Enough is enough

[Anonymous]

Since my child joined a private school, I’ve noticed a consistent pattern: every year, tuition increases by several percentage points more than my salary. Over time, this gap has widened to the point where the financial pressure no longer feels justified.

Starting this year, I’ve made a simple decision. I’ll continue volunteering my time to support the school community, but I will only donate $1 to fundraising efforts. I’ll reconsider that position once tuition increases start to fall below the rate of my own wage growth.

I’m 100 percent confident this is the ethical choice. Private schools are already granted significant tax exemptions and operate with far more financial flexibility than most families. If they choose to increase costs faster than the income of the people paying them, they can’t expect those same families to contribute even more beyond tuition. Volunteering is a meaningful form of support, and for now, that will be the main way I give back.

[Anonymous]

Dear diary…

[Anonymous]

Who cares?

[Anonymous]

They are running a business: they don't know the rate at which your salary increases or what decisions go into that. They only know what their business costs to run and what the market will bear.

[Anonymous]

If you didn’t expect tuition increases that outpaced inflation and most salaries, you didn’t do much in the way of research.

As for donating and volunteering, do what you want. No one needs a white paper on the subject, just do whatever feels right.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They are running a business: they don't know the rate at which your salary increases or what decisions go into that. They only know what their business costs to run and what the market will bear.

Why do you think college tuition raises more than inflation? Because of a better product or a raise in college debt ? Some time you have to starve the beast in order to control costs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you didn’t expect tuition increases that outpaced inflation and most salaries, you didn’t do much in the way of research.

As for donating and volunteering, do what you want. No one needs a white paper on the subject, just do whatever feels right.

Thank you for your blessings. Now I can sleep peacefully.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who cares?

Well, someone like that read this posting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dear diary…

Please contact someone in the humor department.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Since my child joined a private school, I’ve noticed a consistent pattern: every year, tuition increases by several percentage points more than my salary. Over time, this gap has widened to the point where the financial pressure no longer feels justified.

Starting this year, I’ve made a simple decision. I’ll continue volunteering my time to support the school community, but I will only donate $1 to fundraising efforts. I’ll reconsider that position once tuition increases start to fall below the rate of my own wage growth.

I’m 100 percent confident this is the ethical choice. Private schools are already granted significant tax exemptions and operate with far more financial flexibility than most families. If they choose to increase costs faster than the income of the people paying them, they can’t expect those same families to contribute even more beyond tuition. Volunteering is a meaningful form of support, and for now, that will be the main way I give back.

I hate to tell you, but private school tuition increases ALWAYS happen every year. I think there might have been one year during COVID when they didn't, but otherwise they've always increased around 3% a year. It sounds as though private might not be a good choice for you, especially considering the cost to educate your child is in fact more than the tuition you pay. Ask any financial aid officer at your school. There's a gap that funds such as the annual fund help to cover.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Since my child joined a private school, I’ve noticed a consistent pattern: every year, tuition increases by several percentage points more than my salary. Over time, this gap has widened to the point where the financial pressure no longer feels justified.

Starting this year, I’ve made a simple decision. I’ll continue volunteering my time to support the school community, but I will only donate $1 to fundraising efforts. I’ll reconsider that position once tuition increases start to fall below the rate of my own wage growth.

I get the frustration at the general economic climate, but for most schools, they're not raising tuition for the heck of it. They're well aware parents don't like that. But they need to do salary increases for their employees (that hopefully don't get entirely cancelled out by inflation) and deal with a whole web of insurance needs, none of which is really negotiable. For most schools, those are the big ticket items. I imagine some schools out there spend money in silly ways, but most of them are just trying to navigate the same pressures as you and I are – even more so for secular schools that don't get subsidies from a religious organization.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Since my child joined a private school, I’ve noticed a consistent pattern: every year, tuition increases by several percentage points more than my salary. Over time, this gap has widened to the point where the financial pressure no longer feels justified.

Starting this year, I’ve made a simple decision. I’ll continue volunteering my time to support the school community, but I will only donate $1 to fundraising efforts. I’ll reconsider that position once tuition increases start to fall below the rate of my own wage growth.

I’m 100 percent confident this is the ethical choice. Private schools are already granted significant tax exemptions and operate with far more financial flexibility than most families. If they choose to increase costs faster than the income of the people paying them, they can’t expect those same families to contribute even more beyond tuition. Volunteering is a meaningful form of support, and for now, that will be the main way I give back.

I hate to tell you, but private school tuition increases ALWAYS happen every year. I think there might have been one year during COVID when they didn't, but otherwise they've always increased around 3% a year. It sounds as though private might not be a good choice for you, especially considering the cost to educate your child is in fact more than the tuition you pay. Ask any financial aid officer at your school. There's a gap that funds such as the annual fund help to cover.

It’s a good choice for my kid and I will donate $1 and volunteer. I would guess that’s also ok for the schools since donations are voluntary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Since my child joined a private school, I’ve noticed a consistent pattern: every year, tuition increases by several percentage points more than my salary. Over time, this gap has widened to the point where the financial pressure no longer feels justified.

Starting this year, I’ve made a simple decision. I’ll continue volunteering my time to support the school community, but I will only donate $1 to fundraising efforts. I’ll reconsider that position once tuition increases start to fall below the rate of my own wage growth.

I get the frustration at the general economic climate, but for most schools, they're not raising tuition for the heck of it. They're well aware parents don't like that. But they need to do salary increases for their employees (that hopefully don't get entirely cancelled out by inflation) and deal with a whole web of insurance needs, none of which is really negotiable. For most schools, those are the big ticket items. I imagine some schools out there spend money in silly ways, but most of them are just trying to navigate the same pressures as you and I are – even more so for secular schools that don't get subsidies from a religious organization.

I would guess that’s also if donations drop they will adjust a bit and school will survive with a smaller budget. Harvard is doing the same thing.

[Anonymous]

My kids attended public school but are now at private universities. I would never give a cent more than outrageously exorbitant tuition. I am well aware that my dollars go to the top administration's second home's pool budget, and not the living expenses of the hard-working teachers.

The USA, contrary to other countries, has decided that wants an arms race of who can poach which high-earning administrator to its school. This is where the waste is. For many private schools, money is also spent on completely unnecessary luxuries that have nothing to do with academics and their core mission to educate (instead of wildly entertaining and cushioning).

All good reasons why I didn't actually pay for private K-12. I am willing to pay for private unis if they're in the top 10 for my kids' majors, since those come with certain professional advantages. But no donations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids attended public school but are now at private universities. I would never give a cent more than outrageously exorbitant tuition. I am well aware that my dollars go to the top administration's second home's pool budget, and not the living expenses of the hard-working teachers.

The USA, contrary to other countries, has decided that wants an arms race of who can poach which high-earning administrator to its school. This is where the waste is. For many private schools, money is also spent on completely unnecessary luxuries that have nothing to do with academics and their core mission to educate (instead of wildly entertaining and cushioning).

All good reasons why I didn't actually pay for private K-12. I am willing to pay for private unis if they're in the top 10 for my kids' majors, since those come with certain professional advantages. But no donations.

This surprises me. Our HOS receives a high but fair salary. They're basically on-call 24 hours/day and have to be available for everything all the time. They're consoling a kid in the hallway one minute, managing a staffing issue the next, and meeting with a high level donor the next hour all while fielding calls about some very complex legal issue that the school is facing. Ours definitely doesn't have a 2nd home, but rather a kind of meh rental (because they relocated from a less expensive area).