What's your school's gap?

[Anonymous]

Tuition gap that is. Does it stay relatively constant year to year? Or? Just curious. They ask people to cover the gap. What percentage of parents do that? Cover it for multiple kids in school?
Not sure of our current school's gap. Our old school had a gap of $2000, we donated half that.

[Anonymous]

The gap is a bit of a marketing fiction. If everyone paid tuition and there was no FA, then either no gap or much smaller than some schools claim. Of course, if no FA,then arguably the school itself is different /more homogenious experience for your kid which can be seen as diminishing the product -- hence greater gap. Similarly, if no revenue from annual fund and school used some of that for operating expenses, it would have to make some expense cuts. Our old school annually talked about the gap. Our current school has never mentioned it in their annual fund campaign.

[Anonymous]

We give about half the gap and have two kids in the school. I also don't really believe in the "gap." The school makes a lot of money from auxiliary programs (after school, activities, camps) and has income from investments plus the auction, etc.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Do you think the "gap" is really code for what they expect as a yearly donation from the average full tuition pay parents?

[Anonymous]

Sounds absurd...they give you a (large) tuition bill, you pay it and then you get mailings saying that they need more money?
And then you give them more money?
Do people really have that much money that they can just keep writing check after check?
At what point do you feel like a real sucker?

[Anonymous]

The gap is real. At our school your tuition covers about 78% of the cost of educating your kid. Yes it's crazy expensive and yes people have a lot of money and prioritize education. Thanks to some of the more wealthy generous folks, all of our kids receive an outstanding education at schools with exceptional facilities, faculty, and programs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The gap is a bit of a marketing fiction. If everyone paid tuition and there was no FA, then either no gap or much smaller than some schools claim. Of course, if no FA,then arguably the school itself is different /more homogenious experience for your kid which can be seen as diminishing the product -- hence greater gap. Similarly, if no revenue from annual fund and school used some of that for operating expenses, it would have to make some expense cuts. Our old school annually talked about the gap. Our current school has never mentioned it in their annual fund campaign.

A bit off topic, but as I understand it, independent schools are REQUIRED to offer some level of FA, in compliance with their tax status. Is that correct?

And I also think the so-called "gap" is a marketing fraud. What they really mean is a "suggested/ ideal contribution per child to the annual fund." We give far less because frankly, I don't like the feeling of being manipulated in that way.

[Anonymous]

Ours is $1300 per kid (not per family).

[Anonymous]

We donate the gap amount for each kid. This Issas expensive than if tuition included the gap amount as donations are tax deductible but tuition is not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Do you think the "gap" is really code for what they expect as a yearly donation from the average full tuition pay parents?

Short answer -- yes, I do think this is why some schools talk about the gap, but they are usually happy just to get new families to participate at any level -- the though is wherever you start you will be asked for more each year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The gap is real. At our school your tuition covers about 78% of the cost of educating your kid. Yes it's crazy expensive and yes people have a lot of money and prioritize education. Thanks to some of the more wealthy generous folks, all of our kids receive an outstanding education at schools with exceptional facilities, faculty, and programs. [/quote

I understand this, but at many major independent schools in greater DC the budget includes 20% or more for FA. I'm not criticizing FA -- personally, I think it is critical to a healthy environment at a private school -- but I still view the "gap" as a marketing ploy. And yes, I also agree that by not having tuition higher at least the donations are deductable. But I think schools do it this way because if donations come in lower they can play a bit with FA offers to new families to reduce expenses without necessarily compromising programs -- at least not in the first instance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The gap is real. At our school your tuition covers about 78% of the cost of educating your kid. Yes it's crazy expensive and yes people have a lot of money and prioritize education. Thanks to some of the more wealthy generous folks, all of our kids receive an outstanding education at schools with exceptional facilities, faculty, and programs.

The gap is real in the same sense as any accounting line item is real ... the government reported decifit numbers are real too, but you have to understand baseline, which trust funds are included or not, projected interest rates and economic growth rates and on an on. Same thing with school gaps ... they can be tricked out to be whatever the school chooses. This is not to say that giving isn't important and doesn't support programs and FA ... clearly donations are important. But clearly, most families give nothing close to the gap per child and yet the school soldiers on ... there is a reason for that outcome.

[Anonymous]

I don't think it's manipulative so much as a way for schools to make the need for donations a little more concrete. For example: Tuition covers x% of expenses. We raise x% with events and fundraisers. At the end of the day that leaves x% that we need to receive in donations to cover the gap. Now, it might be worth asking for how those numbers are calculated for transparency's sake, but presumably these schools report to parents at least annually about budget, financial health, etc.?