If the public schools are so bad... (Houston, Trinity: lease, how much)

[LLLegalien]

Then how much does it cost to send an elementary school-aged child to private school? We will be living in the Heights area and were hoping to send our child to public school but are being told not to do so. I am not sure we can afford private school and probably earn to much to qualify for aid. How much does it really cost to send a child to private school?

Thank you.

[EasilyAmused]

Depends. A lot of the Catholic private school are fairly reasonable if you belong to their church. They give multiple child discounts. St. Michaels and St. Ceclia's are reasonable. I have friends educating 3 children for 11k at St. Cecila's. There is aid at them for families who can't afford full tuition.
Then you go into the more elite, college prep private schools like Kinkaid, St. Francis, Strake, St Johns and you are talking 15,000 a year per child. But those schools do have scholarships and aid as well.

[wetsidekid1]

Originally Posted by LLLegalien

Then how much does it cost to send an elementary school-aged child to private school? We will be living in the Heights area and were hoping to send our child to public school but are being told not to do so. I am not sure we can afford private school and probably earn to much to qualify for aid. How much does it really cost to send a child to private school?

Thank you.

You can also try to find a public elementary school with a magnet program. I also saw that Harvard elementary looks to be the best in the area. If not, then you can look at private schools.

[pepper131]

Magnet applications were due today. You can still apply, but your app won't be looked at until the beginning of June.

[houstoner]

Re: magnet schools, I would call the individual schools you are considering and apply anyway, explaining your situation. They may be able to offer you space-available transfers, depending on your child's grade level.

Some of the privates I'm familiar with in the Heights range from about $6,000+ to $8,000+ a year. A smattering of low-tuition and possibly tuition-free alternatives, too.

[pepper131]

Houstoner -

Can you list some of the lower cost pvt schools in the loop? I couldn't find much on: Houston Private Schools - HAIS - Houston Area Independent Schools ...most of them seemed kinda religious.

And fyi - I had called a few magnet schools to see if there were allowances made for families moving. I was told none - first round in didstrict deadline was Jan 11th with proof of residency. Since my husband started work on Dec 17th - he found a cheap rental, signed a lease and I submitted that. Some schools required a utility bill - we would not have had that in time and there were some schools that wouldn't accept a lease; only a utility bill.

I have researched, made phone calls, compared on greatschools.net, asked friends in Houston about schools - seems it's all I do these days!!

[houstoner]

Some of them are religious. You just have to do your research. A couple off the top of my head in the Heights area are Trinity Lutheran near downtown, Immanuel Lutheran, and Our Savior Lutheran. The New School in the Heights (based on The Harris School (http://www.theharrisschool.com/index.html - broken link) model, seemingly), The Real School aka Dragon Valley, and The University of Houston Charter School are some of the alternative alternatives I was thinking of. I think the former two offer tuition on a sliding scale based on your income, while U of H is free. I have friends with kids who go to each of them, except Trinity. You still have time to apply to the U of H Charter. The others are rolling admissions.

[carolineb]

I just saw a television commercial that was advertising a Catholic school fair. If this is something you're interested in, that might be worth attending. For the future (later grades), it might be worth attending the free annual Houston private school fair in September.

[Supermac34]

Catholic private schools are usually going to offer more bang for your buck in general as many of them are subsidized by the church.