Private Schools Offer A Grade "A" Education ... But Fewer Parents Can Afford the Expense

Online, September 7, 2010 (Newswire.com) - Many parents will tell you that providing their children with the best available education is an essential, but it is an essential they may no longer be able to afford.

Proponents of private schools will tell you that their children receive a superior education in classrooms with lower teacher to student ratios than in public schools, and that they benefit from advanced and specialized programs. Unfortunately, even committed parents are finding that paying for their children's private school educations has become more difficult and sometimes more expensive.

The results of a study by the National Association of Independent Schools indicated that one out of every five parents of students in private schools were paying for tuition and expenses by using some form of credit - typically unsecured personal loans, home equity loans or credit cards. Most private school parents relied on a variety of sources to meet expenses, including financial aid. Other sources besides aid and credit included money from relatives and withdrawals from retirement funds and IRAs. Many of these sources of funds were adversely impacted by the recession over the last 2 - 3 years.

Older relatives are often no longer able to be as generous in their assistance due to shrinking retirement funds, IRAs and pensions. Private schools with financial aid programs were at one time a good resource, but fewer schools have the financial resources they once had for such programs. Enrollment has declined, reducing the amount of funds that schools have available for financial aid programs. The recession has also impacted donations from alumni. Even schools that have significant investment portfolios or enjoy the benefits of an endowment have seen their income from investments drop.

More families are opting to place their children in a public school or considering taking out personal or signature loans in order to pay for private-school tuition and expenses. Often loans and credit cards are the only realistic options for struggling parents, but unsecured personal loans often come with higher interest rates and fees than they did even a few years ago.

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