According to the August 7, 2008 edition of the Catholic Standard, the Archdiocese has doubled the amount of $$ spent on tuition assistance to $2,000,000. Over three-quarters have been allocated to the more traditional Tuition Assistance Programs. However, $400,000 has been allocated to a new Tuition Assistance Opportunity Fund. This new program provides partial scholarships to students who may leave, as well as, attempting to attract new ones.
Some of you might think that I will criticize this but I won’t. Why? Because it is a good idea and in many ways is reminiscent of “vouchers.”
For example, “St. Michael the Archangel in Silver Spring used a $15,000 grant to add 14 new students and retain two. Those students are bringing with them $54,000 in tuition.” Little Flower in Great Mills received $19,000 in tuition aid and the students bring with them $32,000.
Now, I don’t know if the money brought into the school included the “scholarship” money, but even it was, additional income was generated. That is a good thing.
This may be one of the things that helps to save Catholic Schools. It is my hope that this plan gets extended to more than just nine schools. Maybe money should be reallocated from the traditional TAP program to this. Seems it has the real potential of filling our schools again.
In fact, I would recommend that any school which falls below 80% enrollment capacity should be eligible for this program. For example, a school that can easily hold 500 students with an enrollment of 350 automatically becomes eligible. We all know that there isn’t a huge difference in the cost of a class of 25 students versus 28 students. So, if we can add two or three students per grade, it can really make a difference in the bottom line of a struggling school.
(to be continued)
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This blog wishes farewell to the DC Catholic blog.
DC Catholic signed off in June (if I remember correctly) but now the authors have taken down the blog. I am sorry to see it go because I thought it communicated events and issues that you may not find easily.
It has been removed from my links.
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Help defeat Montgomery County's Gender Identity Bill 23-07 this November.
Go to http://notmyshower.net.
1 comment:
I also like it. Not having having children, I am not involved in Catholic schools directly. However in addition to the financial benefits, it seems to me like it would be good for community building which benefits all paristhoners.
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