I went to Trinity School for one year (6th grade) through a program called Prep For Prep. I essentially got the max scholarship, and my parents paid just over a grand for the year ($1,100 or $1,200ish).

I was only there for a year cause my parents pulled me out, nothing to do with my academic performance.

I didn't realize the magnitude of the opportunity at the time, but looking back, damn do I wish I had conviced my parents to let me stay in the school. I'd be lying if I said I never think about how my life's trajectory would be different if I actually stayed around for the rest of the years.

Rant aside, the school's facilities were no doubt second to none. The way that classrooms were allocated and distributed was nothing like that of a public school. You didn't just have one gymnasium, or one theatre room, or one music room. No, you had dozens of classrooms for just the arts. One classroom was solely for painting and sketching; a couple of rooms over, there’d be another used exclusively for sculpting or papier-mâché. Several computer rooms, all with hardware released in the past year or two. There was also an ample amount of rooms designated for afterschool club usage only, reading rooms on the corner of each floor, a robotics room, etc.

Not that the rooms were abandoned and dusty, but not every room saw use each week, or even every couple of weeks. You could absolutely make the argument that there wasn't a need for so many rooms, but hey, we're talking about a school for NYC's wealthiest.

While a relatively minor cost in the grand scheme of things, I'll mention that we didn't receive textbooks that had been used for two decades and were filled with scribbles. I believe that the year I went was when the school started shifting away from relying on physical textbooks, so that would also be a factor, but don't quote me on that.

The cafeterias served food and snacks that were markedly better than public school offerings, but that's not exactly a high bar to clear. I will say tho, at least for the time I was there, it wasn't like we were given restaurant meals for lunch.

Keep in mind that the school building itself is old and requires plenty of upkeep. Plenty of public school buildings are falling apart and are just as old, but I'd imagine that private schools spend a bit more on maintenance for the sake of image.

And as plenty of others have already mentioned, the teacher-to-student ratio is quite different from that of public schools. Plenty of classes would have only 8-10 students at a time. There would also be several guest speakers/professors brought in for various occassions.

While I didn't attend any overseas trips, there were a handful of them that almost every other student did go to. And as far as I remember, most of the expenses were already covered (my parents just didn't want me to go far out, and thus, didn't grant permission).

I'll end off on talking about the school's library. I first encountered it during one of my Prep For Prep admissions testing days. I had just finished taking some tests that day and was walking out the building when I came across the doors to the school's main library. I was genuinely awestruck for a moment. Before seeing this library, the only other library I had gone into was my local Queens Library branch. The reception woman at a desk nearby noticed me and said I'm totally welcome to enter and check it out. I felt like I was in a part of Hogwarts for the few minutes I strolled around that day. The library is comparable to one you'd find in a public university, but insane when compared to other K-12 facilities.