Stay and pay tuition, or move for the schools?
If the schools where you live are not what you want, there are two expensive answers. Stay put and pay private-school fees, or buy into a district where the public schools are the ones you wanted — and pay for them through the house instead.
They are hard to compare because they are different shapes. Fees end; a mortgage does not. A mortgage builds equity; fees buy nothing you keep. And whichever costs less each month frees up money that compounds for decades. A monthly payment shows none of that.
This runs both to the same finish line: what you would be worth, and in what form, at any point you choose. Everything is editable — it starts on the worked example from the article behind it.
Staying put
Moving to a stronger district
Assumptions
The deposit needs $725,000 in cash. Selling at $445,000 nets about $422,750, so $302,250 has to come from savings. If it does not exist, raise the deposit slider — the mortgage would be larger and the move dearer than shown.
Every month
| Monthly | Stay | Move |
|---|---|---|
| Mortgage principal & interest | — | $3,476 |
| Property tax | $400 | $892 |
| HOA / upkeep | $500 | $1,042 |
| Insurance | $50 | $175 |
| School fees, all enrolled | $4,000 | — |
| Total, everyone in school | $4,950 | $5,585 |
| Once the fees stop | $950 | $5,585 |
$512 of the mortgage payment is principal in year one — saving, not spending. Once the fees stop, moving costs $4,635 a month more, and keeps doing so.
The fees, end to end
17 years of fees — $624,000 in today’s money, $865,869 in cheques once they inflate. Every child is enrolled together for 9 of those years.
Who is ahead, and when
| After | Stay | Move | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 years | ≈$1,210,000 | ≈$1,240,000 | Move +$26k |
| 15 years | ≈$1,485,000 | ≈$1,625,000 | Move +$140k |
| 20 years | ≈$2,010,000 | ≈$2,045,000 | Move +$33k |
| 25 years | ≈$2,765,000 | ≈$2,550,000 | Stay +$213k |
| 30 years | ≈$3,690,000 | ≈$3,170,000 | Stay +$524k |
What you have when school ends — year 17
| By year 17 | Stay | Move |
|---|---|---|
| Equity in the property | ≈$735,000 | ≈$1,700,000 |
| Money saved | ≈$895,000 | ≈$80,000 |
| Total | ≈$1,630,000 | ≈$1,780,000 |
| Of that, spendable | 55% | 5% |
| Fees written / interest paid | ≈$865,000 | ≈$525,000 |
| Mortgage principal repaid | — | ≈$185,000 |
College fees start the year school ends. The two totals can be close while the money is in very different forms — one spendable, the other a house.
Figures to the nearest $5,000, because inputs like these cannot justify more. Income tax is ignored entirely — no mortgage-interest deduction, no capital-gains treatment on a sale — and both are capable of moving the answer. This is a model, not advice; check a decision this size with an accountant or a fee-only adviser. The reasoning is worked through in the article behind it, and you can compare Salem and Marblehead directly.
What to watch for
- There is usually no single break-even. A short hold never recovers the cost of buying and selling. A long one lets the money the stayer is not spending on a mortgage compound once the fees stop. Moving tends to win only in the window between, which is why the answer is given as a range of years rather than a verdict.
- Ages matter more than anything except price. Young children mean many years of fees to avoid, which is the strongest case for moving. Children close to finishing mean the fees are nearly over, and the mortgage would only be starting.
- The two totals can match while the money does not. The mover’s wealth is mostly a house; the stayer’s is mostly savings. That difference lands exactly when school ends and college begins.
- The surplus has to actually be invested. Whichever side costs less each month is assumed to bank the difference. A family that spends it instead does not get the result shown.
What it does not price
The schools themselves, for one — a strong public district and a private school are not the same product, and neither is the district you already have. Nor the flexibility of owning outright, the disruption of moving a child mid-schooling, or whether financial aid holds for as many years as the model assumes. It prices housing and fees, which is the part that can be priced.
Tax rates are each town’s FY2026 residential rate; other figures are estimates as of July 18, 2026. Method and sources are on the methodology page.
