If your school year is about to begin, maybe you're still dealing with parents who say they cannot afford their tuition in these difficult economic times.  Maybe your school year has already begun, and parents are already saying that they're having difficulty making the payments that they've agreed to make.  Maybe you're waiting for the school year to start, and are dreading the day - simply because parents that think they can't afford what you've asked them to pay, even after financial aid has been awarded, and they don't call to discuss their concerns; the children just don't show up on the first day of school.

If any of these scenarios is happening at your school, then don't send invoices home.  Parents receive them before school is out, put them on the side, and then don't take action on them.  Invoices need to be presented in person.   This provides the opportunity to explain that the figure is derived from the information gathered by your need assessment provider, AND provides a time to talk about the real cost of education.  For most schools, the announced tuition still only represents a portion of the total cost of education.  Therefore, parents are not being asked to pay that amount.  Additionally, they may have received more aid since principals are familiar with familial situations.  The amount a parent paid last year, as well as what they "ARE WILLING" (not "WANT") to pay also figures into the determination.

Let's consider a tuition of $3,000 per child, and you're asking the family to pay $2,500 based on the data received and the amount of financial aid you have available.

First, we're talking about $2,500.  If this was a Development conversation - that is, if a development director or advancement professional was asking a donor for a gift - $2,500 is an eyeball-to-eyeball ask.  So why do we handle our parents differently?  Sending a piece of paper in the mail, especially if they have two or more children in the school, is almost insulting.  Let's take that example into the business world.  If I was buying a car that cost $24,000, and could finance it a 0% financing for five years, that would be $400 a month for 60 months.  I don't know of any automobile retailer that would send the paperwork to the customer's home to be signed, and then, when they've filled it out, they can come in to get the car. 

Second, if we're asking a parent to pay $2,500, perhaps the parent has said they are willing to pay $1,500 because that's what they can afford (at least, what they say they can afford).  Most schools say, "Just split the difference and make it $2,000;" but can you afford the risk of losing even one child?  Notice how even though schools say they're a ministry, we're talking about negotiation here.  In ministry, there is no such thing as negotiation.  Therefore, if you contend your school is a ministry, yet this conversation sounds incredibly familiar, it's not only a ministry, but also a business (by the way, it's also a school).

Let's take a different approach rather than just splitting the difference.  Instead of focusing on $1,500 they're asking to pay, let's look at that difference of $1,000.  Over the course of 10 months, that's $100 per month.  With almost 20 days of instruction in a month over those 10 months, that comes out to less than $5 per day.  With an average 6 hour school day, that's less than 1 dollar per hour.  So, if they're willing to pay $1,500, might it be possible to sacrifice an extra 85 cents per hour?

Another approach - $2,500 for the year...180 school days per year.  That's just under $14 a day.  With at least six hours in a school day, that's $2.33 an hour.  I think you might pay a sitter more than that.

Here's another suggestion - right next to your announced tuition, show what the average parent pays per child, AND, if you're not using a cost-based tuition/need-based aid model, show what the full-cost of education per student is.

Of course, we have parents that don't believe in applying for financial aid.  They look at college as the time to do that.  Almost 30 years ago, my yearly cost of education was $100 per credit for college - yes, $3,000 per year.  Did I apply for financial aid?  Absolutely!  So why aren't parents applying for financial aid today when elementary school tuitions are in the $3,000 per child range?  Perhaps the better question is why aren't we budgeting financial aid into our regular school budgets?  "But that means that parents who are paying full cost are also paying a portion of someone else's financial aid!"  YES!  Where do you think colleges get some of their financial aid revenues from?  You might say benefactors - and that would also be correct.  Then where are yours?

© Michael V. Ziemski, SchoolAdvancement, 2010 (Original Publication Date: 20050815)

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