Where Do People Get This Money?
We’ve actually done this whole private school thing before … sort of. Twice.
In 3rd grade, Dylan suffered through a year with a teacher who could have easily been the spokesperson for the Really Bad Teacher Association. We were warned about her by other parents, but gave her the benefit of the doubt.
She didn’t show up for Back to School day, so none of the parents could meet her before the school year began.
Two weeks after third grade started, Dylan reported that the not-yet-met teacher was keeping him inside during recess to finish his morning work.
So I made a point of meeting the teacher to explain how badly Dylan needed recess. I met her in the hallway, only briefly, during the third week of school. And I explained Dylan’s special needs.
“Has he been diagnosed with anything?” she snapped. “I’m not giving him any special treatment if he hasn’t been diagnosed with anything.”
That was our first interaction. I spent every day of 3rd grade either emailing the teacher, stopping into the school, giving Dylan a “mental health day” or fighting with the principal to get him into a different class.
That’s when we started the IEP process… and the first private school search.
We found a spectacular school for grades K-8. We stopped in to visit, and saw kids sitting on their knees in their chairs, waving their hands to answer questions. Class pets and artwork were everywhere. Students were engaged and active. Best of all, the school offered ten minutes of recess between every class, and kids went outside to learn – often.
Dylan would have loved going to school there.
We applied for financial aid, since the price tag was – well, like college tuition. One year for one kid (sorry, Shane, no private school for you!) was going to cost us about $28,000. I just checked online today, and the same school’s tuition is now $32,470 – per kid, per year.
Where do people get this money?
I needed a job. I have a teaching certificate, so I applied immediately to teach at the school. But with only one year prior teaching experience and no formal teaching in our county, the administration kindly told me to first, get some experience substituting for the school, then apply again.
So while our financial aid package was being processed, I read up on the school and found an article by a journalist whose children had gone to that exact school for a few years – but then they had to put them back into public school because they couldn’t continue to pay the hefty tuition.
It had never occurred to me that we might have to take Dylan back out of private school. But with Dylan only in 3rd grade, that was a distinct possibility.
Soon after, a letter was released to all applicants: the financial aid pool had run out for the year. Anyone who was dependent on financial aid for school acceptance was allowed to take back their application, and get their $100 application fee back.
We jumped at the chance, saving $100 – and thousands thereafter.
Then, as a great bonus, Dylan was accepted into the GT program in public school – getting away from his miserable principal (who retired after the following year amidst a stream of controversy) and far, far away from the teacher who treated him like garbage.
Two years later, when the GT program ended, we were looking for private schools again.