As preschool demographics change, Central Mass. private schools cut tuition

By Jacqueline Reis TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
jreis@telegram.com

 

WORCESTER — As many private schools across New England struggle to attract the youngest students, two local schools are dropping their tuition rates for those grades.

Bancroft School in Worcester announced Friday that it will drop its pre-kindergarten and kindergarten tuition rates 42 percent from $21,450 to $12,500 and Grade 1 tuition 30 percent from $23,700 to $16,500.

Today, Touchstone Community School in Grafton is announcing its 2014-15 tuition rates, which include a 15 percent drop in pre-kindergarten costs (tuition and other fees) from $15,950 to $13,500 and a 26 percent drop in kindergarten costs from $18,300 to $13,500.

Bancroft is paying for the tuition reduction by drawing more money from its endowment and reducing costs when possible. Grades 2-12 at the school are seeing the smallest tuition increase in years: 3.5 percent.


"The changing demographic and financial profile of potential applicants to Bancroft's pre-K and kindergarten programs has meant more competition than ever for a smaller pool of potential students. The situation required new thinking," Bancroft School Headmaster Scott R. Reisinger said in a press release.

At Touchstone, leaders will balance the lower tuition with a potential need for less financial aid and increases of approximately 5 percent in the school's other grades. The reduction in pre-kindergarten and kindergarten for the fall comes after tuition for the school's early childhood program had been frozen for about four years, Head of School Susan K. Diller said. "We wanted to make being here… not as big a barrier," she said.

Other independent private schools across New England are facing similar pressures.

"We know that our schools of elementary grades are feeling the pinch in pre-K, kindergarten and first grade," said Steve Clem, executive director of the Braintree-based Association of Independent Schools of New England.

A couple of weeks ago, which would have been when private schools closed their application period, AISNE asked its members which grades had a drop in applications of 5 percent or more. The three highest grades in terms of schools reporting were pre-K, kindergarten and first grade," Mr. Clem said. Forty-eight percent of schools reporting said that applications were down by at least 5 percent in kindergarten, he said.

Part of the issue is there are fewer children in that age range, he said, and anecdotally, fallout from the recession seems to be continuing.

"Even though we seem to be climbing out of it (the recession), people are perhaps deciding to postpone applying to and enrolling in an independent school," he said.

Still, he hasn't heard of other schools lowering tuition.

At Bancroft, officials wanted to help families get past sticker shock that didn't reflect the school's financial aid. "The truth is that families will often not look at the school, because they see the price and they immediately just walk the other way," said Susan Cranford, director of admission and institutional advancement at Bancroft.

Sometimes, families wait until they've tried their public or other school before transferring to a private school in a later grade. At Bancroft, for instance, they have a lot of applications into Grades 3 and 4 this year, Ms. Cranford said.

Ms. Diller has seen similar thinking among families. "Especially where there are good public schools or people perceive their public schools as the reason they moved to a particular neighborhood, they want to try their public school," she said. But with many families paying for preschool and full-day kindergarten anyway, she hopes the lower rates and free playgroups at Touchstone will entice them.

In a similar vein, Applewild School in Fitchburg announced an affordability initiative this week in which the school is teaming up with an anonymous donor to broaden the eligibility for financial aid for all its grades. Leaders said they are unsure how much it will cost.

"What we have realized is that the traditional methodology for qualifying for financial aid isn't realistic for the current circumstances," Head of School Christopher B. Williamson said. The National Association for Independent Schools, he said, "is telling us families at the $150,000 level are feeling increasingly stretched."

William E. Aubuchon IV, president of Applewild's board, said, "The reality is that a high quality, independent education stretches most families, not just those with high need. We are fortunate to have a donor partnering with us."

Contact Jacqueline Reis via email at jreis@telegram.com. Follow her on Twitter @JackieReisTG