As Michigan’s economy continues to lag, parents struggle to afford tuition bills while schools work to maintain their enrollment.
Following some of the worst months the U.S. economy has seen since the Great Depression, American businesses and workers are hunkering down for further instability in 2009. In Michigan – where the recession has already been felt deeper and lasted longer than in most parts of the country – these are uneasy times for most families.

At private schools in metro Detroit, where annual tuition ranges from $3,000 to $20,000 per student, dealing with the economy is a front burner issue.

At Friends School in Detroit, for instance, current enrollment declined about 2 percent from the previous school year. For that reason, the staff is focusing on keeping student numbers and fundraising as stable as possible.

“We’re concerned because we hear from other nonprofits that they’re having trouble raising money, whether it’s United Way or whatever,” says Mary Roberts, director of admissions for Friends School.

“We don’t have any doubt that we’re going to be impacted.”
Randall Dunn, the head of The Roeper School, says the school is faring well with steady enrollment at its Birmingham and Bloomfield Hills campuses. He adds that its endowment has grown, but admits, “We try not to look too closely at the stock market nowadays.” Bishop Foley Catholic High School in Madison Heights has lost about 7 percent of its student base over the past five years, but Principal Joanne Molnar says its effort to virtually freeze tuition rates helped it hold on to 395 students in grades nine through 12 this year.

“I think people are in limbo,” Molnar says of the current mood in Detroit.

“They really don’t know what’s going to happen in the immediate future.” That kind of uncertainty is making it difficult for parochial and private schools to predict enrollment for next year, which in turn makes it hard to set budgets and financial aid allocations.

MAINTAINING ENROLLMENT Private school hallways are abuzz with talk of the economy and the Big Three’s request for federal loans. Even holiday parties are not exempt. Deb Moore, who has two daughters at the Christian Leadership Academy in Troy, attended a New Year’s Eve party where she says, “Half of the dads were employed by the automotive industry and that was the talk of our party – the uncertainty and ‘Who knows what’s really going to happen with GM and Chrysler?’ and ‘How is it going to affect our school?’” School administrators are urging parents to be open with the schools about their needs. “Don’t wait to ask questions about the potential for financial aid,” says Robin Pospisil, the director of admissions for Japhet School in Madison Heights. She says that it’s a much better solution for all involved when schools can meet the needs of the students they already have, rather than seek new students.

But with just 80 students attending Japhet, Pospisil has to be proactive. The loss of just a few students would significantly impact the school’s budget, so she doesn’t wait for parents to knock. “I spend lot of time in the front lobby when people are coming and going from events to talk to parents and hear what’s happening – whose dad just lost his position, who’s doing fine and who’s concerned.” Increasing the amount of financial aid available is one way that private schools are attempting to ease the financial burden on stressed families. Jamie Michaelson has two kids attending Roeper and is on its board of trustees. “The school has been terrific about setting aside money for financial aid,” Michaelson says. “We’re looking to do more of that next year to make sure we maintain the ability for families to continue and have a stable base of students.” Pospisil says Japhet is looking at financial aid a little differently this year. “As an admissions director, I have always known that if I offer somebody in the kindergarten level financial aid, I need to make a little tally mark in the back of my head that I am probably going to need to continue that for the next nine years.” But she says that schools have to consider some shorter-term solutions. “This may be a tough couple of years, but I don’t see it as being that way for the entire length of their education.” PENNY WISE Keeping a tight lid on expenses and tuition increases is another goal. At Warren Woods Christian School, the K-8 tuition is $3,800 – among the area’s lowest. Administrator Beth Denhart says the school benefits from the generosity of its sponsoring church.

“They allow us to keep our tuition down,
But they are feeling the crunch, too. So we just have to spend our dollars very wisely and be frugal in any excess spending,” Denhart says.

“We use our money very, very wisely.” The schools are also mindful, however, not to cut so much from their budgets that they hurt their programs. “I have to focus on making sure that the faculty and the program of the school remain whole,” says Dunn of Roeper. “One of my main concerns is that the program doesn’t have an impact whereby when we come out of this situation we find ourselves having to make up a tremendous amount of ground.” At a time when budgets are this tight, private schools have to be cautious about requesting extra funds from their families, as well. “We are sort of adjusting our approach to fundraising in our community,” Dunn says. “Maybe we’ll be working individually with people who we know are doing better than others and adjusting our approach for those folks who really might be offended if we approach them at this point. We are trying to be sensitive to what everyone’s going through.” In the near future, raising funds from outside sources, where money is also tight, may be more important than ever. “I think all of us feel that we’re going to have to work harder for our endowment,” says Roberts.

“We have a major fundraiser in the spring, and we realize that it’s very significant for us financially this year.” SETTING PRIORITIES But all this talk of what Pospisil calls the “fear factor” mood at private schools does not mean that families are leaving in droves.

Many parents are actually buckling down and cutting other household spending to ensure their children can stay enrolled.

Debbie Carr-Taylor’s husband took an early retirement from General Motors in 2004. The Plymouth resident says they will forego family vacations, dinners out and one of those new, must-have flat screen Tvs to keep their girls in Go Like the Wind Montessori School in Ann Arbor. But she doesn’t confuse such cuts with true sacrifices. Other families do without much more.

“Some people think only ridiculously-rich people go to private school, but I know that’s not the case,” Carr-Taylor says. “There are plenty of people who make difficult decisions to keep their kids in a private school. This year, I have seen more tears in the hallway – and the discussion is always around economics.” Don Larkins of Warren was an instructor at Warren Consolidated Schools until last March, when the GM/UAW-funded automotive program he taught was cut.

Although Larkins is still looking for work, he says that he and his wife never considered taking their two boys out of Warren Woods Christian School. “My wife is still working, thank God,” he says. “We are financially stable, right now, because we have savings.

Their school is very important to us. It’s the last thing we would cut.” One compromise some parents consider is to keep one child in a private school while finding alternatives for the rest. Many parents feel the key is finding the best fit for each
Individual child.

After her first marriage ended in divorce, Mary Beth Stacey of Pleasant Ridge decided that the discipline of a parochial school would help her only child succeed. “We were divorced just before he turned 5, and I really felt that he might fall through the cracks in the public school environment because he was a little wild.” Today Stacey’s son is thriving at University of Detroit Jesuit High School.

Keeping her son in private school hasn’t always been easy. “It is a bite. This year tuition is 10 grand, and you still have to buy all the books,” she says.

“We’re in a position where we’re able to do that, although we’re sometimes gritting our teeth and kicking and screaming,” she laughs.

Stacey has remarried and is feeling hopeful about finding good public school options for her two preschoolers, who have benefitted from a more stable home life than her son had.

“I think that for my son in particular, it has been money well spent,” Stacey says.

Conventional wisdom says that in a down economy, investing in education is always money well spent. That’s why some local private school communities believe the weak economy might actually help strengthen families’ commitment to private school education.

“It’s interesting. Michigan has been in a horrible recession for the last two or three years, and we really expected our enrollment numbers to suffer,” says Bill Kennis, a parent and former board member at the Oakland Steiner Waldorf School in Rochester Hills.

“We feel very proud that we’re holding our enrollment numbers in these tough economic times, which speaks well of the uniqueness of the Waldorf education. People are very passionate about it, and they’re willing to work extra hard to ensure that their kids stay in the program.” “The future is just as unpredictable as it was two years ago,” Dunn observes. “We don’t know what the 21st century environment is going to be for kids, so you do have to make sure your kids are prepared.” One message that seems constant among the local private school communities is the plan to approach hard economic times as thoughtfully as any family would.

“Our finance committee is made up of parents and past parents and administrators and teachers,” says Kelly Kossuth, enrollment coordinator at Oakland Steiner School. “A lot of thought goes into how we handle issues. We approach it as a family situation.” “Business and life is about making sacrifices and prioritizing things,” says Roeper parent Michaelson. “Our children and their education certainly come at a high priority. There may be other things that we give up or don’t do, but we’re fortunate enough to be able to make those choices and have our children go to a school where they really flourish.”