Low Bonuses, Job Woes May Mean No Tuition for Kids’ Private Schools

Private schools may be another victim of the economic downturn.

Seven percent of families who paid private-school tuition checks through a firm known as Smart Tuition had dropped out by the middle of the school year, the New York Times reports. The number is double the amount at the same time last year. The newspaper also cites anecdotal evidence from administrators, financial aid counselors and parents who say many families are reconsidering private schools.

One of those opting out is Carolina Hall, a corporate counsel whose smaller-than-usual bonus won’t be enough to fund kindergarten for her 4-year-old son. Hall told the newspaper that she and her husband, who owns a bar, had given up a new car and a nice vacation in prior years to finance her son’s private preschool program.

Hall says she is devastated to realize that she won’t be able to send her son to the Upper East Side School she had chosen. “Elementary school is where you establish a love of learning: You grab ’em or you don’t,” she told the Times. But, she said, “If I lose my job or my husband’s bar goes under, I have to have a slush fund.”