at my school, pay fees at other state schools, or go for scholarships for private schools.

 

Houston (and Dallas) have some of the best public schools in the country. Also some really bad schools, just like everywhere.

The "city" of Houston has Lamar HS and Bellaire HS which are very, very good. They match up the neighborhoods where it costs about half a million to buy in. The burbs also have some good schools for cheaper houses.

I'm guessing this is religious. Elite private schools in Houston are a LOT more expensive that, like twice as much.

 

Is the school system in Houston that terrible?

One of my childhood neighbors became a teacher and couldn't get a job our home state (New York), so she moved to Texas where she could easily land something without experience (beyond the classroom practicum required by NYS). Her conclusion was that there is a reason it's easy to get a teaching job in Texas: It pays very poorly and doesn't attract quality people. She left as soon as she could.

 

Yep - I can see why she is concerned about the cost of her daughter's education. My parents paid for two kids worth of private Catholic school in Houston and by the end (both in HS) I would say it totaled over 18K a year. And that was 10 years ago!