So are public school teachers. The working hard to provide distance learning is happening everywhere that I know. It’s not unique to private schools.
Carry on.
Ditto what @4kids4us said. S21 is a rising senior at a small private (not elite) school. No refund. However, his courses have been as rigorous as before online instruction, with plenty of graded assignments and real-time Zoom discussions 3-5 days a week depending on the class. In AP Chem and AP Calc, the teacher and students worked problems together every day on a digital white board.
Our local publics, meanwhile, were unable to do any online instruction because of hardware and connectivity issues for local families. Once a week the family picked up a packet of work at the school. This was for all grades, K-12.
S21 will return to his private next year, online or not. If it is needed, I actually expect the online to be even better than this year. My friend teaches high school math and AP Econ there, and she is glad to have a whole summer to “plan for an alternate universe” if they are online.
The big loss in his mind will be the extracurriculars, but we won’t pay for those if they don’t happen.
@OneMoreToGo2021, my S20’s school includes lunch and milk break in the cost of tuition. The head of school addressed the issue of not providing a refund for that amount, stating that most of the cost was tied up in the kitchen staff’s salaries. Since it is not a separate line item charge, I have no idea how to evaluate that. I don’t begrudge them not refunding that charge, but now I have an 18 year old athlete to feed All The Time.
Curious why what the OP pays matters?
I wasn’t insinuating that the public school teachers aren’t working hard. I just meant that as a person paying tuition, I didn’t expect any sort of refund since my kids weren’t in the classroom, but rather being taught through distance learning.
I know many public school teachers where I live and certainly don’t blame them for the public school debacle. They are doing the best they can with what they have. I can’t imagine trying to teach kids, many of whom basically have no incentive now to actually put in much effort and learn the material. But when I hear the things my neighbors tell me about their daughter’s lack of education the last two months, in a way it helped to justify the sacrifices we’ve made to send our kids to the schools they attend, especially my son, who has a learning disability.
Though that doesn’t apply to public school teachers everywhere. Here in Hawaii teachers can’t give mandatory assignments so I know several public school teachers who just aren’t bothering to do anything with their classes. My impression is that it’s gotten so bad here that any public school teachers still putting in the effort here is news worthy. But I blame the state and the DOE rather than the actual teachers.
I’m a private HS teacher and we’ve been hearing the same stories from our families who really appreciate the work we’re putting in when compared with the public schools. I know the question of reduced tuition has been broached by a few families, but more as a curiosity than as a demand for refund.
I imagine BYU online school is going to make a killing in this market.
My daughter goes to a catholic prep school and no refund was offered to families. They did a fundraiser for a scholarship fund for those families impacted by Covid 19 job losses.
If students were to leave private school to go to public, some might consider enrolling in a real online public school - either an online charter school or many states have one overseen by the state department of ed. In my school district, in normal times to switch from private to public we would have had to have filled out the paperwork to enroll in the local public school by February or so with that same deadline for trying to sign up for an online charter. Maybe they would make an exception for these circumstances. I think greatly reduced parental income would be the main reason students wouldn’t return.
@cptofthehouse : “And then there are the financial uncertainties of whatever jobs and businesses that the parents need to assess. One family I know in the restauran t business has taken a heavy hit and, they * strr Ed* by going to be able to afford private school tuition for the next school year.”
I was wondering if you could come back in and fill in the part of your comment I have italicized.
My 3 kids are in a competitive private high school - the school raised tuition for next year by approx 6% (this seems to happen every year - grrr) and gave families two options: Request a refund for the 6% increase for next year or “Donate” the 6% to put in a fund to assist current families, teachers and support staff that need additional financial assistance. I am guessing that the majority of families will let the school keep the 6% to support our school community.
Regarding withdrawing, I have not heard of any families withdrawing and we are a 5-12 school nor have I heard of newly admitted families (entry grades 5,6 and 9) no declining their offers - but I imagine there will be families that withdraw for either long term financial concerns or not wanting to pay for online education - if it comes to that for next year. Will know if that is the case when school resumes in September - but most private schools in this area have pretty deep waitlists too.
The public schools have a lot of challenges in our area and unfortunately even great teachers are not being provided the support to meet the needs of all their students. Private schools seem to have been able to pivot faster and in most cases are working with a much smaller student population. Education is far from equitable and hopefully some good may come out of this Virus and fund more support and money into our public schools.
I can see why parents of younger kids (PreK-5) would consider not paying tuition at a private school, but it is not that big of a city and it may be difficult to gain acceptance at a later date/different school if it comes down to not “wanting to pay” and pulling your support from the school verses not be able to pay - as no one could blame someone for pulling out for financial issues.
My kids are in a small 6-12 independent school. The transition to online school was stellar, especially compared to the local publics. We have no intention of leaving. Still up in the air what fall will look like, whether in person, in person half capacity/ blended with online, or all online.
The head of school has mentioned the possibility of decreased tuition if we end up being all online. At a guess, I would think someone, or more than one someone, in the school community is willing to help bankroll the facilities staff salaries (security, maintence, housekeeping, front office, lunchroom) to make the numbers work. Or perhaps they are willing to furlough staff, but I doubt it.
My kids are in a highly selective BS which gave small refunds based on day/boarding rates. There was an option to donate these funds.
The other private school my youngest attends gave no refund and has a serious issue going forward. We lost not only monies for trips but other expenses at that school.
They also gave the option to donate.
From what I have heard, many parents who have had multiple kids in these schools and have never relied on FA, now need it. I think it’s reasonable to assume that tuition costs will not rise.
Personally, I am super thankful my kids were in private. The very well endowed public school never fully got online and kids really missed the entire Spring semester. My kids were still learning and missed nothing.
I have heard of some schools offering a different tuition if they are online. For the most part, they’ll be eating the loss (and depleting their endowments) I would think. My guess is that they know that they aren’t offering the “full” experience even if it’s not their fault and they want to reassure families that everyone’s in it together.
My sense is that the schools doing this are in the minority but that’s just based on what I hear through friends.
My niece has her S in private school. No refunds or credits given. He had online classes until school just ended and met his new teacher for 2nd grade online. Likely having online summer school with no refunds. No refunds for tennis tho he was not given any instruction on tennis due to covid.