How do religious based schools justify $35k tuition?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Interesting, 13:22. Why are they so much cheaper than many of the other private schools?

I think it's a variety of reasons. In many cases the facilities are not as fancy as other private schools. In some cases the student/teacher ratios are higher.

But I think the biggest difference is that most Catholic high schools have a much smaller administrative structure than the K-12 privates do. Think about it: Gonzaga, Potomac, Sidwell, and GDS all have roughly 1,000 students. But Gonzaga only has to pay a head of school and a president, while those other schools have to pay a head of school, head of upper school, head of middle school, and head of lower school (all with their own assistants). Some of those schools have multiple campuses, so they have facilities directors on both campuses, twice as many security guards, food service people, landscaping costs, etc. Some coed schools have two athletic directors (boys and girls) while all the Catholic schools I know of only have one. And the admin salaries, at least for top administrators, tend to be exponentially higher at non-Catholic schools.

[Anonymous]

That explains why the lower schools are more expensive but does not really point to why the upper school is more expensive.

Does the HS tuition pay for the middle and lower schools administrators? Does 1 more athletic director cost that much?

Each school will have different expenses. Gonzaga's sports teams have extensive travel expenses since they are Nationally ranked in multiple sports. Paul VI has a special education program. Each school has unique expenses.

Maybe it is that the administrators are way over paid.

[Anonymous]

To be clear: STA. NCS & Beauvoir which are "Cathedral" schools do not receive money from the church, national or otherwise. In fact these schools pay a fee to the Protestant Episcopal Foundation for shared services such as internet, phones, HR, security, horticulture & grounds (i.e., snow removal) HVAC and electric. This is a line item in their budgets which other schools do not have.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That explains why the lower schools are more expensive but does not really point to why the upper school is more expensive.

Does the HS tuition pay for the middle and lower schools administrators? Does 1 more athletic director cost that much?

Each school will have different expenses. Gonzaga's sports teams have extensive travel expenses since they are Nationally ranked in multiple sports. Paul VI has a special education program. Each school has unique expenses.

Maybe it is that the administrators are way over paid.

Just think about it. Even if you're comparing high schools only, the numbers are pretty different. At Potomac (for example) you have maybe 400 upper school students. At Gonzaga (for example) you have 950. Both schools have one dean of students, one academic dean, a college counseling department, athletic department, counselor, nurse, etc. Potomac also has to pay twice as many coaches since they're coed. Yes, Gonzaga will most likely have to employ more teachers, so that class sizes aren't humongous, but the administrators, staff, facilities, etc. are basically "fixed costs" that you have to pay regardless of how many students you have.

And in effect, yes, the HS tuition does pay for the MS and LS administrators. From a budget standpoint, it doesn't really matter what grades the students are in. You're looking at 2x as many administrators and staff (or more) for the same number of students, so naturally the tuition is going to be higher.

Finally, another piece of it is that Catholic and non-Catholic schools have traditionally drawn from somewhat different pools of people. The non-Catholic schools have found they can keep raising tuition and demand doesn't suffer. I think that's not as true for Catholic schools, for a variety of reasons. So they have to find ways to keep costs down - not building that art gallery or swimming pool, not hiring a third or fourth college counselor, lower budgets for development and admissions, slightly bigger classes, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To be clear: STA. NCS & Beauvoir which are "Cathedral" schools do not receive money from the church, national or otherwise. In fact these schools pay a fee to the Protestant Episcopal Foundation for shared services such as internet, phones, HR, security, horticulture & grounds (i.e., snow removal) HVAC and electric. This is a line item in their budgets which other schools do not have.

Well, other schools have to pay for internet, phones, HR, HVAC, snow removal, etc. as well. So it shouldn't be too big a hardship.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To be clear: STA. NCS & Beauvoir which are "Cathedral" schools do not receive money from the church, national or otherwise. In fact these schools pay a fee to the Protestant Episcopal Foundation for shared services such as internet, phones, HR, security, horticulture & grounds (i.e., snow removal) HVAC and electric. This is a line item in their budgets which other schools do not have.

Well, other schools have to pay for internet, phones, HR, HVAC, snow removal, etc. as well. So it shouldn't be too big a hardship.

Right. But PP was clarifying a specific point. That is, not only do these schools not get direct cash infusions, they also don't get indirect subsidies in the form of Internet etc... either.

STA and NCS is pretty much in line with tuition at secular schools like Maret and Potomac. Given the cost structure that various PPs have described and clarified for you, that's not surprising.

So you should also be asking about Maret and Potomac tuition vis a vis the parochials.

[Anonymous]

In both Jewish Day Schools and at least the Catholic schools I am familiar with, the student-teacher ratio is much higher. That means more students offsetting the cost, and fewer teachers to pay. A friend of mine teaches at a Catholic school in Bethesda, and her classes are bigger than the local public school down the road. I still wish they would lower prices at the independent schools though...