For anyone with kids in private school, how is your school handling tuition? No changes, prorated for a few months, etc? Teachers are still working reasonably hard and should be compensated as close to normal as possible. But you could debate how to handle a lot of the ancillary staff who are simply off right now. A lot of these families that attend are stretching their means to begin with and now are facing reduced incomes. Understandably a tricky situation for the schools.
Private school tuition
- Thread starter Herbert Nenninger
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I told our school that we would be paying our tuition as normal through the end of the year, no matter what. Most private schools operate on a very fine line anyway, and I want them to still be there in the Fall.
Edit to add: Another reason we are doing this is because I know there are people with circumstances that make this impossible.
Edit to add: Another reason we are doing this is because I know there are people with circumstances that make this impossible.
I have friends who have kids at different private schools. Some have no reduction in tuition. Others have a 35% reduction in tuition. Both schools are doing online learning. There are no athletic events so I don’t know how you pay a coach that doesn’t teach or an athletic director that has nothing to do. There is also minimal upkeep on the facilities.
Very cool move on your part. I'm doing the same with the businesses we use on a monthly basis.
Sorry kinda long, but this was my experience....
I sent an email to our kids private preschool at the very beginning of the shutdown. At the time, the planned shutdown was only for a couple of weeks and was scheduled to end on April 6th. But, I could see the writing on the wall that schools were very likely not going to be reconvening at all this school year. I made it clear that I was concerned about how tuition would be charged during the last two months, but I was also aware that teachers needed to be paid and wanted to not come across as callous to that fact. Basically I just asked them from one family who is going to be losing income to a business that was going through the same, how do we move forward and what is fair?
I was prepared and had mentally accepted any option that allowed us between 50% and 100% off the tuition. I thought at least 50% off was fair for both parties, as all the teachers were doing were leading 1 hr Zoom meetings once or twice a week and sending an email every couple of days with links to educational videos on youtube, etc (all of which required just as much time and effort from the parents to coordinate). As my concern email was one of many, the school came together and released a policy that would allow parents one of two options: charge the normal tuition as more or less a donation, or charge normal tuition and the parents receive four 25% off coupons for monthly tuition to be used for the 2020-2021 school year (basically the equivalent of one free month in the future IF your kid was going to still be enrolled). We had planned to keep our kid in the same school one more year, but also weren’t 100% on it because we registered for the local public pre-K lottery for his last year before kindergarten (still haven’t heard the outcome on whether he’s accepted or not). We replied to the inquiry that we were disappointed in the options, but agreed to take the 25% off coupons, and thought that was the end of it.
A day later, the administrator of the school emailed my wife back and said she had been forwarded my original email, and appreciated the time and thoughtfulness on behalf of the staff, etc. They decided to allow us to withdraw for the year and not pay the last two months, and still reenroll in the fall if we wished without losing our spot. We agreed. Part of that might be that they already had our registration fee for next year, or they weren’t planning on being full in the Fall anyway, but it can help to be empathetic to the needs of the school from the business side. We reread the contract and found that we were technically bound to the full year of payments even in the event of a “natural disaster that closed the school”, so technically they did not have to do anything. All in all, we were pleased with how it turned out, and will be back in the fall unless we get into the pre-K (which isn’t likely).
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I took the position with ours that I was happy to continue paying while I'm able, but they basically get 2 and a half months of payroll paid for by the federal government, and they will have a significant reduction in costs associated with utilities and other daily expenses, and for them to come back to me when they get an idea of what their ongoing expenses actually are, and to charge us pro rata on that, and to the extent there are parents that can't even handle the pro rata charges, to let us know and we would see what we could do to help.
They came back with a much lower amount than I was expecting. Low enough compared to what I thought their expenses would be that we will probably top it up some.
We always paid the entire year at once. I can't remember if monthly payments were optional or not.
We have continued to pay the tuition for my 2 kids private school. I get both sides of the argument but I see it as an investment. That's not to discredit those who may see it as a ripoff. I've had several discussions with the headmaster and vice principal and am comfortable with their responses.
Yep. That's because I realize the reality of the school situation. Not everyone, for numerous reasons, can afford the schooling of their choice, thus public school is still a necessity. I'm not saying to do away with it, but the days of it thriving are gone (unless we become socialist, which seems to be many people's preference as evidenced by the ridiculous response to the virus).
Wow. I didn't know there was a Pre-K lottery here. I thought it was available to all who wanted to go. My wife was a teacher in Huntsville but retired about 5 years ago. Just asked, and she said it was a matter of lack of physical room and limited class size (only about 12 kids per class). When I was in school "some years" ago, public kindergarten wasn't even available, let alone Pre-K. But not many mothers worked then either.
I don't know what our school is doing in terms of tuition (I think it differs by grade levels though - the youngest kids aren't getting much out of distance learning, but the older ones definitely are), but I know this - our core teachers from 6th grade on up, and our elective teachers in HS, are working their tails off. My school has 1-to-1 laptops from 6th on up, and we meet with kids every class. Take roll, have lessons, see their faces on screen. It's a full class period every day for me, though with mostly 8th grade students we have been told to not have required homework (but encouraged to have enrichment/excelling type homework provided for them each class). There are lectures by me on some days for 50 min. where they take notes, usually which would contain a 5 or so min. video reinforcing some topic we are working on. Some days they have me synchronously for 30 min. and they watch a 20 min. video and do a 10 min. vocab practice online (where I can see how much they do and how well they did it). There are grades (completion mostly, unfortunately) in probably every other class for mine. A few harder assessments, but not many, and those are open-book/open-note. Overall I'd say my job is easier now - much more preparation than a normal school day/week on my part to make it interesting for this remote learning, set up virtual class pages for each section each day. But less monitoring problem behavior, less grading, and I don't have to commute or put on a tie and slacks each day. It would really be terrible if we didn't have good rapport with students built up over 3 quarters though. Doing this with a fresh group of students in August would be absolutely awful. Kids are much less likely this way to raise their hands, ask questions, participate at all, where that comes much more freely when you're in a room together.
Yep. Its only one year that you can do public Pre-K through the city schools. My understanding is that Huntsville City and Madison City run the same program for their Pre-K, and it is considered one of the top programs in the nation. In the Hampton Cove district, I’d guess that there are at least 150-200 rising 5-year olds (at least), and only enough room for 75-100 or so in the program (ballpark guesses). So, not exactly impossible to get a spot, but not anything close to likely, either. Goldsmith-Schiffmen further down towards Owens Crossroads has probably the same breakdown.
Ha! No changes. And our schools endowment is around $50 ****** million. Granted I’m going to get some of that this year thank goodness.
We are just hoping to get our money back on the outer banks field trip we’ve mostly paid for...they said they are trying,
We are just hoping to get our money back on the outer banks field trip we’ve mostly paid for...they said they are trying,
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