The economy is down, but at Southern California private schools the tuition is up.
Rather than pull their children out of pricey schools where tuition and fees are approaching $20,000 a year, however, strapped parents are tightening their belts and turning to the financial aid office, school officials say.
"We actually began to feel this last school year, when the stock market--the Nasdaq in particular--began to fall. We felt that almost immediately," said Kent Nealis, financial aid director at Harvard-Westlake School in Studio City, where tuition this year is a record $17,200, plus $2,000 to $3,000 in other fees.
Southern California is home to some of the most expensive, most selective prep schools in the country. Tuition has risen as much as 10% since last year, nearly three times the rate of inflation. Some day schools cost far more now than the public universities where they place their graduates. And the bills for boarding schools rival those of top-flight private colleges.
"Every year when the tuition bill comes, I wonder, 'Why am I doing this?' " said Mary Lee, who has a son in 10th grade at the $19,000-a-year Webb School of California in Claremont, which also enrolls boarders. Lee's older son just graduated from Webb.
"I look at what the school produces, and I realize I can cut out other things to invest in my children's development," she said.
Demand for private education could scarcely be stronger. Enrollment grew 19.4% over the last decade among members of the National Assn. of Independent Schools. On average, three students apply for every one who enrolls.
"There will always be schools for whom sticker shock is never a problem . . . because the quality of the program is such that parents who buy that simply don't care," said Anne Gunn, a consultant with Independent School Management in Wilmington, Del.
An 8% tuition hike and the sagging economy have resulted in a "moderate" increase in aid requests at Brentwood School, where seventh through 12th grade now costs nearly $16,000 a year. Kindergarten through sixth grade is just under $13,000.
"Every time you lift tuition, there's always families right on the bubble and that increase will put them over," said Brentwood admissions director Dave Velasquez.
On the other hand, Gunn said, "you also have some high-profile citizens who would consider $20,000 tuition petty cash."
