Both Dunleavey and Chatzky agreed that if a child’s education will truly suffer at public school, private school might be worth the extra debt. In that case, parents need to explore all the options, such as financial aid and scholarships—and, yes, in this city a six-figure-earning family is eligible for aid at the posh private schools—or refinancing a home and pulling cash out. “If you’re sitting on a lot of equity, you might think of drawing on that,” Chatzky says. “In this case, however, I’d advise them not to get any deeper in debt, because they need to build savings and retirement accounts.”

And the fact is, in New York City—if you work the system—you can generally find decent public schooling, be it at a charter academy, in a gifted and talented program, at a magnet school where admissions are determined by lottery, or by getting a variance for admission to a school outside your zone. Check out “Getting In” and Inside Schools.org to learn more.

At the end of the day, if you can avoid blowing the bank on private school, why wouldn’t you? A 2006 study of fourth- and eighth-graders from the Depart-ment of Education showed that children in public schools tended to perform in reading and mathematics as well as or better than their counterparts in private schools. Save the cash. You’ll need it for when your kids go to college.

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