Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's that time of year and we just received the email saying that Sidwell will increase its tuition 3.75%. They note that this is the same as last year. I assuming this is self congratulatory.

I am so sick of this crap. Whose salary is increasing at the same rate yearly? Besides the corporate lawyers and bankers? Or those who've inherited wealth? Keep squeezing the middle class and you will lose them or find more disgruntled families who can't or won't contribute in other ways.

This has been discussed in the past, so before some of you lecture me with the "honey if you can't afford it..." bs, don't waste your time. I'm encouraging others to contact the school but won't read or respond to unhelpful comments here.

Bryan Garman and the board have been a big disappointment.

Are you the same person who posted this last year? Face reality: you can expect an increase in this range every year. Don't expect a change from any school as they are all the same. Move to another school if not a fit. You are not entitled to a tuition freeze; you chose this path and knew the costs going in. This is no surprise.

Anonymous wrote:It's that time of year and we just received the email saying that Sidwell will increase its tuition 3.75%. They note that this is the same as last year. I assuming this is self congratulatory.

I am so sick of this crap. Whose salary is increasing at the same rate yearly? Besides the corporate lawyers and bankers? Or those who've inherited wealth? Keep squeezing the middle class and you will lose them or find more disgruntled families who can't or won't contribute in other ways.

This has been discussed in the past, so before some of you lecture me with the "honey if you can't afford it..." bs, don't waste your time. I'm encouraging others to contact the school but won't read or respond to unhelpful comments here.

Bryan Garman and the board have been a big disappointment.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is why it’s dumb to send your child to private unless money is no object. If a 3.75 percent increase actually affects you then you have no business sending your child to private as it means you’re spending a significant portion of your after tax wages on tuition, which is even worse considering your taxes pay for local public schools. Not to mention it’s highly debatable that private schools even make a difference as study after study show it’s mainly your family uppbringing and if your parents value education.

Or I can look at it this way. My kid attends Sidwell and I only pay 7k/year. The rest is covered by FA. Therefore, 3.75% of 7k is about $262.00. Still money but doable. Now $1537.00 on top full pay, that's another story.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you're truly "middle class" you shouldn't be attending this school in the firs place.

Face it. Private school is for rich people, period. Don't believe anyone who tries to tell you otherwise.

+1.

This. The actual middle class in America doesn't send their kids to private school.

They do in other parts of the country. 40K+ for grade school is an up-East/California phenomenon. Are the schools substantially better? Maybe? No real way to compare. They're substantially better connected, for sure, and they are shinier (or ivy-er, whichever).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you're truly "middle class" you shouldn't be attending this school in the firs place.

Face it. Private school is for rich people, period. Don't believe anyone who tries to tell you otherwise.

+1.

This. The actual middle class in America doesn't send their kids to private school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2017-18

STA 44,144
NCS 41,975
Sidwell 40,840
GDS, 40,000 (no lunch program)
Potomac 39,770
Maret 37,700

This pretty much says it all.

Sidwell isn't at the top in terms of costs, but the salary/wages need to keep pace with inflation and COLA standards.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Private school families have gotten more concentrated with lawyers and bankers now. 15 or 20 years ago, a family of professors, fed govt careerists, non-profit EDs could manage -- barely -- to send their kids to private schools. The 4-5% annual increase in tuition has definitely outpacde government pay raises. Unfortunately, the schools lose out on smart, academic, civic-minded families.

But they are still getting smart, academic, and civic minded families. Even lawyers and bankers can have those qualities.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will be emailing Garman and encourage others to do so as well. This is gouging.

It sucks. You should complain. But it is not gauging. STA, NCS, Maret, GDS and Potomac all within a few thousand dollars of Sidwell.

Hard to argue that Increasing 3.75 percent is gauging. It also doesn't fit the definition of gauging. You are no more captive to Sidwell than you were last year.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From the Bureau of Labor Statistics:

Total compensation costs for private industry workers increased 2.5 percent in the Washington-Baltimore-Northern Virginia, D.C.-Md.-Va.-W.Va., metropolitan area for the year ended September 2017 the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. . . . Locally, wages and salaries, the largest component of total compensation costs, advanced at a 3.3-percent pace for the 12-month period ended September 2017. Nationwide, total compensation costs rose 2.5 percent over the year and wages and salaries advanced by 2.6 percent.

Private schools are people intensive businesses. Comp costs drive the tuition raises. Add in campus improvements and tuition rises even further.

Will every parent see the same rise in wages and salaries? Of course not. And that's a shame and I feel for those that are in that position.

+1 to this; thanks for sharing actual facts

Also, schools will tend to be above average in annual increases. For public schools they follow the union-negotiated scaled which usually involves a step increase annually (which is usually in the 2-5% range) plus a cost of living adjustment for inflation. If private schools want to be able to compete for good teachers (particularly in a tight labor market like we see now) they have to match these annual increases.

I totally understand not liking the increases and being concerned about affordability. Believe me, the administration and boards of these schools share your concerns. But so far no one has come up with a solution. If you have a solution that allows them both to maintain their current programs and maintain their ability to hire good teachers without these tuition increases, please, share.

One solution is to decrease the huge financial aid budget. Currently SFS has $7 million annual FA budget; 23% of students receive FA and the average FA award is $ 26900. Certain amount of FA is good and necessary to attain the talents and maintain a diversified student body. But such a large amount the school currently gives out is not necessary, in particular when many full pay hard working families are struggling with the increase. I thnks the teachers deserve to receive good benefits and an increase in salary, but many families on FA do not deserve. SFS should have no issue to maintain a good diversified student body with significant cut to the FA budget.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From the Bureau of Labor Statistics:

Total compensation costs for private industry workers increased 2.5 percent in the Washington-Baltimore-Northern Virginia, D.C.-Md.-Va.-W.Va., metropolitan area for the year ended September 2017 the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. . . . Locally, wages and salaries, the largest component of total compensation costs, advanced at a 3.3-percent pace for the 12-month period ended September 2017. Nationwide, total compensation costs rose 2.5 percent over the year and wages and salaries advanced by 2.6 percent.

Private schools are people intensive businesses. Comp costs drive the tuition raises. Add in campus improvements and tuition rises even further.

Will every parent see the same rise in wages and salaries? Of course not. And that's a shame and I feel for those that are in that position.

+1 to this; thanks for sharing actual facts

Also, schools will tend to be above average in annual increases. For public schools they follow the union-negotiated scaled which usually involves a step increase annually (which is usually in the 2-5% range) plus a cost of living adjustment for inflation. If private schools want to be able to compete for good teachers (particularly in a tight labor market like we see now) they have to match these annual increases.

I totally understand not liking the increases and being concerned about affordability. Believe me, the administration and boards of these schools share your concerns. But so far no one has come up with a solution. If you have a solution that allows them both to maintain their current programs and maintain their ability to hire good teachers without these tuition increases, please, share.

Anonymous wrote:Private school families have gotten more concentrated with lawyers and bankers now. 15 or 20 years ago, a family of professors, fed govt careerists, non-profit EDs could manage -- barely -- to send their kids to private schools. The 4-5% annual increase in tuition has definitely outpacde government pay raises. Unfortunately, the schools lose out on smart, academic, civic-minded families.