Anonymous
Post 01/27/2015 16:42     Subject: Re:Is your private having another tuition increase?
I do know several parents who are upset and talking about it at Sidwell.
Anonymous
Post 01/27/2015 16:23     Subject: Re:Is your private having another tuition increase?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:True about Sidwell (lower school). People are very upset but not many feel comfortable speaking up, I think.


Parent of 2 Sidwell Lower School students -- haven't heard anyone other parents mention it either, but I find it hard to believe it hasn't caused some discomfort. DH and I gasped when we saw the letter from the Board but will keep our kids there b/c it's a good fit for them.


Even if it's a good fit, a flat fee structure from K-12 severely "punishes" the lower school in favor of the upper school, and don't forget that the flat fee will continue to rise every year by 3-5 percent. So, this is a big hit for the lower school. Is the lower school at Sidwell worth this much?
Anonymous
Post 01/27/2015 14:21     Subject: Re:Is your private having another tuition increase?
Sidwell lower school parents--don't be shy--let your discomfort be known.
Anonymous
Post 01/27/2015 14:16     Subject: Re:Is your private having another tuition increase?
Anonymous wrote:True about Sidwell (lower school). People are very upset but not many feel comfortable speaking up, I think.


Parent of 2 Sidwell Lower School students -- haven't heard anyone other parents mention it either, but I find it hard to believe it hasn't caused some discomfort. DH and I gasped when we saw the letter from the Board but will keep our kids there b/c it's a good fit for them.
Anonymous
Post 01/27/2015 14:14     Subject: Is your private having another tuition increase?
Anonymous wrote:17:54 again. My apologies if my previous comment seemed dismissive of those concerned about tuition increases. My point was simply that from the schools' perspectives, there appears to be plenty of capacity for their families to absorb tuition increases. The traditional Washington upper middle class of doctors, lawyers, think-tank/academics/experts, and K Street is doing fine. The stock market has more than bounced back from 2008. And there are still far more applicants than slots at StA/NCS, SFS, GDS, Visi, Holton, Potomac etc.

You will find that these schools have a very different perspective on their facilities. First, they are almost always paid by capital campaigns and large donations rather than tuition and debt. Second, I don't think any of these schools think their facilities are too fancy. As a comparison take a look at the public school construction/renovation in the area. DCPS spent $70M on Alice Deal, TJHSST is in the middle of an $80M expansion, Arlington is finishing a new $35M elementary school in Williamsburg, and the BCC cluster will get a new middle school soon. Old line WASPs may like the run-down old money look, but contemporary parents , not so much.



A threshold pricing strategy only works...until it doesn't. Then the bottom falls out. These schools need to focus on the long-term value proposition and not some short-term analysis that says "we can charge more and more because we currently have excess demand". It will bite them in their well-developed posteriors.
Anonymous
Post 01/27/2015 13:24     Subject: Is your private having another tuition increase?
Anonymous wrote:17:54 again. My apologies if my previous comment seemed dismissive of those concerned about tuition increases. My point was simply that from the schools' perspectives, there appears to be plenty of capacity for their families to absorb tuition increases. The traditional Washington upper middle class of doctors, lawyers, think-tank/academics/experts, and K Street is doing fine. The stock market has more than bounced back from 2008. And there are still far more applicants than slots at StA/NCS, SFS, GDS, Visi, Holton, Potomac etc.

You will find that these schools have a very different perspective on their facilities. First, they are almost always paid by capital campaigns and large donations rather than tuition and debt. Second, I don't think any of these schools think their facilities are too fancy. As a comparison take a look at the public school construction/renovation in the area. DCPS spent $70M on Alice Deal, TJHSST is in the middle of an $80M expansion, Arlington is finishing a new $35M elementary school in Williamsburg, and the BCC cluster will get a new middle school soon. Old line WASPs may like the run-down old money look, but contemporary parents , not so much.



Appreciate your apology but you really need to stop trying to prove your point. Deal focuses on serving over 1,200 kids in 3 grades including special ed. TJ serves almost 2000 kids. BCC needs a new middle school not because the parents want fancy facilities but because the other MS are severely overcrowded. Public Schools (just like anyone building) have building codes and requirements that they have to meet. This drives costs up.

Really happy those K Street people are still making so much money doing so much good for so many. It is such a relief.
Anonymous
Post 01/27/2015 12:56     Subject: Is your private having another tuition increase?
17:54 again. My apologies if my previous comment seemed dismissive of those concerned about tuition increases. My point was simply that from the schools' perspectives, there appears to be plenty of capacity for their families to absorb tuition increases. The traditional Washington upper middle class of doctors, lawyers, think-tank/academics/experts, and K Street is doing fine. The stock market has more than bounced back from 2008. And there are still far more applicants than slots at StA/NCS, SFS, GDS, Visi, Holton, Potomac etc.

You will find that these schools have a very different perspective on their facilities. First, they are almost always paid by capital campaigns and large donations rather than tuition and debt. Second, I don't think any of these schools think their facilities are too fancy. As a comparison take a look at the public school construction/renovation in the area. DCPS spent $70M on Alice Deal, TJHSST is in the middle of an $80M expansion, Arlington is finishing a new $35M elementary school in Williamsburg, and the BCC cluster will get a new middle school soon. Old line WASPs may like the run-down old money look, but contemporary parents , not so much.

Anonymous
Post 01/27/2015 12:28     Subject: Is your private having another tuition increase?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:While there is clearly a wide range of incomes, I would guess that the typical non-financial aid family at one of the selective private schools earns at least $3-400k/year. So a 3% COLA is $9-12k - plenty to cover an addition $1-2k for tuition. Obviously families making half of that will have a harder time if they don't get financial aid, but there are very few families in that income range. Until there are more slots than applicants, there will be plenty of families lining up to pay tuition.


For the typical family earning this amount, paying tuition for two is tough as is. If we didn't have a $700K mortgage (then again, I'm not sure where we'd live- definitely not anywhere near our private) or save for retirement or college, we could swing these increases. As it stands, we're being priced out and are considering parochial or public. DH hasn't had a raise in over 3 years. The COLAs I've received are insubstantial. We just can't keep doing this.



Before anyone attacks the above scenarios for their high incomes, expensive houses, or difficulty in making enviable choices we should remember that these type of families are the bread and butter of the independent school movement. We all know families that can easily afford the recent tuition increases and still afford the annual ski vacation to St Moritz. That isn't the point. Independent school business models face the challenge of a smaller and smaller community of families who can afford their services, and the competition of improving publics/charters that bring their value proposition into greater focus/question. If I were running an independent school, the population that I would focus most intensely on would be the upper middle class. Not that the rich families and financial aid students matter less - it is just that the model is designed to naturally take care of these groups, whereas the full-fee paying, two working professional parent families seem to be stretched to the limit and without them the schools will become hollowed out.
.

+1 no raise for this federal employee. Private school is a serious stretch considering parochial for our 3rd
Anonymous
Post 01/27/2015 10:43     Subject: Is your private having another tuition increase?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:While there is clearly a wide range of incomes, I would guess that the typical non-financial aid family at one of the selective private schools earns at least $3-400k/year. So a 3% COLA is $9-12k - plenty to cover an addition $1-2k for tuition. Obviously families making half of that will have a harder time if they don't get financial aid, but there are very few families in that income range. Until there are more slots than applicants, there will be plenty of families lining up to pay tuition.


For the typical family earning this amount, paying tuition for two is tough as is. If we didn't have a $700K mortgage (then again, I'm not sure where we'd live- definitely not anywhere near our private) or save for retirement or college, we could swing these increases. As it stands, we're being priced out and are considering parochial or public. DH hasn't had a raise in over 3 years. The COLAs I've received are insubstantial. We just can't keep doing this.



Before anyone attacks the above scenarios for their high incomes, expensive houses, or difficulty in making enviable choices we should remember that these type of families are the bread and butter of the independent school movement. We all know families that can easily afford the recent tuition increases and still afford the annual ski vacation to St Moritz. That isn't the point. Independent school business models face the challenge of a smaller and smaller community of families who can afford their services, and the competition of improving publics/charters that bring their value proposition into greater focus/question. If I were running an independent school, the population that I would focus most intensely on would be the upper middle class. Not that the rich families and financial aid students matter less - it is just that the model is designed to naturally take care of these groups, whereas the full-fee paying, two working professional parent families seem to be stretched to the limit and without them the schools will become hollowed out.
Anonymous
Post 01/27/2015 09:28     Subject: Is your private having another tuition increase?
Anonymous wrote:While there is clearly a wide range of incomes, I would guess that the typical non-financial aid family at one of the selective private schools earns at least $3-400k/year. So a 3% COLA is $9-12k - plenty to cover an addition $1-2k for tuition. Obviously families making half of that will have a harder time if they don't get financial aid, but there are very few families in that income range. Until there are more slots than applicants, there will be plenty of families lining up to pay tuition.


For the typical family earning this amount, paying tuition for two is tough as is. If we didn't have a $700K mortgage (then again, I'm not sure where we'd live- definitely not anywhere near our private) or save for retirement or college, we could swing these increases. As it stands, we're being priced out and are considering parochial or public. DH hasn't had a raise in over 3 years. The COLAs I've received are insubstantial. We just can't keep doing this.

Anonymous
Post 01/27/2015 09:13     Subject: Is your private having another tuition increase?
As a recently rolled off member of a local private school board I can concur that health care costs are going up at an insane rate and they will probably gobble up most of any tuition increase.
Anonymous
Post 01/27/2015 08:33     Subject: Is your private having another tuition increase?
I don't think it is only new build projects like crazy theaters or whatever. A lot of schools have older infrastructure and need to keep it safe and functioning. That takes a lot of money too. It is frustrating as our pay certainly doesn't go up at the same rate, but I don't think these schools are just throwing the money away. I believe that they are hurting for money and all playing an "arms race" game of trying to stay relevant and offer more than the great publics to justify why one would pay for school in this area.
Anonymous
Post 01/26/2015 23:15     Subject: Is your private having another tuition increase?
Anonymous wrote:It's the health care costs. They are increasing way above inflation levels. That plus admin stafF. These schools can't control themselves and keep adding bodies.


Hmm....multimillion dollar playgrounds, black box theaters, new sports facilities (when not all students at the school benefit) ... I wouldn't complain about health care for the school employees when stuff like that is being built.
Anonymous
Post 01/26/2015 22:31     Subject: Is your private having another tuition increase?
Plus everyone lurking here that wants the best, competitive etc. school for their kid means the pressure is on these schools to have the best facilities, offer multiple languages, sports, and activities etc. If everyone was satisfied with a good school without lots of bells and whistles, the price tags might not be so high and still increasing.
Anonymous
Post 01/26/2015 21:01     Subject: Is your private having another tuition increase?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:While there is clearly a wide range of incomes, I would guess that the typical non-financial aid family at one of the selective private schools earns at least $3-400k/year. So a 3% COLA is $9-12k - plenty to cover an addition $1-2k for tuition. Obviously families making half of that will have a harder time if they don't get financial aid, but there are very few families in that income range. Until there are more slots than applicants, there will be plenty of families lining up to pay tuition.


Think you are a little clueless. Pretty tough to get FA if you are making $200k per year. Many people are not getting COLA's or any raise at all. ( I have not in 2 years) That is why the continuing 3-4% really hurts. Yes many businesses have costs but what business has seen their costs rise by 40% over 10 years ( a 4% increase every year for 10 years) except maybe for health care?

I suspect if that was the case they would not be able to stay in business,


You misundertood PP. No need for the snarkiness.