Attainment of the goals of:

a. full enrollment of mission-appropriate students, as well as;

b. quality programs and services

is next to impossible if any of these common eroneous premises are employed:

1.

These premises typically underscore board debates regarding pricing. A school should charge what it costs to operate the core services and programs considered essential to the mission. You should not charge less than cost based tuition. It has been shown that charging the costs of programs and services will not result in developing marketing problems because of pricing tied to costs.

Very substantial increases can find acceptance, indeed strong support, if tuition increases are implemented through a proper process - namely, communicating with parents.

The administration and board must have a comprehensive understanding of tuition and tuition rate increases and must approach tuition in a highly informed and logical process. At the core of the mission and vision are tuitions paid. A failure to understand tuition and increases only destines a school to mediocrity.

2.

There is a "traffic-bearing point."

In truth, there is no such magic point in education. Families buy schools with particular programs with quality in mind. It is rare for families to decide between two institutions based solely on a few hundred dollars difference in price. The truth is, people aspire to those schools with higher tuition because they assume that the greater price means superior quality.

Price increases should not be huge and arbitrary. They must be bite-sized and well justified (communication) and quality must be perceived throughout.

3.

Only one year of tuition change should be considered at a time.

If a school looks past one year and considers a sequence of real dollar increases, they should be able to achieve lower tuition aid amounts and strengthening of core services and programs.

4.

Past tuition has been the highest that can be set.

There must be a sequence of real dollar tuition increases simply to keep pace with operating costs. Schools that believe past tuitions are the highest that can be charged are using tradition as a benchmark, and are training the constituents, that the education costs only what has been charged in the past. This destines the school to mediocrity.

5.

Pay very careful attention to what other schools charge.

The school should be cognizant but not strongly influenced by what other schools charge. Price should be determined by its own criteria.

6.

A school will base its measure of capacity to pay on its own circumstances, those about whom it is concerned, and those who complain the loudest.

The school has not taken time to research the constituency's capacity to pay. Yet, this is the equivalent of "market research" for a typical business, and the information is not difficult to obtain. In not approaching tuition strategically, the school destines itself to mediocrity.

7.

A school cannot survive without multiple child discounts.

This is one of the most common errors I see in private schools and it is fundamentally flawed as it is highly discriminatory in nature and destines the school to mediocrity. The school should treat all equally and those who need tuition aid can apply for it. Multiple child discounts represents the great cancer of private schools.

8.

Inflation is the principle factor in the drive for tuition increases.

It is but one factor. Another factor is lack of productivity (2% year). Every school should implement yearly tuition increases simply to achieve real cost based tuition. Once this level has been achieved, yearly increases should continue to maintain cost based tuition.

9.

Keep tuition such that the greatest number of families can afford to pay the full price.

This will vastly limit the school's income, forcing inadequate programs and will place enormous pressure to raise money elsewhere while the school is effectively giving "scholarships" to the great majority of families who can probably handle higher tuitions.

10.

If we maintain low tuition, we will attract more donors because of the needs incurred by the service of giving education away.

This is a big mistake and one that I see often. While it seems to make sense, I can assure you the results sought will never happen. Donors will give to enhance core services and programs and not to dump money into a general fund that sucks their money away into oblivion year after year.

11.

Let's make only a token increase this year because we have taken heat for past increases.

You must annually raise tuition equal to that of inflation plus the 2% lack of productivity factor. The school will ultimately regret token increases as you face price-setting decisions in the years that follow. Any resistance the board might have experienced to past increases was likely rooted in the manner in which the increases were developed, announced and marketed. Again, very substantial increases can find acceptance, indeed strong support, if the proper process is employed.

Cost-based tuition is exactly that: cost-based tuition in REAL dollar terms. One of my pressing concerns for private schools is the very common scenario I see of a board alleging that cost-based tuition is achieved and yet teacher salaries are substandard. I have seen many schools where teachers are paid near, at, or below the poverty level. In considering tuition rates and increases, foremost in the mind of the board should be compensating teachers fairly.

If you claim that you have cost-based tuition and your teachers are not being compensated at a fair wage, you have blinded yourself into believing cost-based tuition has been established when in reality your teachers are heavily subsidizing every child who attends through low and inefficient pay. This ultimately destines a school to mediocrity, chronic staff turn over, weak morale and ultimate gutting of mission and vision. The number one priority of the board should be fair teacher compensation and anything less than a fair liveable wage is, in my opnion, wrong.

There is a logical process to achieve fair compensation for teachers through carefully planned, executed and communicated tuition increases.