DS got into Loomis and two other schools. We have not committed anywhere. DS is domestic full pay.
We got an email tonight from the head of school at Loomis, addressed to accepted students. It talked at length about COVID and how it had changed plans for the school and for many families, and injected uncertainty into the 2020-21 school year, particularly for international students. It said that in reaction to all this, they were going to make some changes for next year. The email said they still needed a commitment by April 10, but that they would extend deadline for a contactual commitment until July 1. The email wasn’t entirely clear on what this meant, but I am inferring that they want a verbal commit on April 10, and are extending the deadline for the contract and deposit until July 1. I intend to follow up with the admissions people tomorrow to confirm this understanding.
Has anyone else gotten this email? What does it mean? I assume it means their yield is scrambled and they need more time to sort out how they are going to fill a class. But I don’t actually know. Any thoughts? Other emails like this from other schools?
I can’t speak to Loomis specifically as they showed my son no love, but my guess is that a lot of families are on the fence about committing to boarding school when it’s not at all clear that they’ll be able to reopen in the fall. It’s a CRAZY amount of money to pay for online classes and very limited opportunities to socialize & do extracurriculars. If all we wanted were online classes, we would’ve continued homeschooling and not had him apply to BS.
I don’t know what we’re going to do on Friday. If we had a crystal ball to know which school (if any) were actually going to reopen, we could make a decision.
I think this is going to happen at a number of schools. I have a friend who works in this field and he thinks they are all in uncharted waters. Not sure schools can re-open in fall, not sure parents will be as comfortable with the idea of sendingtheirkids away, not sure international students will be able to get visas, not sure families will have the same ability to pay, etc…
Loomis sounds like they have a good approach - tell us now if you are planning to come here (rather than somewhere else). This gives them a decent read on numbers if the world returns to some version of normal by summer.
Don’t sign your contract until some of this dust has settled. Iow, if the world remains wild, you won’t lose any $ and be locked in. Fair enough!
I asked for clarification from the admissions office at Loomis and they responded that the enrollment deposit deadline is still April 10. Families have until July to withdraw without owing tuition for the full school year but the $6000 deposit is non-refundable.
Thank you red whine, and everyone, for your responses. Yes, I also reached out to the admissions office yesterday, and they also told me that the July 1 date was to withdraw without owning the full tuition, but that the deposit and contract are still due the 10th.
So it’s just the normal arrangement we with a slightly extended timeline. A little accomodating.
I have said this in other threads… The possibility of a remote start in fall is very real. Nobody knows what we are dealing with. The probability of it extending beyond a semester is probably low. I think you need to consider whether, in the worst case, you want the regular BS experience for 7/8 of high school or your other option (for us it was LPS) for all of it, recognizing that the first 1/8 ,if it is remote at BS, it is likely to be remote at every option. To me, the answer is clear but I also realize that for that one semester, you are paying a lot for an experience that isn’t what you signed up for. And when it is the first semester, it’s hard!
I would hope that everyone will be better at distance learning in the fall with this spring behind them, but that is small consolation.
I am not sure about this. If the schools do not start in the fall, it is very unlikely they would start in winter when the second wave is predicted, so you are looking at the spring which is just the last third of the school year. Missing two sports seasons and 2/3s of classes in person, in addition to the spring term you missed already. Which I actually think is more of a disaster for the upper classmen, seniors applying for college and juniors losing the last chance to boost their resumes. And unlike this spring, it is very unlikely that other kids will be in the same boat because public and day schools will reopen. We know several current boarding school families that are looking at other options should the schools not re-open in the fall. We have thought about it as well, should the boarding school not reopen our LPS will be a real option particularly if they have their fall sports.
I suppose that’s a possibility. I would be surprised if day schools were open and BS were not although this could be the case for international students. Clearly, management of a virus is a challenge. But right now, a lot of the issues we are having relate to a rather spotty approach. Day schools provide a better means of spread, with family members fanning out daily, than do BS.
But if that’s your worry, you definitely need to do what’s comfortable for you. I don’t have a crystal ball!
Chiming in here to say that I’d guess the schools will want families to commit, no matter what happens next year (how they handle the fall, if there is no in person school probably is yet to be determined). If there is no in person school in the fall, perhaps the school will offer partial refunds etc but at some point there WILL be in person school. At that point, those who opted out of boarding school will find if difficult to impossible to get admitted – I’m guessing – because those classes will already be full and/or swamped with pent up demand at that point.
I’m not saying that families should accept a place, obviously that’s something for each family to decide, and depends on many factors including attractive local options. But the boarding schools will be able to fill their classes, even if they draw heavily from their wait lists. And once those classes are full, they are full.
This train of thought clearly mostly applies to schools that are highly desirable and which have lots of families that would be thrilled to get in off the wait list.
Agreeing with much of what is being said. Adding that we got those types of emails from more than one school (extension of the contract, or explanations of lower-risk or refund possibilities).
This is pretty standard for returning students as well. Typically deposit due in February, and first tuition payment due in July. You can back out in July, but then the deposit is forfeited. This is known as the summer melt.
Looks like this year it might end up being a summer inferno.
Not at all true because different states have been more or less aggressive in mandating lockdowns. Our top choice is in a state with a politically ambitious governor who is quite possibly letting his own ambitions for higher office (which have been obvious for YEARS) drive his decision-making at least as much as public health concerns. It’s entirely plausible that in-person school resumes in some states but not others.