Paying private school tuition in cash?

[rachelh]

Has anyone paid for private school tuition in cash upfront? I found some info online that said schools often give a 5-10% break for it. Had anyone done this? We tried reaching out to someone on the board as well as the bookkeeper, but we haven't heard back and I am getting anxious about tuition and deadlines.

[rin]

Yes, we have, and when we were looking at schools we asked a number of places if they would do this (and I'd say 2/3 of the schools said yes, they'd give some kind of discount).

[rachelh]

Yes, we have, and when we were looking at schools we asked a number of places if they would do this (and I'd say 2/3 of the schools said yes, they'd give some kind of discount).

Do you know what type of discount you have received? We were hoping for something much different than 10% but I don't want to come off as sounding ridiculous.

[pharmjenn]

Our school gives a 5% discount if you pay the entire year up front. For us that was a $200 discount. Wasn't worth it to me. I would rather have the money in my account in case I had a need.
I can't imagine much more of a discount than 10%
I couldn't figure out who would choose to put out thousands of dollars up front for a couple hundred dollar savings. I thought maybe grandparents that pay the tuition and give the money all at once?

[crayonblue]

The school we are looking at gives a 2% discount.

[Kindra178]

Do you know what type of discount you have received? We were hoping for something much different than 10% but I don't want to come off as sounding ridiculous.

Around here it's either nothing, 2% or 5%.

[trales]

Ours is 5%.

[jenmcadams]

My DD starts private school for middle school and the tuition is super steep. They don't offer a discount for paying up front or in large installments (standard plan is $3K deposit, $10Kish in Aug and remaining tuition in Dec). They actually charge a fee (a few hundred dollars annually) if you plan to pay monthly. This seems standard for the independent day schools around here.

[rachelh]

Ha - okay - good to know before we speak with them. We were hoping it was more of a tuition assistance type break but probably wishful thinking. We wouldn't qualify for tuition assistance but DH opened his own business in 2012 and its still unclear of where it's headed. Since we have the cash now, we figured it might be worth it if we can get a discount.

[DietCokeLover]

We get a 10% discount for paying in full at the beginning of the year.

[BunnyBee]

Our current one does not. If you want to pay via credit card instead of check, there is an online processing fee of ~5%. Our old one gave 5% for paying the year up front. No option for credit card payments.

If you have the cash now, I'd stick it in a high yield money market account or something, so it's liquid but out of sight/out of mind. ;)

[chozen]

2% discount if paid upfront at dd school. I agree with pp it's really not worth it.

[KpbS]

Ours doesn't offer a discount but I prefer to pay by the semester just in case we need to make different plans for the second semester.

[Staraglimmer]

We do every year. No discount here.

[bcafe]

We pay at the beginning of the year. There is no discount but it is nice to get the tuition payment out of the way.