Parents of pupils in many of Chicago’s Catholic schools will face another substantial tuition hike next year as the Archdiocese of Chicago tries to wean its schools from relying on church subsidies and parish collections.
In its annual schools report released Thursday, the archdiocese suggested it was changing its fundamental philosophy about how schools are funded. Instead of allowing a school to dip into a parish church’s Sunday offering plate, officials want parents to pick up the total cost of their children’s Catholic education.
The increase, unveiled as a “tuition covenant” between the church and parents, would affect only the Catholic system’s 267 elementary schools. If those schools adopt the plan, tuition would rise an average of $200 or 8 percent, putting the average tuition at about $2,700.
The increase could double to 16 percent if the archdiocese moves later this year to have its schools also pick up capital costs such as building maintenance.
The current projected increase means that a parent who enrolled a kindergarten pupil in a Catholic school in 1996 will have seen tuition rise by 54 percent by the time that child enters 5th grade next year.
Not surprisingly, parents with children in the Catholic system were concerned Thursday at the prospect of paying more tuition and wondered how they would come up with the extra money.
But officials argue the increase is necessary to “help make our schools economically viable,” said Sister Judith Cauley, the system’s interim co-superintendent. “It’s a model that allows us to charge tuition at the level of actual cost.”
Under the new tuition covenant, the relationship between a parish school and its church would change in a dramatic way. Instead of church funds flowing directly into a school for general use–money that in the past helped keep down overall tuition costs–parish churches now would be likely to offer targeted grants to students who cannot afford full tuition.
More Top Picks Adhd In Girls Signs That Get Missed For Years
Cauley said that although schools are not required to adopt the new measure, she believes many will do so in the fall because they will need to compensate for the cuts in direct funding and to cover higher teacher salaries.
The archdiocese’s goal is for its teachers to earn 75 percent of what their public education counterparts earn, Cauley said. Currently, Catholic school teachers make about half that salary.
A beginning teacher starts at about $21,000, she said.
The archdiocese can’t shoulder such additional costs across the system, officials say, because it already spends millions of dollars a year to keep 60 ailing schools economically viable.
“The archdiocese feels that it cannot afford to maintain the level of support it has in the past,” Cauley said. “There just isn’t enough money for everyone because the archdiocese is trying to get financial order in its house.”
A decade ago, the archdiocese subsidized its schools to the tune of about $20 million per year. This year, it is $9 million. In the fall, that subsidy will shrink to $6 million.
Cauley said she could not predict what impact the austerity measure would have on dwindling enrollment or on possible school closings.
The archdiocesan schools have a total enrollment of 129,000 students, a decline of about 1.4 percent from five years ago. Chicago schools saw the sharpest decline over the period, with enrollment falling by 8 percent to 65,269.
Although President Bush’s call for school vouchers earlier this week was hailed as a potential boon to the Catholic schools, there is no telling whether the president’s plan will ever emerge from Congress.
Even if it passed, the students would have to wait at least three years for the first $1,500 vouchers.
On Thursday at St. Stanislaus Kostka Grade School on the Near North Side, parent Amador Conejo said an increase in the hundreds of dollars might be too much for him to keep his two children, Alexa, 5, and Cesar, 9, in school.
“That’s a lot of money for me right now. I would have to take them to public schools,” Conejo said. “But I like this school. I went to a Catholic school in Mexico, so it is a tradition in our family.”
Others, like Flora Campos, said she would be willing to pay an increase to keep her children, Luis, 7, and Gladys, 5, in the Catholic school at 1255 N. Noble St.
“I like the school, and I think this is the best thing for my children,” she said.
And although Quinette McLaurin, 38, said she could pay more for the education of her 9-year-old son, Kenard, she worries about others. “For some people, it would make a real difference,” McLaurin said. “There are a lot of single parents. It’s hard to believe they don’t have the money. They must have other ways to raise it.”
At St. Barnabas School, which serves the Beverly and Morgan Park neighborhoods on the South Side, officials said they asked parents to pay unsubsidized tuition last fall–raising the rate to $2,795.
Most parents complained, but the vast majority found the means to pay the additional costs, said Principal Patricia Mahoney-Daley.
“Our parents understand it is necessary,” she said.
Sister Mary Ellen Carron, principal at Frances Xavier Warde School, said her school’s two campuses have been using the tuition covenant model successfully since Old St. Patrick’s and the former Holy Name Schools merged in 1994.
“We add the cost of tuition and divide it by the number of kids and that’s the tuition price,” Carron said. “It’s working because those who have needs can apply for a scholarship.”