Wealthy Parents Increasingly Seeking Financial Aid For K-12 Education

Move over college students -- you're not the only ones seeking financial aid to pay for tuition.

More parents are applying for loans and other help to pay their kid'sprivate elementary and high school tuition, reports CNN Money.

And it's not just the poorest families looking for help. The number of families earning more than $150,000 that requested financial assistance for the 2010-2011 school year increased 6 percent since the 2002-2003, according to CNN Money, which reports that 20 percent of families seeking financial aid to pay for K-12 education are in that income bracket.

Is it worth it? Should parents be sending their kids to private schools they can't afford? Let us know what you think by emailing [e-mail]

The average cost of a year of private school is $21,995, a figure that's ballooned 35 percent since the 2001-02 school year when adjusted for inflation, according to the New York Times.

Many families that were once able to pay private school tuition can't keep up with school costs that are rising faster than income is growing.

Families earning as much as $350,000 are applying for financial aid in droves at Tabor Academy, a private high school in Marion, Mass., according to CNN Money. The increase in well-to-do families requesting help has squeezed some lower-income students out of aid altogether, CNN Money reports.

Despite rising tuition and the lingering effects of the recession on disposable income, cash-strapped parents are increasingly considering private school a cost that's not worth cutting. It doesn't help that many localities squeezed by budget cuts are scaling back education funding.

This phenomenon has caused an uptick in the amount of money being borrowed out by parents of grade-school students. According to SmartMoney, the amount of money parents requested to borrow to pay for K-12 tuition rose 10 percent this year.

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Comments

[Jim NLN]

02:52 PM on 05/15/2012

Go to Mitt's old academy and save money on haircuts.

[matchtuff]

08:51 PM on 05/14/2012

Wait a minute it says other help. What is the other help. If it is aid that is free that is crazy. No surprise we have the hope scholarship in Georgia that allows well off parents to get free aid and buy their child a new BMW to go to school.

[sking007]

11:43 PM on 05/12/2012

This is an example of where most people get ti wrong. The dirty little secret is people making 350K can afford tuition but choose to take out educational loans as a financial strategy. Why tie up your own money, when you can borrow money interest free until your child graduates.

[sascha6]

04:11 PM on 05/12/2012

I think this article can lead to lots of assumptions. Do we know why these "well off" families are investing in a private school education? My husband and I make more than 150,000 a year, though we are in no way rich. We are no more members of the 1% than the Occupiers. However, we are parents of a child with autism. Our child is in a private school because of the intense services provided. I cannot access the level of services provided at our private school in a public school setting. Anyone who knows anything about autism knows that early intense interventions lead to the most successful outcomes. So, for a growing number of families -- "well-off" or poor, it isn't a simple choice of public school vs. private school. And to all the financial planners who say the investment isn't worth it. How much would you pay to to hear your child call you, "mommy or daddy" or say, "I love you." I'd mortgage it all.

Just a note from a local PUBLIC school teacher.

[GlennWatson]

08:41 AM on 05/12/2012

Wait, are they going to banks and asking for loans or are they applying for government aid?

[luv2learn]

01:51 AM on 05/12/2012

The real story here is the newly-created lower education bubble, thanks to all the frightened rich people out there. Sallie Mae is lovin' this!

[Clamdip LobsterClaws]

01:27 PM on 05/11/2012

There are advantages to private school. My daughter got to measure the flow of water through streams in France, travel to Berlin and see where her ancestors perished in the ovens of Auschwitz and ski the powder, white slopes of Switzerland. These are priceless memories and were worth every penny. I sacrificed as other parents do so my child could have these experiences. I want all children to have these fun adventures and experiences. We can improve public education and make it brilliant but we have to root out government corruption in all forms. As Americans we must demand an accountable government and every parent must do their part in stopping waste and misuse of funds in our public schools.

[retromoderne]

12:45 PM on 05/15/2012

Our public school district has continually received recognition for fiscal management. Despite that we were unable to pass a much-needed levy for 5 years, and even after getting one passed are now stuck with pay to participate fees... meaning while those private school kids are off skiing in Switzerland many public school students can no longer afford to play football or participate in marching band. Field trips have been eliminated so those private school kids may be able to measure water flow in France, the high school biology class can no longer monitor water quality in nearby streams. And as more and more wealthy parents insist on private schools, public schools lose some of their most effective volunteers and advocates. The education gap mirrors the wealth gap, and without a stake in the public schools it's easy to find fault and vote against levies.

[Shawn1966]

04:13 PM on 05/15/2012

The private school parents paid for their kids to go skiing in Switzerland or to measure water flow in France, in most private schools trips like that are not included in tuition. Private school parents are also paying taxes (property, income and sales)to support the public schools and there is no deduction for private school tuition, nor should there be. If you have not been able to pass a "much needed" levy for the last 5 years it's not because a small percentage of people send their kids to a private school, it's because a large number of people in your school district don't trust the school board to spend the money wisely.

[daddyo1109]

12:48 PM on 05/11/2012

The devil is in the details on this story.
The town that is used Marion, Mass, has an average income of $78,000. That is about $31K higher than the average earnings nationwide." Estimated median house or condo value in(Marion MA) in 2009: $462,395 " from Citydata.com
This is an affluent town that is 91% caucasian, population about 5200. This not an average US town, and it's not surprising that wealthy families will not put their kids in Public Schools.
As another poster said, it is also not known if the aid is in form of loans or grants.
Not exactly a hall mark of Huff Post reporting.

[genrel1248]

10:53 AM on 05/11/2012

Think of it as an investement with the return of a new generation of 1%ers to control the rest.

[tedhices]

08:12 AM on 05/11/2012

Taking out loans for school is a bad idea. Taking out loans for school when you could go for free, is a terrible idea.

[Seymoreclearly]

02:25 PM on 05/11/2012

And that's the thing. These same parents scream anytime their property taxes are raised or their public education systems look to provide raises to their teachers & related staff. This would amount to increases of a few thousand dollars per household, but OH NO, they vote it down time & again. WHY?

Did they fail math in their public education schools???

[Shawn1966]

06:40 PM on 05/11/2012

WHY? Because when I pay to send my children to a private school I get to see the results every day. I tend to vote down property taxes for the school system because it feels like I am flushing good money down the drain. My local school district recently built a new high school and it cost $280+ million

[Life With HC]

08:34 PM on 05/10/2012

The need for a private school depends on whether you want to be Mitt Romney or the guy who serves Mitt Romney a cup of coffee.

[sdesign]

10:29 PM on 05/10/2012

Romney is a mormon. They can't drink coffee. Romney has probably drunk over a gallon of "Waiter Spit" from being served by the little people. Did you spit on his lunch?

[stopnlisten]

03:36 PM on 05/11/2012

Jack Mormons...look it up.

[sonjasmom]

05:39 PM on 05/10/2012

As an earlier poster noted, send your child to public school and vote for legislators who won't keep trying to starve the schools. And when you're at the public school, put a couple hundred (or couple thousand) into the school's educational foundation (most have one now) to pay for what the budget cutters may call an "extra". Spend time with your child helping with homework, taking them to museums, and enriching their childhoods. Hire a tutor for a class that's a problem for them. Put all together, it comes out to less than $22k a year. And they'll have a much more diverse group of friends.

[ronogino]

05:07 PM on 05/10/2012

Financial aid in the form of loans that have to be paid back, sure I can see that. If they get scholarships or grants from non-government entities, okay fine. This article doesn't make clear where the aid is coming from. As long as the loans are paid back and can't be written off in bankruptcy, I don't have a problem with that.

[Seymoreclearly]

02:26 PM on 05/11/2012

Then what are they paying taxes for? This is just idiotic thinking.

[Black Rhino]

04:28 PM on 05/10/2012

Every parents should get a per student year voucher of $8000 (or so). Then, every parent does what they wish with it - local public school, charter, private, home school. The parents make up any cost difference. That's the only way to manage this.

[SF TKF]

05:43 PM on 05/10/2012

Nope. No way. No how. Public money for private schools (especially religious ones) is a no go.

[Black Rhino]

07:14 PM on 05/10/2012

Even public schools are often religious, celebrating xmas and the likes.

But, if all we had to do was filter out religious schools, fine.

The point is...we should all have vouchers. We should not be herded into a public school. Let the money be spent according to the best interest of the child, as managed by the parent.

[GlennWatson]

08:44 AM on 05/12/2012

Federal student loans go to Notre Dame every year.

[Seymoreclearly]

02:28 PM on 05/11/2012

"That's the only way to manage this." Nope, no way, no public tax dollars for private school vouchers. It's called "public" education for a reason, but typical GOP-bagger thinking is that we should defund public schools & shovel that money into private schools. NO.

Math FAIL.

[Black Rhino]

07:40 PM on 05/11/2012

No one is saying defund public education...we take the per student, per year cost of education, and allow a voucher system.

And, it's called 'public' education because we labelled it that. It's not in the bill of rights...it's something we came up with, and can change.

Seems like you didn't study mathematics.

[nypoet22]

03:59 PM on 05/10/2012

students have the right to a free and appropriate education, not to get a government-paid discount on an elite academy, segregated by socio-economic class. this exploitation of the system to benefit the rich is disturbing.