Private schools expect more financial aid requests

Metro Atlanta’s private schools don’t expect a big drop in student enrollment next school year because of the recession.

But headmasters say the weak economy will be felt on their campuses. More families will need financial aid. Bulldozers will be silent because construction projects have been put on hold. Fewer students will buy lunch. And the sports teams won’t wear new uniforms.

Past recessions show private school enrollment doesn’t decrease, but more families need financial aid, said Myra McGovern, spokeswoman for the National Association of Independent Schools, which represents about 1,450 private schools nationwide including several dozen in Atlanta.

But this time, local private school leaders say that if too many people lose their jobs enrollment may drop as families struggle to pay tuition and mortgages.

“So far interest in our school has been consistent and we’re encouraged by it,” said Don Robertson, the headmaster at The Walker School in Marietta. “But it’s one thing to look at something and another thing to buy it. We just have to wait and see what happens.”

About 6 percent of Georgia’s school-age children attend private school, according to the state education department.

Private schools are in the thick of enrollment campaigns for next school year. Most applications are due in February and admitted families typically have until the end of April to decide whether their children will attend.

Tuition at Atlanta’s private schools varies — from about $3,000 to $5,000 a year on the low end to about $13,000 to $20,000 on the higher end.

The economy worsened after most families paid tuition for this school year. But school leaders are unsure how the recession will affect families this coming year.

William S. Peebles IV, headmaster at The Lovett School in Atlanta, said seven families who have not received financial aid before have already said they will need help next school year if their kids are to stay. The school has about 1,500 students.

Some school heads expect families will get help from a voucher program legislators passed during the last session. The program provides income tax credits to individuals and corporations who donate to organizations that give scholarships for students to attend private schools.

Private school leaders say they’re holding off on purchases — such as new athletic uniforms and equipment — so they can provide more financial aid.

Parent April Hardin packs her lunch every day to save money for her son’s tuition at Shiloh Hills Christian School in Kennesaw. Household expenses are up, so she and her husband have put off buying new clothes and getting haircuts. While they both have good jobs — she manages properties and he works for Comcast — she said they’ve asked family for financial help.

“It makes my stomach turn, just turn to pull out my child,” Hardin said. “Can we afford this next year? We are praying and hoping we can. But prayer and hope doesn’t pay tuition.”

Natalie Nuckles drives a 15-year-old Nissan and cooks all her meals to help afford her son’s tuition at Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy. She works in insurance and plans to get a second job, if needed, so her ninth-grader can stay at the school.

“I want my boy to have the best possible and I believe that means private school,” she said. “If that means I have to sacrifice, so be it.”

Parents said they’re waiting to find out if tuition will go up.

Many private schools won’t approve budgets for next school year until January. They’re still deciding where to make cuts and whether to increase tuition. The national private school group recommended developing contingency budgets for next year, ranging from 5 percent to 20 percent below this year.

Several schools already shelved construction projects. The Epstein School in Sandy Springs canceled a proposed addition to expand from 650 students to 850.

“We couldn’t anticipate being able to raise the money and we also had to ask are we going to see an increase in enrollment that would support this project,” said head of school Stan Beiner. “We did not see that happening, at least not now.”

Not everyone is getting bad news.

At Pace Academy in Atlanta applications are up from previous years and more people are attending open house events, head of school Fred Assaf said. Assaf is unsure why, but speculated it was because Atlanta is still growing as a city. Other private schools are hoping to be as lucky, but they’re developing back-up plans.

Robertson, the headmaster at The Walker School, already teaches one class and said he may teach another to save money.

“Every dollar counts,” he said.