This is the time of year when acceptance letters go out for many private schools in the US. Unlike students at public schools, those who choose to attend independent or private schools usually pay tuition, because these schools do not receive funding from the government.
A report in the New York Times says that while about 23 percent of families who send their children to independent schools receive some financial assistance—up from 15 percent in 2007, according to the National Association of Independent Schools—some schools use an “indexed tuition” model, where the tuition families pay is higher for wealthier families.
“We got to indexed tuition as a philosophical journey,” the paper quoted Dave Michelman, head of the Duke School in Durham, N.C., as saying. “We’re committed to socioeconomic diversity. If you’re committed to that, it seems a little off-putting to say, ‘If you come here we’ll give you charity.’ That’s what financial aid sounds like.”
Some schools even suggest families submit more than just a spreadsheet of numbers, providing opportunities for them to share their life circumstances with the school. The number of independent schools that use an indexed tuition model is small, but an even smaller number use a model that just has families pay a certain percentage of their income, up to a maximum tuition amount.
“You can’t think of the price of your one kid’s education,” the Times quoted Frank Roosevelt, an economist and grandson of President Franklin D Roosevelt, who developed the percentage model, as saying. “You have to think of the parents of all of the kids in that classroom paying for the whole process of education, of which your kid is benefiting as one child in that setting.”
Middle-income families often have trouble coming up with private school tuition. Poor families, who have kids just as talented as rich families, receive financial aid, and rich families can simply afford to pay the high tuition, which can be north of $50,000 a year, especially at schools where boarding is provided. Families in the middle get squeezed out, though. They’re often ineligible for financial aid because they make too much, and they can’t afford the tuition because they make too little.
In a system, then, that supports an elite class and caters to low-income population segments in an inclusive way, those in the middle have trouble navigating the course. Lots of support at both ends, not much at all in the middle—that’s the barbell effect of financial aid.
