The Hartford Courant ran a piece last Thursday (Connecticut’s Private Schools Have Suffered Only A Glancing Blow From Recession) covering the relief that Connecticut schools are finding in many a family’s commitment to their best education options. Yes, enrollment is down a bit. Yes, financial aid requests are up. But, in the Courant’s sample, families are making the choices and sacrifices necessary to make their tuition payments.

“…Paul Keyes, a Bloomfield father who lost his job nearly two years ago and only recently found a new one, said it has been a struggle to send his daughter, Chelsea, to Ethel Walker for her senior year this year.

“‘It’s a huge sacrifice,’ he said. ‘The bulk of our income goes toward funding our daughter’s education. We made a decision to continue on that path because we’ve seen her develop and turn into a leader.’

School officials said there’s a consensus that parents see the economic downtown as temporary and don’t want to disrupt their child’s education.

‘No matter how much discretionary income people have, they are spending it differently now,’ said Andrea Herron, of Bedford, N.Y., whose daughter, Colby Eisen, is a senior at Ethel Walker. ‘The one place you don’t want to scrimp is education. Vacations, restaurants, clothes, fashionable items — from what I’m seeing and from our point of view, that’s where you are going to cut back,’ she said.” (HC)

Boarding schools do not see the family commitments as something that will last forever. Under the pressure of high tuition and good day school options, boarding schools are making concerted efforts to recruit harder and cast wider nets.

“Many boarding schools have responded to the economic downturn by intensifying their marketing, across the country and internationally, a strategy that has resulted in record numbers of applications and big waiting lists.

The Ethel Walker School, which has both day and boarding students, increased its travel budget by about 25 percent and has been recruiting students from as far away as New Mexico and Colorado. The efforts have paid off with an increase of more than 14 percent this year in the school’s boarding population, Corbett said.

The Westminster School in Simsbury has also broadened its marketing and now reports a student body from 27 states and 21 countries, including Singapore and Thailand, Admissions Director Jon Deveaux said.

‘Before, marketing was considered a dirty word. The attitude was private schools don’t advertise. That has all changed,’ Deveaux said.” (HC)

In the current climate, Hartford area parents are, so far, committed to the sacrifice, quality of education and premium that private school tuition requires. Parents believe it’s worth it and continue voting with their pocketbooks.