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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]According to the WaPo article:

This parent signed the contract without reading all the fine print, on the strength of another parent telling her that they had received financial aid. After she signed, she realized there was no financial aid for preschool. However she received an email from the school saying that enrollment was not complete until they received the deposit, so she thought that not paying the deposit would be sufficient to avoid paying tuition. It was not.

If you read the article, it becomes apparent that this parent accumulated comprehension mistakes. She also looked for county programs for help with tuition, but realized it did not apply to private schools only after receiving an award.

This is what happens to the most vulnerable. They are not able to protect themselves against predatory methods. It's sad that humans prey on other humans.

Personally, I think this parent should be liable for some, but not all, the tuition. The school has shown itself to be extremely harsh against a fragile family. That's a really bad look. I hope public outcry changes the outcome here.
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None of this is predatory. The parent didn’t read the contract, didn’t read the website, apparently didn’t even ask about financial aid and somehow just assumed it would show up. When it didn’t, she applied for outside aid in the same way, not actually reading what the funds could be used for. [/quote]

It is predatory, it's just that habit and precedent have made us accept the currently horrible practices that private schools use to exploit families. The most important point of pressure is that families are on the hook for ALL the year's tuition, in late spring of the enrollment year. That's abusive. Many financial situations can change between spring and fall, and it would be more fair to only require payment of the first quarter or semester, depending on the school's calendar system. The article cites just one school in the DC area that does this. Schools, if they were fair, could all do that, since there is such a demand from families that they could easily fill a spot mid-year.

And don't give me that crap about creating the right class cohort, as another school said for the article. Replacing a couple of student spots mid-year isn't going to change the dynamics of the class. I'm a product of international private schools, and there was always some turnover year round as diplomat families moved around on their own countries' school schedules (the Japanese school year starts in April, for ex) - the class dynamic didn't change with those comings and goings.

So no, PP. I feel very strongly that the currently accepted practices are inherently unfair to the consumer and exist solely in the financial interests of the businesses in question. What makes it worse is that those businesses are supposedly trying to instill ethics and values in children. Ironic.

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