Monday, February 07, 2000
Private schools see applications soar
Good economy, search for values fuel interest
BY DANA DiFILIPPO
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Seven Hills kindergartners Ben Turnbull and Andrew Bowen playh with wooden blocks.
(Glenn Hartong photo)
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Despite rising tuition, limited openings and tough entrance exams, many Tristate private schools report record numbers of students applying for admission.
That 1990s phenomenon reflects a nationwide trend fueled by a rising economy, increasing numbers of school-age children and the attraction of smaller class size.
At the same time, parents increasingly have definite ideas about what they want in a school.
Admissions directors interviewed in Greater Cincinnati say many parents cite positive values, strong academics and athletics, a school's reputation and single-sex education when making their choices.
Others cite those and other criteria, such as safety, but prefer coeducational prep schools.
Parents say public schools can't deliver a full-enough package, however high academic achievements might be.
In the past decade, enrollment in private schools is up nearly 17 percent across the country and queries about admission have climbed 28 percent, according to the National Association for Independent Schools.
Some of those queries led to applications, some didn't.
“The options are expanding for families,” said Heather Hoerle, director of marketing and admission services at the association in Washington, D.C.
Parents are also increasingly uneasy about public schools' reliance on uncertain tax levies, said Dick Murphy, admissions director at St. Xavier High School, which received a record 1,023 applications for 370 freshman openings this fall when tuition will be $6,000.
“In public schools, you never know if they're going to drop extracurriculars, cut AP (Advanced Placement) programs or reduce the student-teacher ratio if a levy doesn't pass,” Mr. Murphy continued. “People are leaving public schools because they have this perception that what is out there is better,” Mr. Murphy said. “They devel op this perception because other people are doing it; it's trendy.”
Even with financial uncertainties, Walnut Hills, Cincinnati's historic public prep school, reports similar increases in demand for limited openings.
Cincinnati Public Schools cut $20 million from its budget last spring after forgoing a tax increase, leaving schools with far fewer librarians and textbooks, bigger classes and less bus service.
Voters rejected a levy in November; if they reject two more in March, officials say they'll have to make more, deeper cuts.
Pressure is most acute when parents pick a high school, but choices often begin earlier.
Pattie Edeburn of Symmes Township enrolled her two children in Catholic schools when the family moved to Cincinnati seven years ago.
She said reliance on tax levies and other instabilities played a role in her family's decision to leave public schools. When their children attended public schools in Tennessee and New Jersey, they were bumped to new schools twice because of redistricting.
When the Edeburns moved to the Tristate, the Catholic couple chose Catholic schools. Andrew now is a St. Xavier sophomore and Emily is a sixth-grader at All Saints School in Kenwood.
An element in the educational success of private schools — in addition to resources, entrance standards, values and class size — is retention.
Private schools find that once enrolled, students in all grades tend to stay. Year to year, that means fewer openings. In some schools, students begin as kindergartners and stay through high school graduation.
In 1997-98, for example, the median attrition rate for day students in private schools nationwide was 7 percent.
Some Cincinnati public schools — whose students are drawn from poorer families with less stable home lives — report an annual student turnover rate of nearly 100 percent.
Turnover is not that daunting in Cincinnati high schools but still enough to compromise some student achievement.
The Seven Hills School fielded about 720 inquiries this year for kindergarten through grade 12, compared with 540 last year, and received 230 applications, compared with 190 last year, admissions director Marilyn Collins said.
That increased interest came even though the nonsectarian coed school has “just a handful” of openings in most grades and one of the priciest annual tuitions of Tristate private schools ($2,960 for three-day preschool to $11,780 for high school).
“More people are finding out about our school,” Ms. Collins said. “The economy is good, and that allows more people to look at private schools.”
Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy, which charges about $5,700 for K-12 at coed campuses in Symmes and Sycamore townships, said 97 percent of its students re-enrolled and the demand for places greatly exceeds openings.
Ursuline Academy — a girl's high school in Blue Ash — has experienced unprecedented applicant pressure for the “past four or five years,” Principal/Executive Director Shirley Gaede Speaks said.
Resources are key, too.
St. X last year built a $13 million addition with new science classrooms, computer labs, intramural gym and chapel. The new wing wasn't intended to boost enrollment, but rather improve services.
Walnut Hills built a $12 million science wing with alumni funds, Seven Hills is putting up an arts center on its Red Bank campus, and other private schools have expanded or are raising funds for construction.
Nonacademic values play a prominent role in parental choices.
At Seven Hills, generations of teachers and alumni have inculcated a culture of civic virtue, Upper School Principal Susan Marrs said. “You will look for ways to contribute to the community you live in,” she said. “It's the norm.”
She also said an “ethic of inclusion” goes beyond race and ethnicity to honor differing paths to success. “To feel good about yourself, you don't have to be a jock or what the kids call a "study geek'.”
Looking back at her family decision, Mrs. Edeburn said, “Catholic schools reinforce what we're trying to teach them at home. They can pray in school and talk about God, and it's really important that my kids grow up living the Catholic faith day to day.”
In addition to academic excellence, Ursuline Academy's Mrs. Speaks said, her Catholic school draws heavily from “religious, spiritual families who want that kind of thing for their daughters.” She said Ursuline pursues that goal by creating a like-minded community of students, faculty and staff, requiring religion classes and “the example that is set by the opportunity for service to others.”
At Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy, an evangelical school which also has a religiously diverse student body, Headmaster Bill F. Balzano seeks to integrate Christian faith into the life of the school.
No matter what religion or denomination students are drawn from, “They all know what they've bought into.”
Success to Mr. Balzano is a school where student “faith can be expressed” and a “sense of spiritual mission.”
In the same way, Mr. Murphy said, parents also count on St. X to “offer character formation and spiritual formation, and the emphasis is on developing the total person.”
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