Enough is enough

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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).

Do you feel this type of context switching and multi tasking is unique to HOS? Folks in non-profits do this all day everyday. Your HOS might not be making a lot but there are plenty of them who are. Further, a great amount of the fundraising and tuition increases are not going to teacher raises or even building upkeep as much as it’s going to new buildings/ facilities / campus that really aren’t needed. Why are some HS trying to rival small college campus or boarding schools?

I’m not sure what school you’re talking about, but I’m a private school trustee and our tuition increase (and I mean 100%) goes straight to teacher and staff salary and benefit increases. When our HOS earns an increase and it can’t be covered with the tuition increase that ups the operating budget, cuts are made in areas with more fungibility, like specific savings buckets or nice-but-not-mandatory facilities upgrades. And by facilities upgrades, I mean changing fixtures in the arts wing to LEDs, not building a new auditorium.

There are probably 10 schools in the entire country that are spending money hand-over-fist in the hysterical way described by Op. The rest are running way more lean than anyone wants to imagine.

Could be leaner with fewer donations.

Hahahahaha. Have you looked at a school's operating budget? A huge chunk of ours comes from donations. Without them, the choices would be:

1) increase tuition by $2-$3k annually in addition to the annual percentage increases
2) cut teachers. There are already very few extraneous staffers so the first to go would be art, instrumental music or PE, or possibly middle school foreign language.
3) increase class sizes to ratios that are the same as parish or public schools. But then all of the special snowflakes who need extra attention wouldn't be getting it, so you wouldn't be at the school anyway, so this whole donation conversation would be moot.

In short: donations are what makes your private school the place it is and the place you chose. You're naive to think that without donations it would be fine. It's probably going to be fine without your donations since they were probably insignificant in the first place, so carry on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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).

Do you feel this type of context switching and multi tasking is unique to HOS? Folks in non-profits do this all day everyday. Your HOS might not be making a lot but there are plenty of them who are. Further, a great amount of the fundraising and tuition increases are not going to teacher raises or even building upkeep as much as it’s going to new buildings/ facilities / campus that really aren’t needed. Why are some HS trying to rival small college campus or boarding schools?

I’m not sure what school you’re talking about, but I’m a private school trustee and our tuition increase (and I mean 100%) goes straight to teacher and staff salary and benefit increases. When our HOS earns an increase and it can’t be covered with the tuition increase that ups the operating budget, cuts are made in areas with more fungibility, like specific savings buckets or nice-but-not-mandatory facilities upgrades. And by facilities upgrades, I mean changing fixtures in the arts wing to LEDs, not building a new auditorium.

There are probably 10 schools in the entire country that are spending money hand-over-fist in the hysterical way described by Op. The rest are running way more lean than anyone wants to imagine.

Could be leaner with fewer donations.

Hahahahaha. Have you looked at a school's operating budget? A huge chunk of ours comes from donations. Without them, the choices would be:

1) increase tuition by $2-$3k annually in addition to the annual percentage increases
2) cut teachers. There are already very few extraneous staffers so the first to go would be art, instrumental music or PE, or possibly middle school foreign language.
3) increase class sizes to ratios that are the same as parish or public schools. But then all of the special snowflakes who need extra attention wouldn't be getting it, so you wouldn't be at the school anyway, so this whole donation conversation would be moot.

In short: donations are what makes your private school the place it is and the place you chose. You're naive to think that without donations it would be fine. It's probably going to be fine without your donations since they were probably insignificant in the first place, so carry on.

Please just do the first option. By requesting donations you are taking money away from needy causes and life saving philanthropy. Just stop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The financial aid parents are already free loading off the the tuition that full pay families are paying. If you are full pay, you are already contributing more than average due to the free loaders.

Eliminating financial aid programs would lower tuition by at least $5k-10k per year at most private schools.

The government is already providing these kids with public school. Financial aid is an unnecessary expense.

[Anonymous]

Donate what you can and volunteer what you can. Schools don't like to raise tuition. Giving a small amount does matter - not just to say how everyone loves them, but it matters for grants and loans. If you can't get people to believe in your school, an outsider won't either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The financial aid parents are already free loading off the the tuition that full pay families are paying. If you are full pay, you are already contributing more than average due to the free loaders.

Eliminating financial aid programs would lower tuition by at least $5k-10k per year at most private schools.

The government is already providing these kids with public school. Financial aid is an unnecessary expense.

This would ensure a complete lack of socioeconomic diversity in private schools, which I suspect is totally fine with you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The financial aid parents are already free loading off the the tuition that full pay families are paying. If you are full pay, you are already contributing more than average due to the free loaders.

Eliminating financial aid programs would lower tuition by at least $5k-10k per year at most private schools.

The government is already providing these kids with public school. Financial aid is an unnecessary expense.

This would ensure a complete lack of socioeconomic diversity in private schools, which I suspect is totally fine with you.

Schools should focus on the type of diversity they don’t have to pay for through financial aid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The financial aid parents are already free loading off the the tuition that full pay families are paying. If you are full pay, you are already contributing more than average due to the free loaders.

Eliminating financial aid programs would lower tuition by at least $5k-10k per year at most private schools.

The government is already providing these kids with public school. Financial aid is an unnecessary expense.

This would ensure a complete lack of socioeconomic diversity in private schools, which I suspect is totally fine with you.

Schools should focus on the type of diversity they don’t have to pay for through financial aid.

We are in the second Gilded Age, after all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The financial aid parents are already free loading off the the tuition that full pay families are paying. If you are full pay, you are already contributing more than average due to the free loaders.

Eliminating financial aid programs would lower tuition by at least $5k-10k per year at most private schools.

The government is already providing these kids with public school. Financial aid is an unnecessary expense.

This would ensure a complete lack of socioeconomic diversity in private schools, which I suspect is totally fine with you.

Schools should focus on the type of diversity they don’t have to pay for through financial aid.

We are in the second Gilded Age, after all.

Poll the parents at your school to see if they would rather drop tuition $5k-10k or keep the financial aid program. There is your answer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The financial aid parents are already free loading off the the tuition that full pay families are paying. If you are full pay, you are already contributing more than average due to the free loaders.

Eliminating financial aid programs would lower tuition by at least $5k-10k per year at most private schools.

The government is already providing these kids with public school. Financial aid is an unnecessary expense.

This would ensure a complete lack of socioeconomic diversity in private schools, which I suspect is totally fine with you.

Schools should focus on the type of diversity they don’t have to pay for through financial aid.

The market disagrees with your view. Plenty of other full pay applicants out there willing to pay the going rate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The financial aid parents are already free loading off the the tuition that full pay families are paying. If you are full pay, you are already contributing more than average due to the free loaders.

Eliminating financial aid programs would lower tuition by at least $5k-10k per year at most private schools.

The government is already providing these kids with public school. Financial aid is an unnecessary expense.

This would ensure a complete lack of socioeconomic diversity in private schools, which I suspect is totally fine with you.

Schools should focus on the type of diversity they don’t have to pay for through financial aid.

The market disagrees with your view. Plenty of other full pay applicants out there willing to pay the going rate.

Give them a choice and find out for yourself. There is currently no way to opt out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The financial aid parents are already free loading off the the tuition that full pay families are paying. If you are full pay, you are already contributing more than average due to the free loaders.

Eliminating financial aid programs would lower tuition by at least $5k-10k per year at most private schools.

The government is already providing these kids with public school. Financial aid is an unnecessary expense.

This would ensure a complete lack of socioeconomic diversity in private schools, which I suspect is totally fine with you.

Schools should focus on the type of diversity they don’t have to pay for through financial aid.

They already do that but pretend not to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The financial aid parents are already free loading off the the tuition that full pay families are paying. If you are full pay, you are already contributing more than average due to the free loaders.

Eliminating financial aid programs would lower tuition by at least $5k-10k per year at most private schools.

The government is already providing these kids with public school. Financial aid is an unnecessary expense.

This would ensure a complete lack of socioeconomic diversity in private schools, which I suspect is totally fine with you.

Schools should focus on the type of diversity they don’t have to pay for through financial aid.

The market disagrees with your view. Plenty of other full pay applicants out there willing to pay the going rate.

Give them a choice and find out for yourself. There is currently no way to opt out.

Oh really? Parents are involuntarily paying tuition to their schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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).

Do you feel this type of context switching and multi tasking is unique to HOS? Folks in non-profits do this all day everyday. Your HOS might not be making a lot but there are plenty of them who are. Further, a great amount of the fundraising and tuition increases are not going to teacher raises or even building upkeep as much as it’s going to new buildings/ facilities / campus that really aren’t needed. Why are some HS trying to rival small college campus or boarding schools?

I’m not sure what school you’re talking about, but I’m a private school trustee and our tuition increase (and I mean 100%) goes straight to teacher and staff salary and benefit increases. When our HOS earns an increase and it can’t be covered with the tuition increase that ups the operating budget, cuts are made in areas with more fungibility, like specific savings buckets or nice-but-not-mandatory facilities upgrades. And by facilities upgrades, I mean changing fixtures in the arts wing to LEDs, not building a new auditorium.

There are probably 10 schools in the entire country that are spending money hand-over-fist in the hysterical way described by Op. The rest are running way more lean than anyone wants to imagine.

Could be leaner with fewer donations.

Hahahahaha. Have you looked at a school's operating budget? A huge chunk of ours comes from donations. Without them, the choices would be:

1) increase tuition by $2-$3k annually in addition to the annual percentage increases
2) cut teachers. There are already very few extraneous staffers so the first to go would be art, instrumental music or PE, or possibly middle school foreign language.
3) increase class sizes to ratios that are the same as parish or public schools. But then all of the special snowflakes who need extra attention wouldn't be getting it, so you wouldn't be at the school anyway, so this whole donation conversation would be moot.

In short: donations are what makes your private school the place it is and the place you chose. You're naive to think that without donations it would be fine. It's probably going to be fine without your donations since they were probably insignificant in the first place, so carry on.

Ask Harvard. Fewer government grants, leaner budget. Not so difficult.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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).

Do you feel this type of context switching and multi tasking is unique to HOS? Folks in non-profits do this all day everyday. Your HOS might not be making a lot but there are plenty of them who are. Further, a great amount of the fundraising and tuition increases are not going to teacher raises or even building upkeep as much as it’s going to new buildings/ facilities / campus that really aren’t needed. Why are some HS trying to rival small college campus or boarding schools?

I’m not sure what school you’re talking about, but I’m a private school trustee and our tuition increase (and I mean 100%) goes straight to teacher and staff salary and benefit increases. When our HOS earns an increase and it can’t be covered with the tuition increase that ups the operating budget, cuts are made in areas with more fungibility, like specific savings buckets or nice-but-not-mandatory facilities upgrades. And by facilities upgrades, I mean changing fixtures in the arts wing to LEDs, not building a new auditorium.

There are probably 10 schools in the entire country that are spending money hand-over-fist in the hysterical way described by Op. The rest are running way more lean than anyone wants to imagine.

Could be leaner with fewer donations.

Hahahahaha. Have you looked at a school's operating budget? A huge chunk of ours comes from donations. Without them, the choices would be:

1) increase tuition by $2-$3k annually in addition to the annual percentage increases
2) cut teachers. There are already very few extraneous staffers so the first to go would be art, instrumental music or PE, or possibly middle school foreign language.
3) increase class sizes to ratios that are the same as parish or public schools. But then all of the special snowflakes who need extra attention wouldn't be getting it, so you wouldn't be at the school anyway, so this whole donation conversation would be moot.

In short: donations are what makes your private school the place it is and the place you chose. You're naive to think that without donations it would be fine. It's probably going to be fine without your donations since they were probably insignificant in the first place, so carry on.

+1 I understand how hard it can be to see tuition rise faster than general inflation. These increases often reflect the unique costs of running a school—things like retaining great teachers, keeping class sizes small, supporting enrichment programs, and ensuring a safe, welcoming environment for our kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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).

Do you feel this type of context switching and multi tasking is unique to HOS? Folks in non-profits do this all day everyday. Your HOS might not be making a lot but there are plenty of them who are. Further, a great amount of the fundraising and tuition increases are not going to teacher raises or even building upkeep as much as it’s going to new buildings/ facilities / campus that really aren’t needed. Why are some HS trying to rival small college campus or boarding schools?

I’m not sure what school you’re talking about, but I’m a private school trustee and our tuition increase (and I mean 100%) goes straight to teacher and staff salary and benefit increases. When our HOS earns an increase and it can’t be covered with the tuition increase that ups the operating budget, cuts are made in areas with more fungibility, like specific savings buckets or nice-but-not-mandatory facilities upgrades. And by facilities upgrades, I mean changing fixtures in the arts wing to LEDs, not building a new auditorium.

There are probably 10 schools in the entire country that are spending money hand-over-fist in the hysterical way described by Op. The rest are running way more lean than anyone wants to imagine.

Could be leaner with fewer donations.

Hahahahaha. Have you looked at a school's operating budget? A huge chunk of ours comes from donations. Without them, the choices would be:

1) increase tuition by $2-$3k annually in addition to the annual percentage increases
2) cut teachers. There are already very few extraneous staffers so the first to go would be art, instrumental music or PE, or possibly middle school foreign language.
3) increase class sizes to ratios that are the same as parish or public schools. But then all of the special snowflakes who need extra attention wouldn't be getting it, so you wouldn't be at the school anyway, so this whole donation conversation would be moot.

In short: donations are what makes your private school the place it is and the place you chose. You're naive to think that without donations it would be fine. It's probably going to be fine without your donations since they were probably insignificant in the first place, so carry on.

+1 I understand how hard it can be to see tuition rise faster than general inflation. These increases often reflect the unique costs of running a school—things like retaining great teachers, keeping class sizes small, supporting enrichment programs, and ensuring a safe, welcoming environment for our kids.

Doesn’t make any economic sense that the tuition in Sidwell (60k) is almost as high as the tuition in Georgetown university (70k) or UVA for non residents (60k).