Sidwell tuition increase

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:plenty of 9th grade entries are fin aid.

Most are. They skim the super brains and super athletes. Ever seen a lifer be valedictorian or salutatorian? Me neither.
Very competitive applicants from publics and some private for 9th grade.

[Anonymous]

I'm a little confused by all these posts saying that Sidwell and the board do not care about their middle class families and the solution is to cut financial aid. If you do that, wouldn't that be saying that Sidwell doesn't care about lower income families?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a little confused by all these posts saying that Sidwell and the board do not care about their middle class families and the solution is to cut financial aid. If you do that, wouldn't that be saying that Sidwell doesn't care about lower income families?

Yes, you could make the case. I think the point being made is that with high tuition, you only get the very rich who basically subsidize financial aid and low income families. Middle class families get squeezed out. The point being made is that lower tuition would give more scope for middle class families to attend.

Every private school is charging too much in my view. They seem to be following the increase in college tuitions, but that is fueled and driven by the ready availability of student loans (another problem). We don't have a similar enabler for k-12s. The schools are having a huge inequality problem. Which school is going to have the balls to stand up and stop the madness of tuition increases??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the Board supposed to do? The reality is that the major driver of costs at educational institutions (schools and colleges) is personnel - salary and benefits. We know the cost of benefits continue to soar. And there's no way to give faculty a raise without increasing tuition. There just isn't. Faculty at these schools are getting 2 and 3 percent raises, and have been for at least a decade now. Not exactly a ton of money. Show me a good school or college that generally isn't increasing its costs every year.

I'm in the doughnut. We get decent (though not huge) financial aid and scrimp to send our kids to private school. No we don't take vacations, and yes our 2 cars have over 300,000 miles on them combined. Neither of my kids has, or will have, their own car. But they are happy and doing great. If I have to spend my money on something, I'd rather spend it on their tuition than a new car. So does this year's tuition increase mean we've got to figure out how to save a little more money? Yeah, it does. Oh well, it's worth it to us.

The first thing the Board shoukd do is to close down the FA office, and charge the same fees to everyone.

Go to the private BASIS school. One fee, no fundraising, no financial aid. $28,200 flat fee. There is no development office.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:plenty of 9th grade entries are fin aid.

Most are. They skim the super brains and super athletes. Ever seen a lifer be valedictorian or salutatorian? Me neither.
Very competitive applicants from publics and some private for 9th grade.

Sidwell doesn't have class ranks. As such, there has never been a valedictorian or salutatorian.

If you are going to spread disinformation about a school, please research so you have some measure of credibility.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a little confused by all these posts saying that Sidwell and the board do not care about their middle class families and the solution is to cut financial aid. If you do that, wouldn't that be saying that Sidwell doesn't care about lower income families?

Yes, you could make the case. I think the point being made is that with high tuition, you only get the very rich who basically subsidize financial aid and low income families. Middle class families get squeezed out. The point being made is that lower tuition would give more scope for middle class families to attend.

Every private school is charging too much in my view. They seem to be following the increase in college tuitions, but that is fueled and driven by the ready availability of student loans (another problem). We don't have a similar enabler for k-12s. The schools are having a huge inequality problem. Which school is going to have the balls to stand up and stop the madness of tuition increases??

Most of the FA is not a full pay. Most of it is $3k here and $5k there. Yes, there are some fully subsidized kids, but that is the exception, not the rule. Plenty of middle class with FA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most of the FA is not a full pay. Most of it is $3k here and $5k there. Yes, there are some fully subsidized kids, but that is the exception, not the rule. Plenty of middle class with FA.

Then why on the Sidwell web site it states: http://www.sidwell.edu/about 23% of student received FA, FA budget is 7M and average FA package award is 26,900. That's a lot for FA. What is the median of the FA award, maybe that is a better indication.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most of the FA is not a full pay. Most of it is $3k here and $5k there. Yes, there are some fully subsidized kids, but that is the exception, not the rule. Plenty of middle class with FA.

Then why on the Sidwell web site it states: http://www.sidwell.edu/about 23% of student received FA, FA budget is 7M and average FA package award is 26,900. That's a lot for FA. What is the median of the FA award, maybe that is a better indication.

Perhaps if you ask the FA office or the head of school, they can answer the question. I don't think you will find it here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most of the FA is not a full pay. Most of it is $3k here and $5k there. Yes, there are some fully subsidized kids, but that is the exception, not the rule. Plenty of middle class with FA.

Then why on the Sidwell web site it states: http://www.sidwell.edu/about 23% of student received FA, FA budget is 7M and average FA package award is 26,900. That's a lot for FA. What is the median of the FA award, maybe that is a better indication.

Perhaps if you ask the FA office or the head of school, they can answer the question. I don't think you will find it here.

I think the question is directed to the first poster who claims “most is $3k here...”. If you (3rd poster above) are also the first poster, you are spreading something you do not know.

If you are not the first poster,
to the first poster: please explain

[Anonymous]

The solution is not to cut the FA office, but I do think these schools tend to hang on to less productive teachers for too long. It's hard to fire people in a close-knit community, but there are definitely teachers who are a drag on the budget. And, unfortunately, these schools have all put a little too much money into top facilities at the expense of paying teachers more or keeping things slightly more affordable. I'm all for nice facilities, but, at a certain point, there is an opportunity cost.

[Anonymous]

One key point i take from this thread , most of the educated elite have segregated themselves from the majority of people in he US. I don’t know a single family that uses private school and all my friends have college kids from great schools . I live in fairfax.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One key point i take from this thread , most of the educated elite have segregated themselves from the majority of people in he US. I don’t know a single family that uses private school and all my friends have college kids from great schools . I live in fairfax.

It is about 10% of the children in the USA fwiw.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:plenty of 9th grade entries are fin aid.

Most are. They skim the super brains and super athletes. Ever seen a lifer be valedictorian or salutatorian? Me neither.
Very competitive applicants from publics and some private for 9th grade.

Sidwell doesn't have class ranks. As such, there has never been a valedictorian or salutatorian.

If you are going to spread disinformation about a school, please research so you have some measure of credibility.

Thank you for posting this! I was just thinking that I must have slept through a whole lot of my older kids' commencement ceremonies!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the Board supposed to do? The reality is that the major driver of costs at educational institutions (schools and colleges) is personnel - salary and benefits. We know the cost of benefits continue to soar. And there's no way to give faculty a raise without increasing tuition. There just isn't. Faculty at these schools are getting 2 and 3 percent raises, and have been for at least a decade now. Not exactly a ton of money. Show me a good school or college that generally isn't increasing its costs every year.

I'm in the doughnut. We get decent (though not huge) financial aid and scrimp to send our kids to private school. No we don't take vacations, and yes our 2 cars have over 300,000 miles on them combined. Neither of my kids has, or will have, their own car. But they are happy and doing great. If I have to spend my money on something, I'd rather spend it on their tuition than a new car. So does this year's tuition increase mean we've got to figure out how to save a little more money? Yeah, it does. Oh well, it's worth it to us.

The first thing the Board shoukd do is to close down the FA office, and charge the same fees to everyone.

Go to the private BASIS school. One fee, no fundraising, no financial aid. $28,200 flat fee. There is no development office.

BASIS is not in the same league as Sidwell. They charged $25,500 two years ago and are at $28,200 now but believe me they charge exorbitant fees for everything. It is not a great deal. By not providing aid, they are leaving out a lot of kids who would be very successful and help make it a great school. They are not selective and do not and do not provide many of the resources that other local privates offer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:plenty of 9th grade entries are fin aid.

Most are. They skim the super brains and super athletes. Ever seen a lifer be valedictorian or salutatorian? Me neither.
Very competitive applicants from publics and some private for 9th grade.

Sidwell doesn't have class ranks. As such, there has never been a valedictorian or salutatorian.

If you are going to spread disinformation about a school, please research so you have some measure of credibility.

TROLL BUSTED!