Torn between 2 schools for DD

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DH and I are struggling hard about which one to send her to. Both are Catholic. School “A” is where she went to preschool. Nice school, good programs. This school is about 15 minutes away in the next town over. Main reason for sending her there initially was that my mom and dad helped get her back and forth.

School “B” is right near our home. A really nice staff, good academics.

We don’t attend either parish. Our parish, which we love, and don’t want to leave, doesn’t have a school.

Now for the problems: school A is $1800/yr. B is $4200. BIG difference. Can we afford B? no, but we’ll find a way if we need to. Both schools have an after school program, but B also has a before school program. We were originally planning on sending her to school A for kdg and then transfer closer to home (due to cost- by the end of this school year we’ll have debt paid off). Now we’re totally confused. There are difinite plusses and minsus to both. A is further away, and means possible bad roads in winter, but it also means my folks will still be able to help out. B means closer to home and DH can drop her off some days, but also WAY more cost. Any advice? My priest has tried to help, but we’re still unsure. thanks-twk
 
$4200 a year for KINDERGARTEN?! :eek:

That would make my decision for me right there. That is ridiculous. And people wonder why more Catholic kids aren’t in Catholic schools. :rolleyes:

That is more than one quarter’s house payments for me!
 
Ours is $3270 and that’s the Catholic Parish rate, its more for out of parish and for protestants!

If she already has a relationship with people at school A and the academics are close, and it’s cheaper, I would send her there IMHO.

Joe
 
duskyjewel said:
$4200 a year for KINDERGARTEN?! :eek:

That would make my decision for me right there. That is ridiculous. And people wonder why more Catholic kids aren’t in Catholic schools. :rolleyes:

That is more than one quarter’s house payments for me!
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My entire Catholic HS education (pre historic times) was$475

Kathy

My vote would be school A
 
Just consider that at school A, she’ll make friends with kids 15 minutes away - and maybe another 15 in the opposite direction of you. It might not be a deal breaker for the school especially with the price difference but you could wind up doing a whole lot of running and might have difficulty getting to know her friends’ families.
 
Ah, I’m not sure where you live, but 15 minutes is SOOOOO close, by our town’s standards. The minimum anyone commutes is 30 minutes (one way).

And if you work, having parents near by and willingto help is priceless. AND, its the cheaper choice.And regarding friends, you are not the only one in your neighborhood, that is making the same calculations. I’m sure there will be friends nearby.

I would not even consider “B”.

.
 
You have to ask yourself if there is a difference in the quality of education she’ll get. It would be really hard to justify the additional expense, which you admit up front you can’t afford (at least right now) without some SERIOUS sacrifices, if the quality of education isn’t any different. I wouldn’t want to put myself in a situation where we couldn’t afford to do “extra” family activities (vacations, hobbies, etc.) just so we could send her to school “B”. I’d rather be able to spend time with my kids instead of having to work extra jobs, if necessary, or something to pay for the extra cost. I also imagine she’s already made several friends from preschool where she is now? Maybe you can re-evaluate the situation after you pay off your debt and then see how the budget shakes out.🙂
 
Thanks everyone for your wonderful advice…DH and I have decided to stick with school A for this year. DD knows a few of the kids there from pre-K and we’d like to really work on paying off our debt. sending her there will allow us to really get ahead, whereas B would just sink us deeper. Thanks for your advice and prayers. In a year hopefully we’ll be able to reevaluate. twk
 
I really do admire you for wanting what y’all think is best for your daughter and are willing to sacrifice to do so. I think that once your debts are gone, the decision will be easier without burdening yourselves. My wife and I will be in the same position y’all are in right now. We’re working on getting debt free, and by the time our first child is in Catholic school, it won’t be a financial burden for us.

God bless!
 
ecp007 said:
Ah, I’m not sure where you live, but 15 minutes is SOOOOO close, by our town’s standards. The minimum anyone commutes is 30 minutes (one way).

And if you work, having parents near by and willingto help is priceless. AND, its the cheaper choice.And regarding friends, you are not the only one in your neighborhood, that is making the same calculations. I’m sure there will be friends nearby.

I would not even consider “B”.

.
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Yep - different situation, obviously, than most people. We have our Catholic school (right down the street) and one in the next town, about 20 minutes away, that is actually a world away. They are in two distinct communities. No one goes to the school 20 minutes away if they are from our town. As a matter of fact, it is highly discouraged by the two principals to go to the “other” school. Even if someone did, they would have neighborhood friends but as they got older, they would become better friends, naturally, with their classmates and those they are in activities with. Thus you’d be driving the 20 minutes for everything. Now if there was more “mixing” where people came from all over to both schools it wouldn’t be such an issue. There are probably more people in your situation than in mine. We live in an area of dotted small towns.
 
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