How Educating A New York City Kid Can Cost You Over A Million Dollars

New York City is home to some of the best schools in the country, but they don't come cheap. The economic downturn hasn't stopped colleges from going well above $50,000 a year in tuition, and elite prep schools aren't much cheaper. If a New York City parent decided to send their child to the most expensive preschools, grade schools, Northeast boarding schools, colleges and law schools here's what it may cost:

PRESCHOOL
The 92nd Street Y has one of the most sought after preschool programs in the city. To send your two-year-old there three days a week it will cost you $14,400, if your child continues there at age three and goes full time you'll pay $21,100, and if they stay on a third year it will cost $25,850. This means your child's preschool education will cost $61,350.

GRADE SCHOOL
The elite Dalton School ranks among the most expensive grade schools in the city. (Full disclosure, I went to the Trinity School which only costs a couple hundred dollars less.) Dalton's K-12 tuition is $35,300, which means the full nine years there will cost a family $317,700.

HIGH SCHOOL
NYC high schools aren't cheap, but the popular boarding school options cost even more. If you decide to send your child to Groton for high school it will cost you $46,790 a year, for a total of $187,160.

COLLEGE
New York's Sarah Lawrence topped the most expensive colleges list this year, with a whopping price tag of $56,420 per year. If you send your child there, the total for four years will run $225,680.

LAW SCHOOL
Law school is a popular option for students after college and Columbia has one of the best. Including books and room and board, Columbia Law will cost you $74,000 a year, or $222,000 over all.

This brings the grand total of educating your New York City child at the most expensive schools from preschool through law school to $1,013,890.

Comments

[Kevin from Cali]

03:41 PM on 10/30/2010

Makes no difference where you go to school, the kid has to apply themselves and they will succeed. New York is all about image and the parents need to send their kids to these over priced schools so they "fit in," with their friends

[FOXYROSE]

04:53 PM on 10/28/2010

It's all that plastic surgery the teacher's union insisted upon - we in NY are taxed to death - my property taxes are almost 9000./yr for a home valued at approx 250,000.

[nappyman]

08:52 AM on 10/29/2010

1. This article is about private schools
2. The plastic surgery article was about buffalo, this article is about NYC
3. I don't know what the procedures were, but cosmetic surgery isn't just tummy tucks. For example if you have breast reconstruction after breast cancer that is 'plastic surgery'.

[inmyhumbleopinion]

10:56 AM on 10/27/2010

Why do you think so many people leave the city for the 'burbs? There are some great magnet schools in NYC, but most require an entrance exam or audition.

[leyvadaniel]

11:16 PM on 10/26/2010

As I always say, people with kids should pay MORE taxes, not less, their kids use more services than single people, yet, single people pay for others to have kids. Who wins? only the parents of these kids, no one else... people with kids are not doing a favor to anyone, so pay for the services your children use!

[inmyhumbleopinion]

11:02 AM on 10/27/2010

That's completely ridiculous. Are you a product of the public schools? If so, that means people other than your parents contributed to your education. And there are good reasons for doing so:

1. Good public schools mean higher property values
2. An educated populace means we're less likely to pay for other social services.
3. Taking care of the next generation means there will be educated workers helping to pay for your dotage.

By your reasoning, people who don't own cars and don't drive shouldn't pay taxes for the state and federal highway system. People who are against the wars shouldn't pay taxes for our military. Where does it end?

And by the way, the above article was talking about PRIVATE school. What does that have to do with taxes?

[katwright]

02:25 PM on 10/26/2010

Honestly...I have an elementary school aged girl and she loves her charter and the level of the curriculum is much higher than the neighborhood public (which is still a good school comparing to others).
Who is spending 15K for a 2 year old's "education"?That is madness. What people think they will learn that age calculus? Save your money for a good college, not Pre-K.

[aknnyc]

11:32 AM on 10/26/2010

If it is for quality of education, then there are better alternatives available in NYC - Stuyvesant, Bronx Science, Hunter among others. Latest US Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan, a graduate of NYC public schools (Hunter) is a proof of that. And, she is only one of the four current justices from NYC.

Both of my kids went to public schools in Bayside, Queens and made into Stuyvesant. It was not easy. They had to work hard, and commute 90 min each way to Stuy. One graduated from Stuyvesant and got 100% scholarship from SUNY for 4 years.

Of course, if it is for rubbing elbows with rich kids and for applying to colleges with no financial aid required then I guess it is worth spending million bucks or even more.

[ctblue]

03:43 PM on 10/25/2010

In 2001-02 I lived in Manhattan and sent my daughter to a private pre-school. The price tag for 3 days per week back then was $16K+. 5 days would have been in excess of $20K. It was at that time I felt I needed to move to the suburbs for her education and suck it up and commute to work on the godawful Metro North train. She is getting a decent public school education but I would give my right arm to be back in Manhattan. The suburbs are so boring.

[mivogo]

12:01 PM on 10/25/2010

As an ex-teacher, I can tell you that a prime solution is to keep neighborhood schools for neighborhood kids. I have a school in my neighborhood with a student body that comes in by subway, travelling hours per week. Some are violent, and understandably scare away the neighborhood parents. Meanwhile, everyone loses--the so-called "better" schools in my neighborhood are now lousy, and the kids coming in also get a rotten deal.

And don't blame the parents for not using their kids as sacrifices for social experiments. That's know as child abuse.
Secondly, gifted kids are severely neglected in NYC. For each opening at a school for the gifted, there are 100 worthy applicants. When anyone suggests building more such schools, the cry of "elitism" rings out. Nurture the best and brightest? How ridiculous! How about some common sense solutions, and less damaging PC knee jerk responses that make things worse for everyone?

[MarcEdward]

01:57 PM on 10/25/2010

You make great points.
While most schools don't allow "tracking" (I think that is where you group together students of like-level, so the smart ones get more advanced stuff, the "behind" students get the learning they need) I know that gifted students get into gifted classes, and at the elementary level they separate kids into groups when it comes to reading and math.
Of course, most people don't come to Chapel Hill unless they want to pay the much higher property taxes we charge in order to have really, really good schools, so in a way we're self-selecting. Most people move to a neighboring county once their kids graduate.

[moving violation]

09:10 AM on 10/25/2010

unless you need the false sense of security that entitlement provides, there are a myriad of good NYC public schools for those with the fortitude to seek them out.

[happycat]

09:25 AM on 10/25/2010

There is nothing FALSE about having a sense of security.

[MarcEdward]

02:58 PM on 10/25/2010

You are 100% right.
If my kids were not safe in a public school I would home school them.
Or I'd move away from New York.
Is that city ungovernable or what?

[wedgie]

09:02 AM on 10/25/2010

What's missing here is any discussion of the AMAZING public schools you can apply for the get into here in New York State. Like any state it has its share of faltering public schools, but many great minds are working to create some fantastic FREE public schools. In NYC a great example is P. S. 11, which partners with some of the best teaching colleges in the city to create innovative teaching procedures. It's an amazing educational opportunity for my son and costs NOTHING more than our time and effort via our son and the PTA. All this talk about money is a distraction from the real work being done to create new ways to teach and learn in NYC.

And don't even get me started on places like KINGSTON, NY three hours north of NYC where they have an all MONTESSORI PUBLIC Elementary School, one of the few hundred in the nation. Public education is changing and improving due to the hard work of some visionary teachers and administrators.

[happycat]

09:22 AM on 10/25/2010

My niece and nephew attend elementary school up in Kingston. You are right, they have some lovely public schools up there, but they are having some major cutbacks, due to the economic downturn.

[Fiscalprudence]

10:19 AM on 10/25/2010

PS 6 is excellent as well. Tough to get in these days. It is in a VERY wealthy neighborhood on the Upper East Side which I am sure has a helping hand. Regardless, it is a great public school with a driven administration.

[happycat]

10:31 AM on 10/25/2010

I went to PS 6, as a kid. Great school.

[iluvsam]

08:53 AM on 10/25/2010

I went to a private school K-12, and my husband went to a public school K-12. When it came time to send our son to school, there was no doubt he would go private. My husband absolutely refused to even THINK about sending our son to a public school as he perceives it as a living hell with no escape--his words, not mine.

Besides the education, a deciding factor was what power did the school have to remove troubled or non-performing students. For instance, in our school, there is no tolerance for bullying. You bully someone, you're out. There is no tolerance for disruptive behavior. If you don't maintain good grades, you're out. You have to be involved in school activities and must do volunteer work. If not, you don't pass. Plus, requiring uniforms help concentration levels. Kids must feel safe in their learning environment, and they also have to feel equal to others around them. Private schools attempt to neutralize the negative factors that could impede a child's concentration while they are in class, which provides them with a good foundation for learning.

I believe once you learn and understand the basics and learn how to study properly (have a good foundation), you will get the most out of any college you go to (either public or private) as attending college is a choice and is only as valuable as you make it.

[MarcEdward]

09:03 AM on 10/25/2010

It's cheaper to live in an area with good public schools than use private school.
For the cost of sending our three sons to a GOOD private school we could afford a John Edwards sized mansion in a district with the best schools in our state.
Guess those great private schools don't teach basic math!

[happycat]

09:09 AM on 10/25/2010

I would rather send my kids to a great school, where they feel safe and happy, then live in a John Edwards' size mansion.

[iluvsam]

09:16 AM on 10/25/2010

Are you really proud of that way of thinking? You really think it's better to live in a mansion than to give you kids a great education? WOW. That is really, really sad.

[happycat]

09:04 AM on 10/25/2010

We send our kids to private school for the exact same reasons you described. The school that my kids attend, sounds so much like the one that you describe. My kids are in a very safe and nurturing environment. They are also receiving a great education. Like you, I am grateful that we can provide that for them.

[eighthchord]

09:04 PM on 10/25/2010

So you're not worried that they're going to grow up feeling entitled? I see a lot of that with private school kids. Every need of theirs is catered to growing up and they don't understand it's not the way it works in the real world. There's a private (k-12 I think) school where I live called Ravenscroft where the tuition is 17k a year. A high school education should not cost more than a college one. Motivating kids to do well in school is the responsibility of the parent; the quality of education and safety measures are responsibilities of the school, and plenty of public schools provide this.

[MarcEdward]

08:48 AM on 10/25/2010

Isn't this not so much about the quality of education but making sure your spoiled rich brat only rubs elbows with other inbred WASP spoiled rich brats? This is about the ultra-wealthy segregating their kids from us "mongrels", forming connections and partnerships so in their adult life they will only help, hire, marry, etc., each other.
It'd be doing the world a favor if we shut these institutions down.

[happycat]

09:14 AM on 10/25/2010

Oy vey. You are kidding, right?

[MarcEdward]

10:02 AM on 10/25/2010

These people spending a million bucks on private schools aren't doing it for the quality of education, they are doing it so their offspring don't have to mix with working class folks.
On a side note, does the country really need more lawyers (as that seems to be the desired end result of this million dollar education)?

[Gary James]

07:34 PM on 10/27/2010

You sound envious.

[MarcEdward]

08:25 PM on 10/27/2010

It's been pointed out that this is NYC and it sounds like the schools really stink up there.
OTOH, the article is just silly.
For the costs they are talking about one can get a good home in a good school district (NOT in NY) and get a great education without using private schools.

[EGM80]

08:36 AM on 10/25/2010

I went to public school in the worst county in Florida, which is one of the worst states in the country for education. I now have a master's from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown, which is an extremely competitive and rigorous academic program - all paid for by the US military. Total cost of my elite education: Nothing.

Going to a 64k pre school doesn't mean you're going to end up doing better than other kids academically. I always had a 4.0 but that was because I had a good mom and dad. NYC education may run you a million dollars but good parenting is priceless.

[happycat]

08:45 AM on 10/25/2010

Excellent comment.

[MarcEdward]

08:50 AM on 10/25/2010

"Going to a 64k pre school doesn't mean you're going to end up doing better than other kids academically."

It does insure that their kids Buffy and Muffy will only be around other like-wealth people - they won't accidentally befriend or fall in love with somebody who's family isn't making 7-8 figure salaries or non-trustfund families.

[condor101]

07:16 AM on 10/25/2010

Home schooling is a better option than public or private schools, K-12.
I read an article earlier this year on NY Times about a boy who was home schooled and accepted to Cambridge University.

A school's reputation or cost has Nothing to do with whether a student excels academically; The foundation for education begins at home.

Save your money and home school your child; Hire a part time tutor; It's still cheaper than the hundreds of thousands of dollars wasted on those school programs.

[happycat]

08:48 AM on 10/25/2010

Oh please. Home schooling is NOT better, unless the public schools or private schools are all horrible. The socialization that children learn in a classroom environment, is priceless. The kid who was home-schooled and accepted into Cambridge, is a rarity.

[wedgie]

08:51 AM on 10/25/2010

There are plenty of ways to get socialized when home schooling. Many home schooling groups team up to provide sports, chorus, band, theater and other group activities. All you are doing with this post is showing that you don't understand home schooling.

[MarcEdward]

09:05 AM on 10/25/2010

"The socialization that children learn in a classroom environment"

I would have to disagree there. Homeschooled kids (and no, I do not homeschool) socialize with kids in the neighborhood, kids in sports leagues, etc.
My only problem with homeschooling is that too many parents do it because they don't want their kids to hear anything that is outside their religion - they want them to be schooled in ignorance.

[SuperGeeks]

06:42 AM on 10/25/2010

The perfect argument for free, online K-12 schooling.

[MarcEdward]

08:51 AM on 10/25/2010

Well schooling should be free, but online schooling wouldn't be practical for most of those grade levels.