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wHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOU'VE ACCEPTED, BUT THEN WAITLIST COMES THROUGH?
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Anonymous
| Thanks. Interesting, but it doesn't answer the question. |
Anonymous
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It verifies that attorneys' fees and bad PR are reasons not to try to enforce such contracts.
There's not going to be data on non-enforcement -- it's a non-event (no lawsuit filed, no bitter parents complaining vociferously). By contrast, if enforcement were common, the Barrie case (decided in 2007) wouldn't have been news and we'd hear lots more horror stories. But, of course, as has been previously pointed out repeatedly, the issue isn't what the norm is but how this particular school will reaction. It's certainly worth asking, especially given the fact that it's only the first week of June and waitlists are still in play. I hope the OP will tell us the outcome. |
Anonymous
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But it also suggests that there are good reasons to try to enforce.
Enforcement might be more common than you think--perhaps the Barrie case was unusual because the parents actually fought back. And if non-enforcement were relatively common, it seems someone would at least have heard of such a case. I would not assume that either is the norm. |
Anonymous
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I think enforcement is very common, maybe not at the start of the summer but the closer to the start of school a school gets. The way some schools work with families is to let them donate the tuition so it's tax deduction. I also think that schools like to hold their cards on this one very close to their vest, since once they start making exceptions for one ...
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Anonymous
Fair enough. I was assuming parental pushback -- at which point, it doesn't look like school routinely sue to enforce the contract. But if by enforcement you mean that the AD says you still owe us and, as a result, the parents stay or pay, then yeah, enforcement in that sense would certainly be more common. |
Anonymous
| You wouldn't hear about cases of non-enforcement. In those situations, your friend just says "hooray, we got off the waitlist and we're going to X!" If the school being withdrawn from doesn't get in the way, its response isn't newsworthy. And if the school doesn't make a fuss, it may not even occur to the parent that there was a contractual obligation that could have been enforced. You'd probably just assume that the clause is in there for situations where the school can't replace your kid with someone on the waitlist. |
Anonymous
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As someone else pointed out a contract is a contract. Based on my experience as a Board member of an independent school the contracts are definitely enforced. This is not just at this particular school but at most area schools. You can certainly try to talk to the school in question but it doesn't strike me that preferring another school will be considered an extenuating circumstance. I do know of several people who have chosen to pay two tuitions.
OP, have you actually gotten off a waitlist or are you posing a hypothetical question? |
Anonymous
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19:45 I think in this day and age that word would get around, even if it was a friend of a friend thing, if a school let someone slide on this. Also, when we switched from public to private, I had no idea contract binding dates were so early, and so, well, binding, and a friend, a Board member at a DC independent school, warned me to watch that date.
21:18 I believe this is a real-life question, considering the upper case urgency of the topic subject line! |
Anonymous
| Sounds like a hypothetical to me! |
Anonymous
| We bought the contract insurance. When we did pull DC out of the school, we were on the hook for maybe two months' tuition, plus they insisted that DC spend two weeks in class there (meanwhile missing class the other school). Actually, the two weeks thing wasn't the fault of the school we left - they were very nice about it. It was in the contract we signed with the insurance company, who insisted on it. |
Anonymous
| The contract insurance we were offered did not cover voluntary withdrawal like switching to another school. It was for relocation, etc. PP, can you share what school? All my friends at other schools say their insurance is the same. I don't know anyone with a plan that covers switching to another local school. |
Anonymous
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The insurance for DC-area independent schools is offered through a 3rd party, not through the school itself.
For example: http://educationinsuranceplans.com/ |