It's true families are cutting back. Everyone is facing the same economic crisis, even those that can afford to send their children to private schools. Families are re-evaluating the most important expenses in their budgets (and rightfully so with the current economy), but it's speculated unlikely they will skimp on their child's education. Families that can afford private education for their children are likely to find other expenses to scale back. However, ISM is conducting current survey research to confirm this. (As situations continue to harden, original projections for the 2009-2010 school year are not clear.)
Historically however, private-independent schools have been secure through financial downtimes. Past recessions show private school enrollment numbers don't change, and most have sustained their enrollment, tuition, and fund-raising levels despite the shaky market and reservation of families. Students might not be wearing new athletic uniforms, and campuses may not be expanding their facilities, but most private schools have sustained enrollment numbers.
What most private-independent schools may see, and are seeing, this season is an increase in financial aid application requests. To date, private-independent schools have reported a 4.3% increase in financial aid applications. Clearly this shows a continued interest in private education. Families are simply in need of financial help in affording the choice.
If your school's endowment took a beating when the market plunged in September, this may be a concern to your budget. Some schools are holding off on new uniforms and improvements so that they can afford to offer more aid to needy families. There won't be any clear statistics until March when final enrollments are calculated, and solutions schools find to meet the needs of interested families won't start to be discussed until then either, but it's expected that a good percentage of private-independent schools, rather phased or not phased from the market plunge, will be incorporating some creative financial planning to sustain students.
