Fundraising spin off...private schools and all their fees

[SnuggleBuggles]

For other parents that send their kids to private school, does it bother you too that there is the tuition plus a snack fee, activity fee, and all sorts of other add-ons? It is so misleading. You see the tuition and get that number in your head but then once you add in all those others it can talk on hundreds more to the bottom line. Just charge that final price! Show that number. Let me know where it goes, that would be great. Is that how it is for other kids at private schools or maybe it is just a regional thing?

Beth

[mommy111]

Our (absolutely awesome) private school only has a fee and a one-time a year 'other fee', I forget what that is for. The previous school/preschool that DD was in, they had everything from a diaper fee to heaven knows what else and it really, really irked me.

[blisstwins]

My children are three--
Tuition: 4500 (each)
registration fee: $150 (per family)
Computer fee: $200 (each)
Book fee: $400 (each)
School improvement fee: $150 (per family)
Fundraising commitment: $500 or you can buy yourself out of it for $400 (per family)

Makes me angry not that you mention it!

[geochick]

I used to attend (5th through 12th) and later teach at a private school. These schools aren't trying to trick you (but perhaps yours is). Every grade has different fees. Each class within a grade has different fees because teachers do different things. They aren't getting a check from the state for stuff like public schools do. The money for the books and field trips and science materials and musical instruments and food for Greek Day comes from parents. Nothing is free. It's pretty much the same all over the place. It's just part of private education. Tuition covers teachers and building and insurance. Fees cover the added stuff - the educational materials. The school I used to teach at has a list for each teacher of fees. It's listed on the website. Ask your school to post such a list if it has been top secret until the bill comes. You probably have a parent council - bring it up with them. Your school has a person in charge of the books. Ask for a meeting with that person to know the details.

[SnuggleBuggles]

All the privates around here have the same prices for those things (snack is always $150/ semester, regardless of age, for one school for example). It's those sorts of consistent fees that just seem like if they are going to be applied across the board should just be part of the final amount. Then again, maybe it is a scholarship or financial aid thing...those can only cover tuition so they have to keep that value out as a seperate number?

Beth

[vludmilla]

I would completely be annoyed about all the different fees too if I were you. One thing sticks out to me...the $150 per semester snack fee. That amount seems outrageous. It works out to about $1.50 per day (based on 5 days a week, 2 semesters and 40 weeks in a school year) on snacks! IME, the snacks aren't such high quality that they should cost so much. I would really want to opt out of that fee and send my own, cheaper and much better quality snacks.

[Sugar Magnolia]

We pay

4500 Tuition
125 Registration fee-They cap in at 375 per family
150 Materials fee

And then field trips, carnivals ($20 per kid!), a yearly auction/gala, and other expenses.

It is a lot.

[C99]

It doesn't really bother me, because they are upfront about the financial requirements. I think it would be more misleading for them to say that tuition is $5600/year, because it's not. Even though I mentally tacked on the fees requirements to the tuition price they gave me, I probably would not have even considered a school w/ tuition of close to $6K; $4K sounds much more reasonable.

[C99]

I would really want to opt out of that fee and send my own,
cheaper and much better quality snacks.

But to play devil's advocate here for a minute: what if the snack fee is paying not only for the snacks themselves, but for a couple of adults to oversee the process? I know that we pay a "lunch lady" fee to the school, even though our child eats in his classroom and not in the lunch room; it's pretty standard around here. Or, perhaps the school has a flat rate snack fee and policy because they have kids w/ food allergies and they must maintain an allergen-free environment for those children? In my DS1's classroom, I cannot send anything that was processed on a facility shared w/ peanuts or tree nuts. I once put a homemade chocolate-chip-and-M&M cookie in his lunch box and it came back still sealed in its container because M&Ms are made on a shared facility. I can imagine the administrative nightmare that schools must go through to maintain policies like these, and thus how the snack fee seems exorbitant.

[hellokitty]

I have a friend whose dd is in a very small private school right now, she is only in pre-k, but the program goes up to 8th grade. Anyway, a lot of students get some tuition assistance, and supposedly, if they do, the parents are suppose to do more volunteer work. Well, my friend is paying full tuition, she's a WOHM, they constantly hassle her to volunteer (they wanted her to do landscaping!), and then they are constantly asking for $ and tacking on other fees. One fee they have to pay is that every friday is pizza day at the school. Her dd only attends tues/thurs, she doesn't attend on friday, BUT she STILL has to pay that fee!!! They are really irritated and put off enough that they are not sure if they will continue to send her to that school or not. I was actually thinking about that same school, the tuition is the highest in our area, but after my friend's exp, I am not so sure if I want to pay so much to a school (we wouldn't qualify for tuition help, and I would probably have to go back to work to pay for tuition for my kids), only to be constantly guilt tripped and nagged about donating more $ and doing more volunteer work.

[dhano923]

DS goes to priviate Montessori. We pay $965 a month (includes after school care) and a $35/year Earthquake Kit fee. There are no material fees or anything like that. After 3rd grade, there is a $100 computer fee.

There is no fundraising for the younger kids -- the older kids do magazines. But they do a carnival twice a year (everything is donated by parents) to raise money to make ground improvements. The winter carnival allowed them to make gardens for each class to grow their own flowers and vegetables and also repaved the blacktop where the kids play basketball and run races. This spring they want to replace the preK jungle gym and get some more computers for the younger kids to have a computer room.

[m448]

around here I'm amazed at the amount of fees required in public school. Pretty much anything is fair game except tuition. Registration fees, fees for consumable books, janitorial supplies, classroom supplies, etc., etc. We're homeschoolers but dh and I are constantly wondering how the schools are able to demand more and more financially from people who many times cannot give more.

[muskiesusan]

We sent both boys to a Montessori school. If you are a new student, you do pay an application fee ($150), but other than that we just have the tuition.

Of course, we do get hit up for volunteering a lot, have a fundraising drive asking for cash donations, and a spring auction that is pretty pricey. I thank my lucky stars that we aren't asked to sell anything.

[spanannie]

It really doesn't bother me. There are only a couple of additional official fees that we are charged (curriculum & usage fee, registration fee) but there are fees for afterschool activities, teacher gifts (optional, of course), this, that, and the other. There are tons of fundraisers, so I'm always giving money for something. I guess it doesn't bother me because I feel like I'm very fortunate to be there and for my kids to be getting what they are from the school. I know that every penny that I give is needed to run the place and pay the wonderful teachers, who deserve to be paid more. That's just the way I look at it. However, we're still at a Private Day School and I have no idea how it will be when we're at a "regular" private school. I feel like I'm getting a good deal now, compared to what I know I'll be paying in the future ;-)


For other parents that send their kids to private school, does it bother you too that there is the tuition plus a snack fee, activity fee, and all sorts of other add-ons? It is so misleading. You see the tuition and get that number in your head but then once you add in all those others it can talk on hundreds more to the bottom line. Just charge that final price! Show that number. Let me know where it goes, that would be great. Is that how it is for other kids at private schools or maybe it is just a regional thing?

Beth

[Melanie]

For other parents that send their kids to private school, does it bother you too that there is the tuition plus a snack fee, activity fee, and all sorts of other add-ons? It is so misleading. You see the tuition and get that number in your head but then once you add in all those others it can talk on hundreds more to the bottom line. Just charge that final price! Show that number. Let me know where it goes, that would be great. Is that how it is for other kids at private schools or maybe it is just a regional thing?


Hmm, well so far the only 'fee' we have is a parent association fee. Everything else is part of the tuition. As they get older I think there's a field trip fee and a musical instrument fee. It would bother me if things like snacks were a separate fee! It's not like you can opt out of them, right? Maybe they're just trying to show you the breakdown of where all the monies go so it's not a big sticker shock?

For the little ones there is no child-performed fundraising. As they get much older, I think there's a class trip fundraiser at one point (maybe 6th or 8th?), senior dance or something fundraiser. The school does hold one big fundraiser dinner a year as well, that I've never felt pressured to participate in. Also there is a donation campaign that there is pressure to participate in but not as to how much, at least yet. Something about it looks good for the school to get grants if all the parents donate *something.* There is a volunteer hour requirement but it doesn't bother me. It would bother me more to be at a friend's school where only a few of the families do all the volunteering and others do nothing. If I can manage to make my volunteer hours with a newborn, people can do it. You just have to get creative if you're unavailable during the day.

[MelissaTC]

We paid a $100 application fee, $375 book fee, $5205 in tuition. We also were asked to consider a $250 donation to the endowment fund, we take turns bringing in snack for the entire class (usually graham crackers or the like), pay for class trips, any extras that have come along. The school fundraiser was a walkathon so I supported that since it got the kids out there moving and I didn't have to buy any junk. In addition, I must have clocked in around 75 hours or so in volunteering.

It is a bit costly but worth every penny. My DS is getting a great education and we love his school!

[kellyd]

I know the school DH teaches at they have tuition, I believe a small app fee ($50 to $75) and then anything that comes up like field trips you pay the cost of the trip... instead of a blanket amount that may or may not go to field trips.