Diana Costello has written a snapshot of the school and family sides of the private school admission process in the lower Hudson River Valley for the Journal News and LoHud.com (“Parents still paying up for private schools“).

She chronicles the thinking and decisions of families as administrators work to keep their schools full and parents cut and sacrifice to afford an opportunity they believe important.

“The Geber family of Nyack, for instance, is shelling out $55,000 a year to send two children to the Rockland Country Day School, where both have been students since kindergarten. One is in eighth grade, the other is a senior who has been accepted to Columbia University.

“It’s like buying a Mercedes E-Class once a year and then driving it off a cliff,” said David Geber, 58, a member of the board of trustees at Rockland Country Day who is also the dean of faculty at the Manhattan School of Music. He wasn’t the only one to make that joke.

But, he quickly adds, he can’t think of a better investment.

“If we don’t spend our money on our children, what are we going to spend it on?” he said. “We do not drive fancy cars, do not go on vacations, we just make things meet.” (LoHud.com)

There’s an unstated idea in this piece that strikes me- that few people seem to be acknowledging- schools and families seem to be making very resourceful efforts to meet each other in the middle regarding tuition and costs. I think there’s still a way to go in terms of school lowering costs, but the opportunities and willingness to make changes and adjustments seem to be taking hold.

Walter Johnson, headmaster of The Hackley School in Tarrytown told the Journal News:

“People have made philosophical decisions to keep their kids in public schools, but if you have the sense that that decision is becoming more challenging because of the economic struggles your schools are facing, that’s when you may start to consider something different.” (LoHud.com)

Photo credit: s_jelan