Slump Squeezes Enrollment at Private Schools

By Daniel de Vise
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, August 14, 2008

Private schools across the Washington region have begun to feel the effects of the nation's economic slumber, as some families seek more financial aid to help with staggering tuition bills and others simply opt out of paying for an education.

Independent and parochial schools in the seven Maryland counties closest to Washington lost almost 8,000 students between 2005 and 2007, a 7 percent drop, in a trend that is expected to continue this fall. The Newport School, an esteemed Montgomery County campus, is shutting down for lack of students after 78 years in operation.

The Archdiocese of Washington will offer an unprecedented $2 million in need-based aid this year, including a $400,000 "opportunity fund" targeted at nine struggling schools. The goal is to lure back families that can no longer pay the tuition and attract families that could never afford it. It's a strategy borrowed from commercial airlines: Better a paying customer than an empty seat.

"This economic downturn is affecting everyone, absolutely everyone," said Patricia Weitzel-O'Neill, superintendent of schools in the archdiocese.

Enrollment has been declining in some of the area's public schools as well, chiefly because of a slowing birth rate, but not to the same extent. Public school enrollment in the Maryland suburban region slid by 1 percent over the past two years. Public school enrollment is rising in Northern Virginia, while private enrollment is essentially flat. Public enrollment in the District is falling, but enrollment in District archdiocese schools is falling faster.

Private school leaders say their community has seldom faced such a daunting combination of economic and socioeconomic woes. Tuition is rising faster than inflation, partly to meet a spiraling demand for aid. The birth rate is flat, thinning the ranks of prospective students. And consumers are reluctant to spend, unnerved by rising gas costs and falling stock prices.

The LaCourse family of Kensington decided this year that a five-figure annual investment in private education was starting to look more like luxury than necessity. So the LaCourse girls will enter kindergarten and third grade this fall at Kensington Parkwood Elementary, a well-regarded public school. By the time the two are grown, the private school where each began her education will be a distant memory.

"It would have been more than $30,000 for the academic year, and that doesn't count summer, right?" said Lisa LaCourse.

The Washington region is served by a continuum of private schools, their tuition ranging from less than $10,000 a year to more than $30,000. Some are parochial schools that mirror public campuses in structure; others are nationally known independent schools that offer small classes and universal college acceptance.

An informal survey of officials at dozens of schools suggests that the region's most prestigious independent campuses may be least affected by the downturn. Such schools generally have many more applicants than spaces and a sufficient number who can afford the tuition.

"But there's a big caveat here, and that's that we've never experienced the perfect storm before: rising tuitions well beyond inflation in a recessionary climate with a shrinking school-age population," said Patrick Bassett, president of the National Association of Independent Schools.

Even the most prestigious schools are dispensing more need-based aid to a greater number, Bassett said, and working harder to sell families on the virtues of a private education. Funds spent on need-based financial aid have almost doubled since 2001 among independent schools, said Betsy Downes, executive director of the Association of Independent Schools of Greater Washington. Tuition has risen 37 percent in that span; enrollment, 6 percent.

The 570-student St. Albans School in the District experienced a 4 percent increase in applications this year, and enrollment is steady. But aid is rising $300,000, to $2.8 million.

Admissions are up at Loudoun Country Day School, a 283-student campus in Leesburg, but more families are asking to pay their tuition in monthly installments, said Pam Larimer, admissions coordinator.

Leaders of Landon School and Sidwell Friends say their operations are as robust as ever.

"It hasn't eaten into our situation yet," said Bruce Stewart, head of Sidwell. "And I don't think it's eaten into Harvard or Princeton or Yale."

But enrollment is declining across a broad range of other private campuses. Archdiocese schools in Maryland and the District are losing a thousand students a year. Enrollment is down in the Diocese of Arlington to a lesser degree.

Data collected by the Maryland State Department of Education, the only state agency in the region that monitors private school enrollment, show that the share of students attending public school in the seven-county area reached 82.4 percent last fall, its highest level in 10 years.

At Flint Hill School, a 1,000-student campus in Fairfax County, applications rose from 510 to 560 this year. But school officials have struggled to translate interest into commitments.

"It is getting to be more difficult to get people to sign on the dotted line," said Admissions Director Pat Harden. "I think people are taking more time to decide. The economy is making people more nervous."

St. Andrew Apostle School in Silver Spring was packed for its January open house, fresh from winning the prestigious Blue Ribbon last year from the U.S. Department of Education. But as fall nears, much of that interest has evaporated. The school expects to enroll 410 to 415 students this fall, a loss of 100 students in four years.

"They were very interested, applied, were accepted, were coming," said Kathleen Kilty, the principal. "But when those first tuition bills went out . . . "

A few miles east, the independent Newport School announced last month that it would cease operations in the face of declining enrollment.

Founded by a former D.C. schoolteacher in 1930, Newport was among the first independent schools in the region to racially integrate and found a niche serving a majority-minority population. A 2001 bankruptcy hobbled the school. The current economic slump hastened its demise.

School leaders called a parent meeting in January, telling families that they needed commitments -- of students and future donations -- to carry on.

"We got zero," said Robin Payes, a trustee.