https://apple.news/AhPH4qKZBRwWC344BnDW3HA
Hopefully the link works. Interesting summary of the financial challenge coronavirus presents, concluding, no surprise, that the ones with the most money will fare the best.
I’ve seen many similar articles focused on the haves and have-nots among colleges but this is the first piece I’ve seen on BS. Same dynamic for sure.
Thanks for sharing this article @CateCAParent . I agree that I often see articles like this about colleges, but it is rare to find one written about boarding schools. I find this article to be dead-on accurate, as we are currently dealing with two schools on the opposite ends of the spectrum.
My rising 11th grader goes to Mercersburg, which squarely falls between A-B, and my rising 9th grader refused to consider boarding and will be attending a C grade boarding school as a day student. School hasn’t even begun yet and I can already feel the differences between one to the other. The way this article portrays C schools is so close to the reality of the school my 9th grader will be attending, that it almost feels like it was written about them. My son likes the school and was given a generous merit scholarship to attend, but I am very concerned about their financial future. It’s going to be an interesting 4 years!
I thought it was a really solid article - the only one I have seen addressing bs in the fall and going forward post-covid, too.
There are so few schools that are A’s. Most of the name schools are B+ , I think. The next couple of years will be interesting/harsh. Cate is probably B+, and they are having to spend millions of un-budgeted money to prepare for covid this fall. No matter how big an endowment you have, that hurts. But it is an act of survival. You do this wrong, you could be toast.
Interesting article.
The pie charts really said it all didn’t it? (Although was curious which “A” school had only 8% international students? Sound low, no?)
I had two questions that maybe someone more experienced might be able to explain to me.
I’m not sure I understood what the net revenue model was. When they say they “discount” tuition in order to draw students, do they mean through FA and scholarships? (I ask because many of the less competitive schools seem to be on the pricier side; not on the discount side — owing to lack of endowment support.). Anyway — I wasn’t sure about this discounting practice and how that happened. Also I was surprised to read that many heads of schools don’t know anything about the admissions process. That struck me as odd. (I guess that’s not really a question but a comment.)
Thanks for sharing!
^ Yes they discount tuition through financial aid packages in an effort to fill beds / seats. Many will use a combo of need and merit based scholarships to attract students. I suppose the philosophy is that it’s better to get a student at half price than to have no student at all. The tuition at my 9th graders school is $66k for boarding and $37k for day students, which is well above average.
They are also 40% international, which is an eye popping percentage to me. If they lose a lot of Chinese students this year, they are going to be in serious trouble. I’m sure they have lots of company on that front.
It is hard to piece together from the available data, but I would love to know which schools do more small financial aid packages v full rides. Full rides serve a different purpose (getting the rock star low income kids in high demand) v smaller awards that help middle class folks afford the price tag.
If colleges are a guide, true merit scholarships don’t happen at the high demand schools. But there are a ton of full rides based on FA. Mid range schools offer merit to compete for talented middle class kids. I would also guess they offer more partial FA.
Just curious how that plays out for bs. The only numbers available are percentage of students on FA and the average award. It takes some work to do the analysis.
@CateCAParent , I think that a school that offers a range of FA packages will end up with a more diverse (in terms of SES) student body. This has gotten a lot of attention in college admissions and is the genesis of a number of programs that guarantee that middle class families won’t pay more than x.
The goal is to avoid having 2 campus populations, “rich” kids who can afford to be FP and “poor” kids who need a full ride.
Overall, my understanding is that colleges have been more successful with this, in part because middle class families tend to have decent high school options AND are trying to keep some dry powder for college.
I think most BS would be thrilled to get great middle class applicants who need FA but who can also contribute to tuition.
@gardenstategal, I would love to see all of the data on who applies, is accepted and financial aid awards, broken down by SES, geography and POC. And public v private middle school.
My guess is some bs, like colleges, are better at matriculating middle class students than others.
My totally unscientific observation is that generally bs is very bi-modal. Lots of fp and full rides, not so many in the middle.
@CateCAParent , I will venture a guess that this is one way in which being attractive to day students can help. Many BS are near or close to zip codes that could offer those students. They can often be the bridge between the poles. But I believe the data substantiates what you have observed.
Fwiw, several of the AA students I met through DS were FP. I mention that because there is a misconception (not implying on your part) that all the AA kids are getting FA. Definitely not true.
^Definitely not true.
As an aside, one of the things that surprised me reading the blackat_ posts was that being a POC and full ride was assumed to equal someone who didn’t deserve to be at the school. I always assumed those full ride students were the rock stars. The schools have a lot of applicants of all stripes. They don’t offer full rides to just anyone. Like with college, the people who are likely to get some admissions leniency also include legacies and athletes. And faculty kids. And big donors. But everyone admitted is expected to be able to do the work.
The problem with being the middle class kids is once the slots are allocated to all of the above, there aren’t many left for the average excellent kids. It is what it is.
At some level, faculty kids represent a slice of middle class kids just like big donor legacies are a slice of rich. They have to be qualified but if they are, they get the nod. Athletes can also fall into that group if the school truly recruits.
I don’t envy admissions at all because they have a lot of needs to fill – way more than the # of kids in the class – so finding kids who can create the whole has to be really hard. And at many schools, some of the scholarships are restricted as well, so this can tie the hands of the FA office. I know from having worked with gifts at a non-profit that if the donor says "to fund tuition for a student from Georgia " that you can’t decide, without permission, to make it "half tuition for two students from Georgia ".
It’s like a big puzzle. And it’s one of the many reasons kids shouldn’t take admissions decisions too personally
Exeter
This is not in regards to boarding school - but about 2 private day schools in our area that just announced a merger, effective this fall. My kids attended one of the schools for many years, and during that time I saw enrollment drop and the budget get tighter. I knew a while ago that their finances were in peril, so it came as little surprise that they would merge with a larger school that has greater financial strength. It sounds like they will be keeping both campuses open for now, as they serve regions that are about 40 minutes apart. But I think it will be only a matter of time before our small school gets swallowed up by the bigger one entirely, and lose its physical space. Money is already an issue, the public schools in the area are strong, and the demand is declining. I am glad that we are no longer affiliated with the school, as I’m sure they will be in for an interesting ride as this all unfolds.
But top 20 (or so called HADES) are in their own categories. They have big demand and I thought lot of kids from abroad wants to attend.
We know of a few private schools (one is a day/boarding school) in our area that have received @ $2-$5 million in PPP money. It was published in the paper. The article posted earlier suggests that those schools with a higher endowment will be ok. One of the big costs this year is the cost of testing everyone on campus and repeated testing - if they are providing that to employees & students. The other costs indicated by the schools who received $ of fed/state/county funds related to paying all their employees while school was closed.
I think BSs will survive Covid, but ask me again after the election.
Dealing with health and safety due to a serious pandemic will be challenging enough on every front for all schools, but when you add an election year and a very popular platform or desire to " transform" an entire nation and its economy at the same time… challenging times due to Covid doesn’t quite capture everything most schools are up against right now - and that’s really the big elephant in the room.
I have no doubt BSs can handle Covid, but both at the same time? IDK- but financially ( not politically ) speaking - it’s like a perfect storm at the worst possible time.
Election Year Giving is always lackluster due to SOME uncertainty- even though much of it is baked in and lost ground can always be made up, but there’s never been uncertainty like this - and all BSs need big bucks right now for Covid .
Major Trusts ( that many schools heavily rely on ) have already reevaluated or are currently reevaluating future giving because of polls, potential policy, and the political landscape ( which they have a duty to do annually anyway ) and many have already read the tealeaves for November and scaled way back on all future commitments . Will a retreat of this kind be fatal ? Probably not, but make no mistake- it’s going to hurt- a lot .
FWIW - and I mention this for young people because this came up in a discussion recently when a young adult ( recent college grad staying with us ) suggested that all financial ( namely trust ) commitments are locked in or should be locked in no matter the weather - thus any type of financial storm brought on by one political party or election would be moot for all colleges, PDSs, and BSs … Well, no - maybe there are still a few trusts from the dark ages written that way, but most trusts have a clear and clean out so commitments can be dissolved upon notice or changed at anytime at the sole discretion of the trust for any reason.
I’ve seen longtime big trust/ donor relationships abruptly end over much less… like " safe space " rooms equipped with coloring books and crayons for college students. But I digress…
Right now- I’m hearing some major trusts are pulling up stakes or they’re adjusting by ( lowering) their contributions considerably or in the planning phase to do so.
And just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse - individual donors ( new and old ) are also very difficult to engage right now because they’re definitely holding back until after November.
So yeah… in addition to Covid, this is really serious because who do you replace these people or trusts with?
Unfortunately, this will hit the students who need the most, and it’s absolutely devastating when you think about it . All schools really need trusts and individual donors to step up big now, but ( in their defense ) Our Country has never had full on socialism on a big party platform before, so people are obviously doing what’s best for their families and their bottomline , and they’re planning for it.
It is what it is- and we’ll see what happens. The last real threat to BS was Jimmy Carter, so we had a good run! I wish I was kidding!! 
And BTW - this post isn’t meant to be political ( I really don’t care who or what you vote for because that’s your business ) , so please don’t make it into something it’s not.
We’re all adults and this is just reality … because it’s actually happening now.
Like my Dad used to say : And so it goes…
Thank you for the insights @PhotographerMom. I don’t run with people in the big donor crowd, so I had no idea the impact an election year has on charitable giving. Of course giving is the lifeblood of boarding schools.
I was thinking about the survival much more simplistically - that if this goes on for a while, and boarding schools can provide a more robust, safer education than public or private day schools, they will have domestic students beating down their doors. I live in a wealthy school district where people with options choose to send their kids to public schools. There is no boarding school culture here. Parents here believe the public education is superior. Take away the superior education- and I can see them looking for any other education option out there. They will pay a lot to position their children with every advantage possible.
It comes to this: If people with money can’t locally get the experiences that give their kids a competitive advantage In life, they will pay a lot to get it elsewhere. We just don’t know yet in this changing world what will give people a competitive advantage. Heck, it may not even be traditional college anymore. But in a pandemic dystopia like what we appear to be facing, a safe, self-contained educational bubble community like a boarding school sounds like a pretty darned good place for a teen to hole up while the world sorts itself out.
People here are pulling kids from public school, and are willing to pay a lot for tutors to home school. but that doesn’t address the super important social component of school. Boarding schools can provide that, too. If Boarding schools nail the safety issues (big if), my bet is that they will weather this fine. Even the ones with smaller endowments. They just have to afford the necessary infrastructure changes somehow.
Heck, aren’t the NBA players basically doing boarding school in Orlando so they can play safely? If that works, people will apply that model to education for their kids.
My deep thought for the night ?
I disagree with your statement “our Country has never had full on socialism on a big party platform before”, with respect to whether that big party’s platform could be characterized as “socialism”.
What is your definition of “full on socialism”?
One of our “big parties” definitely has a platform we’ve never seen before, and we are living it, daily.
As someone who sits on the board of the endowment of a non-boarding private school, there is indeed a lot of uncertainty for donors and trusts, but let’s be careful how we attribute that uncertainty.
@PhotographerMom Love your thoughts here. Thanks for the introspection.