Is your private having another tuition increase?

[Anonymous]

To be fair to 10:10, I think she's only expressing what the tuition picture looks like from the perspective of the schools and full-pay families. I don't think anyone disagrees that tuition is a huge burden for families earning $100-200K and that they are very uncomfortable with asking for financial aid and there isn't much available for them.

The problem is that the compromises to bring down tuition aren't desired by higher income families, even though most of the financial benefit would accrue to them. A lot of higher income families would rather pay more for the "fancy" elements of private and donate generously for financial aid and capital campaigns than see larger class sizes, fewer course offerings, and older facilities.

[Anonymous]

Almost 3%. It's really unsustainable, plus the annual fund, auction and miscellaneous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Almost 3%. It's really unsustainable, plus the annual fund, auction and miscellaneous.

3% doesn't seem unreasonable to me. Let's say you're in a school that's at $35,000 now (not an unreasonable assumption). A 3% increase is about $1,000 a year, so less than $100 extra a month. I hear you that 3% a year for the life of a student is hard to swallow, but for the sake of my example, let's assume you're in that middling income group of folks who make too much for financial aid, but not enough to think that $35,000 is easy to swing. I'll just pull a number out of thin air - $200,000 annual HHI. Maybe you're a couple of feds - GS-14s for example. Sure, the last five years have been tough, but the adjustments have been coming, 1% a year over the last two years. Obviously you're not swimming in dough, but your income is going up. A 1% increase covers the 3% increase in tuition, even after taxes. Again, it isn't ideal and you're not living in the lap of luxury, but you want to make the sacrifice for your kid. Of course, maybe you've had enough and a few years of 3, 4, 5% increases will be what pushes you back to public. That's a legitimate path to take. But all of the uproar over unsustainable tuition increases simply ignores a long history of such increases and while some schools took a hit during the recession, there are still plenty around and I don't see any of the $35k to $40k a year schools suddenly losing students in droves.

It is manageable and sustainable over the long run. Will there be families who get priced out along the way - yes. Will there be families who cut other places to make it work - yes. Will independent schools keep raising tuition like they have for decades - yes.

[Anonymous]

Gate keeping at its finest.

[Anonymous]

I'm okay with 3%. Okay, not really, but keeping pace with inflation is justifiable. I don't understand how schools think 5-7% EVERY SINGLE YEAR is going to work for families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Almost 3%. It's really unsustainable, plus the annual fund, auction and miscellaneous.

3% doesn't seem unreasonable to me. Let's say you're in a school that's at $35,000 now (not an unreasonable assumption). A 3% increase is about $1,000 a year, so less than $100 extra a month. I hear you that 3% a year for the life of a student is hard to swallow, but for the sake of my example, let's assume you're in that middling income group of folks who make too much for financial aid, but not enough to think that $35,000 is easy to swing. I'll just pull a number out of thin air - $200,000 annual HHI. Maybe you're a couple of feds - GS-14s for example. Sure, the last five years have been tough, but the adjustments have been coming, 1% a year over the last two years. Obviously you're not swimming in dough, but your income is going up. A 1% increase covers the 3% increase in tuition, even after taxes. Again, it isn't ideal and you're not living in the lap of luxury, but you want to make the sacrifice for your kid. Of course, maybe you've had enough and a few years of 3, 4, 5% increases will be what pushes you back to public. That's a legitimate path to take. But all of the uproar over unsustainable tuition increases simply ignores a long history of such increases and while some schools took a hit during the recession, there are still plenty around and I don't see any of the $35k to $40k a year schools suddenly losing students in droves.

It is manageable and sustainable over the long run. Will there be families who get priced out along the way - yes. Will there be families who cut other places to make it work - yes. Will independent schools keep raising tuition like they have for decades - yes.

Your opinion is unfortunately countered by the facts and leadership in the industry. See article posted by 14:57 on 1/28/15. I used to work with a bunch of people who said that, "house prices could never decline year over year on a national basis". Their support for this argument, that t had never happened before. Nice!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm okay with 3%. Okay, not really, but keeping pace with inflation is justifiable. I don't understand how schools think 5-7% EVERY SINGLE YEAR is going to work for families.

Yes.

[Anonymous]

Collegiate, Spence, and Trinity are $43k, Brearley is $42k, Horace Mann is $41k, and Chapin is $39k. The Big 3 have a bit of a cushion to catch up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Collegiate, Spence, and Trinity are $43k, Brearley is $42k, Horace Mann is $41k, and Chapin is $39k. The Big 3 have a bit of a cushion to catch up.

Apples and oranges. Cost of living overall is higher in NY, as are salaries.

[Anonymous]

3.9-/-
We started paying $18,000 in 2003 and next year it's going to be $37,000!
It does not make sense.
And they always present a graph showing how our increase is similar to similar schools...Is that a good reason?
I have to add, it's the smaller increase in years!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Collegiate, Spence, and Trinity are $43k, Brearley is $42k, Horace Mann is $41k, and Chapin is $39k. The Big 3 have a bit of a cushion to catch up.

Apples and oranges. Cost of living overall is higher in NY, as are salaries.

+1- Top lobbyists and BigLaw partners don't earn near what top hedge fund managers and investment bankers bring in. Plus the population in NYC is much larger, so there is a larger pool of potential students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Almost 3%. It's really unsustainable, plus the annual fund, auction and miscellaneous.

3% doesn't seem unreasonable to me. Let's say you're in a school that's at $35,000 now (not an unreasonable assumption). A 3% increase is about $1,000 a year, so less than $100 extra a month. I hear you that 3% a year for the life of a student is hard to swallow, but for the sake of my example, let's assume you're in that middling income group of folks who make too much for financial aid, but not enough to think that $35,000 is easy to swing. I'll just pull a number out of thin air - $200,000 annual HHI. Maybe you're a couple of feds - GS-14s for example. Sure, the last five years have been tough, but the adjustments have been coming, 1% a year over the last two years. Obviously you're not swimming in dough, but your income is going up. A 1% increase covers the 3% increase in tuition, even after taxes. Again, it isn't ideal and you're not living in the lap of luxury, but you want to make the sacrifice for your kid. Of course, maybe you've had enough and a few years of 3, 4, 5% increases will be what pushes you back to public. That's a legitimate path to take. But all of the uproar over unsustainable tuition increases simply ignores a long history of such increases and while some schools took a hit during the recession, there are still plenty around and I don't see any of the $35k to $40k a year schools suddenly losing students in droves.

It is manageable and sustainable over the long run. Will there be families who get priced out along the way - yes. Will there be families who cut other places to make it work - yes. Will independent schools keep raising tuition like they have for decades - yes.

Some of the second tier schools with similar tuition numbers are having significant enrollment problems. They face a dilemma: do they spend less and drop tuition in order to better compete with more selective schools or is it a better strategy to spend more in order to raise the quality of their offerings in hopes of shaking their second tier status ? Tough call. Either way, financial aid and SES diversity are likely to suffer.

[Anonymous]

Next bubble to burst! especially with no guarantees of admission to HYP. If the increases continue at this rate, it will surely ruin some folks financially, and the middle class would be forced out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Next bubble to burst! especially with no guarantees of admission to HYP. If the increases continue at this rate, it will surely ruin some folks financially, and the middle class would be forced out.

The muddle class is already forced out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So glad I pay my kids tuitions via our taxes. Yikes- these are big numbers!

And we pay your kids tuition via our taxes too