@6teenSearch I am not sure how the school was able to force the parent to pay the tuition, but it seems that the contract the parent signed included that clause. Of course I am not privy to all of the details of the family’s situation referenced in my post…so there might be other factors that were at play here that I am unaware of. As far as the desirability of the school, it is considered a top school DS.
Pretty sure such a clause would be unenforceable, even if they tried to put it in there. If you forego your spot and they fill it with another student, that would be “unjust enrichment”.
I would not hesitate to give a deposit to one school while hoping for a waitlist to pan out, if you can afford to lose ( I preferred to think of it as “donate”, though I did not try to deduct it) your deposit.
Actually, such clauses are indeed enforceable. It’s not about unjust enrichment; it’s straight contract law. If you agree to a clause that allows for the school to accelerate a full year’s tuition, if your DC does not attend, unfortunately, you are on the hook. Many families take out insurance so that if they decide to not attend, the insurance will cover some of the loss.
Well, we did not have that experience. I suppose everyone needs to decide for themselves if it’s worth the risk.
I wonder if anyone’s ever challenged it. (Full disclosure… I’m not an atty., but I wouldn’t take that lying down)
We never bought any insurance, but that’s an interesting idea.
How would insurance work if you are the party that makes the decision that gives rise to the loss/claim. Seems odd.
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I know a family who had tuition insurance and withdrew their child when she was miserable at the new school. I believe they got most but not all of their money back.
I don’t think sandstorm2 is correct on that point unless the school did not fill the slot otherwise. If they did indeed replace your kid with another full pay kid, they cannot charge full price for services they never provided, no matter the contract (which no doubt includes language as to what is expected from the school in return for the tuition). They can cover some reasonable amount for the trouble they went to in originally signing your kid and in finding another, but that shouldn’t be more that $1,000 at most.
I think the kind of contract sandstorm2 was thinking of would apply if the other party had already expended resources they otherwise would not have and cannot recoup in any other way, like some kind of custom manufacturing. Nothing like that would ever apply to a school I don’t think, except maybe in some highly unusual special needs case.
I just skimmed some of the websites and articles including that one. Seems some might cover homesickness.
None at least explicitly cover withdrawing from a school before you attend so that you can go to another school.
The OP who said the parents paid tuition without attending said they withdrew within a month of acceptance … Never attended. It’d be quite odd for an insurer to cover that IMHO.
Btw, maybe we should have a thread on tuition insurance and which provider is best. Like most insurance I suspected it was bad value and never participated.
Choate requires participation in the tuition reimbursement program.
Tuition insurance is pretty expensive so IMO it’s not really a good deal unless you suspect there’s a chance your child won’t make it through the year, for instance in a situation where a parent or child is seriously ill or there’s a possibility of job loss.
Schools can and do enforce their enrollment contacts.
http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Private-school-contract-teaches-costly-lesson-2278449.php
It cannot,
At the DS our kids attend, you have to buy insurance if you aren’t paying in full, yes, but you don’t pay in full in March. March you pay the deposit, pay in full in July Iirc?
So again, not the one month window the OP described.
@Itcannotbetrue beat me to it. Choate, indeed, requires tuition insurance and bakes in into required fees.
even if you pay in full up front? Interesting, the various DS our kids have gone to to only require you to have insurance if you pay in installments
But anyway, does Dewars say that, if you pay 5 k deposit to Choate in April, and a month later decide to go to a different school, that you can put in a claim with them for another 50k “owed” Choate? That was the timing scenario the OP described.
And back to the legality of making you pay another $50,000 even though you withdrew a month after you paid the deposit, and even though the school filled the seat … I asked my DH, a lawyer, and he said that he thinks you could make the case that,despite the contract, it’s unconscionable. I can’t see a school wanting publicity for doing that.
Other than what the poster heard of above, has anyone actually experienced that? Frankly I still do not believe it.
Thanks, fallen chemist.
Choatie,
I suppose if it’s de rigeur for school to make you get insurance and given what I’ve seen it seems each plan is selected by the school itself, I guess there’s no reason to discuss insurance
Not all schools force families to buy the insurance. My kids’ BSes didn’t
When my kids were in private school, it was an option to buy it. The scenario they laid out was if you had to move or if you lost your job and had to withdraw this would cover most if not all the tuition owed. I don’t remember any of the specifics.
This is indeed an interesting discussion. Full disclosure – I am an attorney. While I agree with the comments that this for a school to enforce this clause, even when they fill the spot, seems unconscionable, but many of these private school contracts, if you read the fine print are drafted solely in the school’s favor. I have advised people to strike the clause or at least modify to a limited financial penalty (lost of a deposit). Just my two sense.
Well, now that we have bandied it about, I still stand by what I originally said.
As a practical matter when you commit to a school in April you’re going to give them a deposit, if Choate is indicative it’s something like $5000. Your next payment due will be mid July. If you get off a waitlist before mid July, and withdraw from school where you’ve already given a deposit, you will lose your deposit.
Perhaps the school may claim that you owe them more than the deposit. I’d like to hear from someone who says that’s happened to them, because it certainly didn’t happen to us in a day school situation. In the event that they claimed you owed them more than the deposit, as long as you’ve withdrawn before July they don’t have your money yet. So you just don’t pay them. If they want to come after you, that have to sue you. I think that would be pretty bad press, especially since we know they filled that spot and lost nothing… They actually gained an extra $5000 from your forfeited deposit. In addition to losing the fight in the “court of public opinion” I think they might also lose in court, if they wanted to spend that money, either because it’s “unconscionable” or because they were not harmed… they still have a student and they still have a full year tuition, because they have their own waiting list to draw from.
It was also stated that tuition insurance was often used to cover this “risk”, where you give your deposit and then choose to go elsewhere. Well I can’t really look at policies, because it seems they aredrafted specifically for each school. But I’d be willing to bet big money that there’s no way in the world that an insurance policy will pay out for you making such a decision.
So, three things. If you get into one acceptable school and get waitlisted to one you like better, I believe all you’re risking is the deposit as long as you can decide by mid July. Second I don’t believe insurance helps mitigate this. Third, sorry for this tangent for those of you who are you looking for interesting information about waiting lists!
PS have your clients ever been successful at altering a boilerplate contract with a school? My DH and I always laugh about that … Like you’re really going to mark up Andover’s docs and they’re going to go back to their attorneys?
Altering a boilerplate contract does not fly. I know. 'Nuff said. 
Read each contract carefully, both enrollment and tuition insurance. They differ. Don’t assume you only forfeit the deposit.
Having said that, when spots open up, there can be a chain reaction. The kid who’s accepted a spot at Beauxbatons is offered a spot at Hogwarts. He takes the new offer (legacy, don’t you know), which opens up a spot at Beauxbatons. A student with a spot at Durmstrang decides to switch, which opens a spot at Durmstrang…
I agree Perwinkle, know what you have agreed to.
But I am also saying, I would not let a contract that is prima facie unconscionable scare me. Just like when you park your car in a garage and the ticket says “we are not liable for any damage”. Nonsense they aren’t. People can write anything they want in a contract, but enforcing it is a different matter.
And LOL re the chain reaction!