 |
Tuition
costs can deter prospective families
|
 |
But
school officials say financial help available
|
|
Deanna
Scholz, mother of an eighth-grader, is already working
two jobs in order to save enough money to finance her
daughter’s tuition next year at a Catholic high
school.
While she’s a supporter of Catholic schools, she’s
also concerned about the cost of their tuition. She knows
that unlike public schools, Catholic schools aren’t
funded by public taxes, nor do all of them get money
from local parishes. But a friend of hers plans to pull
two daughters out of a Catholic high school next year
and send them to a public school because the family can’t
afford $16,000 in tuition costs, she said.
Scholz hasn’t yet looked into financial aid at
Divine Savior Holy Angels High School, where her daughter
wants to enroll. Her daughter will, however, be applying
in January for a $700 scholarship sponsored by their
home parish. “That would help, but it would only
pay for books for the first year,” she said.
Elizabeth Stengel, director of admissions at Milwaukee’s
Dominican High School, encourages parents to explore
similar scholarship options through their own parishes,
but she knows the bulk of financial aid generally comes
either from the high schools themselves or outside agencies.
She said more than half of Dominican’s student
body is receiving some type of financial aid through
such programs as academic scholarships, grants based
on family need, or a work-study program that lets students
earn credit toward their own tuition.
While a few urban Milwaukee Catholic high schools, such
as St. Joan Antida, accept students who qualify through
Choice and Pave programs, some admissions directors say
the number of students accepted through the programs
is limited, and the applications are rigid enough to
disqualify some students whose families still can’t
afford tuition.
But admissions directors are more than willing to meet
with parents to help find a financial aid package that’s
still affordable for the family.
“The ‘sticker shock’ of tuition can
be very scary for parents to think about,” Stengel
said. “We
call it an investment because that’s really true.
It’s an investment in your child’s education,
your child’s future. But something we absolutely
stress with parents is that they never let the price
tag of a Catholic education be the deciding factor.” |
|
