Do schools dare raise their tuition?
Every year schools want to know if they can raise their tuition. The discussion is often impassioned and subjective. Concerns range from whether parents can afford an increase to whether what they provide is actually worth that much.However, the bottom line is really this: will an increase in tuition rates have a negative impact on enrollment?Begin the discussion with the school's mission. This moves the decision-making process out of the subjective realm of feelings and opinions, and into the objective realm of principles. If the school is truly about the business of delivering on its stated mission, then they must have sufficient resources to be successful in accomplishing that mission.At DTS we believe that subjective discussions about who can afford what are similar to a doctor who tries to kill the pain without curing the disease. Discussions about increasing tuition need to begin with two questions: 1) how much does/will it cost for us to effectively deliver our school's mission? And 2) what percent of this cost do we want to eventually charge?Once the actual cost is determined you may decide that you want to charge 90% and supplement the rest with fund raisers (althoug
h if the fund raising is primarily with parents, you're still charging 100%). Other policies were measured, but these topped the list. If your school's budget for tuition assistance is too low, you will lose lower-income families by raising tuition. As a family travels through the process of making educational choices for their children, cost is not a leading factor. It is best to make this decision by the end of the calendar year for the next school year. While evaluating this information we look at where tuition fell in the listing of influential enrollment factors. Particularly financial aid, business, discipline and fund raising policies. What about the competition?You may have noticed that none of these factors rate other schools in the area. In a PinPointa survey we specifically ask the parent's feelings about the school's financial value. Or you may decide that you want to charge 100% and raise an additional 10% for tuition assistance. What you want to learn is: 1) What percentage of your families can afford an increase. If any of these areas need significant improvement, then those improvements will need to be experienced by parents prior to a significant tuition increase. If their tuition was $5-$6,000, then only about 43% (those with incomes over $75,000) could easily afford an increase.
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Acceptance Essays
