Can I Afford to Send My Child to Private School?

Sure as the Earth orbits the sun, private school will always be expensive. But if you want to send your kids to private school, and money is a concern, can you swing it and is it worth it?

Yes, no, maybe. Everyone is going to have opinions about whether private school is necessary, and how much is reasonable to spend on a child's education -- especially since tuition varies greatly depending on where you live. If you call Connecticut home, for instance, you'll pay an average annual tuition of $20,905 for your child to attend a private school, compared with $6,583 in Michigan, according to PrivateSchoolReview.com.

The Council for American Private Education reports that there are 30,861 private schools in the U.S. -- and that number doesn't include military or boarding schools (which can cost as much as $5,000 a month to $60,000 a year, respectively).

From religious schools to nonsectarian institutions, private schools abound. If your goal is to send your child to private school as inexpensively as possible, here are some of your options:

Religious schools. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, a year in Catholic elementary school typically runs $5,330 (although it jumps to $9,790, on average, by the time kids hit middle and high school). Other types of religious schools, say, a Christian or Jewish school, on average, cost $7,960 a year for an elementary student and $16,520 for a secondary student.

That's not to suggest this is cheap, but religious schools tend to be far less expensive than the average nonsectarian private school. According to the National Center for Educational Statistics, the average annual tuition (for the 2011-2012 school year) for a nonsectarian elementary school is $18,170 and $25,180 for a middle or high school.

There are additional benefits to choosing schools that require uniforms, such as many religious schools: "We have a huge savings by not purchasing clothes," says Amy McKearney, a Connecticut-based mother of three children who attend a Catholic school that charges $4,000 annually per student.

Montessori schools. Of the 8,000 Montessori schools nationwide, most cater to the preschool, kindergarten and elementary set, although some do extend through high school. Montessori schools are famed for fostering environments in which children become independent learners and problem-solvers.

Some parents swear by the Montessori model. "My husband and I never thought we would consider private school for our only child," says Nancy Tamosaitis-Thompson, owner of a public relations firm in New York City. "However, as we both work at home, we started him in a Montessori school, The Family School in NYC, at the age of 18 months. It was amazing how much he learned there."

That experience hooked her family on private schools, says Tamosaitis-Thompson, who soon after enrolled her son, now in ninth grade, in a private college preparatory school, which he has attended since kindergarten.

How much you'll pay for a Montessori education varies geographically, but according to a 2009-2010 survey of North American Montessori schools, conducted by the North American Montessori Teachers' Association, annual tuition ranged from as low as under $1,000 to as high as $14,000. More concretely, the median annual tuition for an elementary school student, ages 6 to 9, was $8,550.

Waldorf schools. These are private schools that strive to make sure their teaching methods produce kids who are especially moral and who work and play well with others. There is a hands-on approach to learning. For instance, elementary students might plant a vegetable garden on a local farm and learn about everything from the science of weather and plants to how much food costs.

So how much does it cost to attend a Waldorf school? As usual, it varies.

"Quite a few private schools in our area are 20 to 50 percent higher [than us], I would say," says Jenny Helmick, teacher and nature program coordinator of the Waldorf School at Moraine Farm in Beverly, Massachusetts.

Tuition isn't exactly cheap where Helmick teaches. It's $20,000 a year, on average -- but then again, she teaches in a region that has a much higher cost of living than many other communities in the country. Nearby private schools cost as much as $29,000 a year, Helmick says.

Wherever you live, if the tuition is out of reach, give the school a call anyway. Helmick says that since 2007, when the recession began, her school has been using a tuition adjustment model for interested parents.

"We look at assets, income, liabilities and calculate a number that's fair. It's based on as objective criteria as possible," Helmick says.

She adds that the approach has allowed a more economically diverse student body to attend the school, which the staff sees as a major plus.

Public schools with a private school approach. If you like the idea of private school but your budget is better suited for public schools, some public schools do have Montessori programs, and there are several dozen public Waldorf schools scattered throughout the country, although most of them congregate in California. You could also consider a charter school -- publicly funded institutions that are as independent as any private school.

Still, if you're determined to send your child to private school, you could take out a loan. Kristin Shuff, a vice president at LightStream, the online lending division of SunTrust Bank, says that in 2013, for example, her company launched a special loan designed to help parents fund their child's education from pre-K through high school.

"The funds can be used at any school for any purpose associated with their child or children's education," Shuff says. "For example, tuition, transportation, activities fees, tutoring ... so it's not just for basic tuition."

Still undecided? If private school tuition will undoubtedly bust your bank account, keep in mind that many public schools offer a quality education, which, some contend, can eclipse that of their more exclusive counterparts. (That's the argument of the book, "The Public School Advantage: Why Public Schools Outperform Private Schools," by authors Christopher A. Lubienski and Sarah Theule Lubienski.)

And not all private schools are automatically an educational utopia. You could waste a lot of hours reading poor reviews of private schools at the consumer complaint website RipOffReport.com.

The best way to make a decision? Attend open houses and school visits, says Shiff, whose 3-year-old daughter attends a private preschool in San Diego. "I also find it extremely helpful to meet the director to get a sense of the school's philosophies and culture." She also suggests checking out the websites GreatSchools.org and PrivateSchoolReview.com.

The take-home message: Before sending your child to private school, do your own homework, and start budgeting and crunching numbers.