It's been a while since we paid college tuition (though the loans linger on), and even longer since we paid for private schooling pre-college (Heather's kindergarten and first grade years), but the desire to compare the cost of a trip to Antarctica to other forms of education led me to some shocking discoveries.
The educational system in America, like the health care system, is in terrible shape. Don't get me wrong. I have yet to be convinced that the situation is better in any other country, and the number of people who flock here from overseas, both to our doctors and to our schools, is ample evidence that I'm not the only one.
What's more, anyone who knows me knows my strong belief that the solution to neither problem lies in more governmental funding and/or control (it's always "and," anyway), but rather in more freedom of choice. Despite my passionate thoughts on the value of home education, the three-fold cord of public, private, and home education is much stronger than any one of them separately. Equally important is always to be thinking outside the box, and that (at long last) brings me to the heart of this post: the cost of education.The per-student cost of public education is not an easy figure to calculate, since (1) it varies from district to district and (2) school boards aren't always eager to make the figures readily available. I did find that Fairfax County, Virginia calculates its average annual cost per student as about $13,500. I'm not sure this has much meaning other than to depress those who are paying for private or home education on top of the taxes necessary to foot such a bill, but I offer it for what it's worth.
I surveyed the tuition costs of six private schools: one Catholic (C), one "Classical Christian" (CC), one "other Protestant" (OP), and three elite private boarding schools (EPB). Note: the numbers are approximate, but accurate enough. Some figures reflected this year, and some next, so I did some rounding. Also, tuition isn't everything—I added the cost of a required annual "fee" of nearly $1000 to the tuition figure of the Classical Christian school, though for the other schools the fees were minor and I ignored them. The elite schools have two figures, because there are two classes of students: day and boarding (boarding figures in parentheses). In all cases I considered high school tuition. (Lower schools usually charge less.) So, for each year of private high school education, you will pay (scholarships excepted):
- C: $9,000 if you're Catholic; $12,000 if you're not, or not active in your parish
- OP: $9000
- CC: $10,000
- EPB1: $24,000 ($38,000)
- EPB2: $29,000 ($37,000)
- EPB3: $29,000 ($39,000)
For comparison, a year at Harvard University (tuition, room, board, fees) is about $46,000.
I'm not questioning anyone's decision to spend that kind of money on their children's schooling. Those we know who have chosen these options (and we know people in all categories) are convinced that this is a worthwhile investment for their children: socially, spiritually, academically, and even financially. (One parent credits his son's Classical Christian education with the "free ride" given him by a highly-ranked private university, and it's hard to argue that spending $40,000 to save $140,000 is unwise! Not that that happens to everyone.)
The more I learn, the more I'm convinced that the wise expenditure of money on education before college is more important than saving for college itself. But these numbers rattled me, and I fling them out as a challenge to all parents who have chosen public or home education for their families. (I wish we'd thought of it this way during our homeschooling days.)
If these parents can sacrifice so much to send their children to private schools—and I know of no one for whom such costs are not a significant burden—what can the rest of us do? (I realize these schools offer scholarships, and not every student is paying the full price, but many are, and I believe that includes most of the people we know.) Just think about it! Field trips (aka family vacations), museum memberships, opera tickets, laboratory equipment, books, videos, musical instruments, special classes—think what can be done for $10,000 - $40,000 per year!
