<p>@Peri: A major reason why the applicant pool to BS is growing so rapidly is precisely because the value proposition at public schools which don’t charge is becoming less appealing against alternatives that require out of pocket expenditures. This really speaks for itself. </p>
<p>@Invent: Compare private alternatives and their prices to fully loaded local school expenditure (including administrative overhead, capital budgets, and state deficits due to teacher pensions). There’s a reason that home schooling is booming (up 74% in the past decade), new private and charter schools are starting, and that more kids and their parents find it worthwhile to pay for alternatives whether BS or other. Also, your point about Harvard admissions being 60% from public school ignores basic statistics and a key point. First, only 10% of the nation’s high school grads attend private school <a href=“Home - Council for American Private Education”>Home - Council for American Private Education, so private school grads are massively over-represented. Secondly, acceptance of public school grads reflects an estimate of their individual potential, not an endorsement of their secondary school education.</p>