Stay in East Dallas and send kids to private school or move to an area with better public schools? (West: mortgage, how much)

[PinkLadyK]

Lakewooder! Don't talk about people from "outside" or you're gonna pigeonhole yourself after all!

Man. Parenting is tough. I want to give my child everything, but don't want him to expect everything.

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by PinkLadyK

Six figures doesn't get you into the Park Cities though. LW, sure.

Turtle -- with all do respect (I've already told you how nifty I think you are!), certainly you're not friends with "average" poeple in LW. We fraternize with those like us. You know people with higher incomes than average.

With all due respect, the AVERAGE home price in Lakewood proper is over $600k. With 10% down and a nearly $14K plus insurance, that all adds up to $4400/mo in home expenses. Using the typical 28% front end ratio, it takes an annual income of $188,500 to qualify for that mortgage. With 20% down, it would take an income of $159,600 to qualify.

Maybe you and all your friends bought your Lakewood homes 20 years ago, but the "average" newcomer is making $175-200k a year to buy average list price homes. They look a lot more like the LW folks I know (Park Cities East crowd) than the Lakewood of yesterday.

[Macbeth2003]

Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80

Maybe you and all your friends bought your Lakewood homes 20 years ago, but the "average" newcomer is making $175-200k a year to buy average list price homes. They look a lot more like the LW folks I know (Park Cities East crowd) than the Lakewood of yesterday.

This is close, though maybe a little high, to the newer residents of Lakewood proper that I know, but these "Park Cities East" residents are still a small minority, at least of the Lakewood people I have met, and are - fairly or not - often viewed as an unfortunate development changing the culture of the area.

[PinkLadyK]

People buying the $600,000 homes are making $175,000? Well, there you go. My reality is way off-base.

[Considering Coming Back]

Originally Posted by PinkLadyK

People buying the $600,000 homes are making $175,000? Well, there you go. My reality is way off-base.

May I ask in which direction?

[HockDad]

TurtleCreek is right when she says that the extremely wealthy people are, for the most part, not sending their kids to HPISD. The Hicks, Jones, Cubans, Fords, Perots, Bushes, Crows, Engles, Brewers, Hunts, Hills, Muse, etc are sending (or sent) their kids to St. Marks, Hockaday, ESD, etc.

What is interesting, is that at each of these schools, approximately 15-20% of the kids are on financial aid. Now financial aid is different than the free lunch program, but it does show that the elite private schools have a wider range in net worth than HPISD or other public schools.

I will say that with each of my daughters, it has not really been an issue. Yes, they have numerous friends that have their own planes, but most of the kids are pretty normal. They also have numerous friends that live in Lake Highlands, Plano, Coppel, etc in pretty normal houses. Moreover, the kids at least through middle school, could really care less. Now, some of the moms care, but hey, their are "those" moms at every school.

[Considering Coming Back]

Originally Posted by HockDad

What is interesting, is that at each of these schools, approximately 15-20% of the kids are on financial aid. Now financial aid is different than the free lunch program, but it does show that the elite private schools have a wider range in net worth than HPISD or other public schools.

I read a NYTimes article recently about the lack of black students at Stuyvesant High School in NYC. One of the reasons hypothesized was that the minority students who do qualify are immediately offered scholarships to the elite private schools, which they accept. So my question for you is: do elite Dallas schools do the same? Do they “recruit” TAG and SEM students?

(I know this is only tangentially related to the subjects at hand, but it's been on my mind for a while and you have always seemed knowledgeable in this realm.)

[PinkLadyK]

Originally Posted by Considering Coming Back

May I ask in which direction?

I wouldn't buy a $600,000 home with an income of $175-200K. I especially wouldn't expect to be able to buy my children cars, send them to private school and summer camp, and take a vacation every year with that income and that mortgage. And I don't understand how people are managing that. I'm conservative with my money, but apparently more than I realized.

[HockDad]

Recruiting-

From what I understand, the admission office can get very aggressive asking families to apply (or stay). I don't think that they go searching out families, but if show some interest, they will keep calling. Also, if a minority is considering leaving, you can expect a bunch of calls asking you to stay, etc.

I have no idea if they offer "financial packages," but I would not be too surprised.

[Lakewooder]

Originally Posted by PinkLadyK

Lakewooder! Don't talk about people from "outside" or you're gonna pigeonhole yourself after all!

Man. Parenting is tough. I want to give my child everything, but don't want him to expect everything.

I guess what I mean is that if you have been around for a while and gone through the schools as a student or parent you probably have a different perspective.

The number one thing I hear (outright or covertly) is, "why do rich people want to send their kids to school with a lot of poor people?" Sometimes that's couched to cover 'the race question'.

First off, because you can get a good education. Secondly, there is sense of loyalty to the schools in Lakewood. Third, it's free! Rich people stay rich by not blowing their money on extraneous expenditures.

However in retrospect most people find that the wide range in income and race actually is the best part of the whole experience.