Catholic Schools of Sioux City examines tuition options

By KATIE LEFEBVRE, Globe staff reporter
October 14, 2004

The Catholic Schools of Sioux City will propose a new tuition model to the board in November. The proposed model, cost-based tuition/need-based assistance, will help the school with costs and help families who want to send their children to a Catholic school in Sioux City.

The proposed plan would have each family paying the full cost per pupil. The cost per pupil amount is figured by dividing the total cost of operating the school for a year by the number of students.

Families not able to afford the total cost would be given the opportunity to apply for assistance under the new plan. The assistance applications would be evaluated by an outside agency and families would receive aid based on their ability to pay.

The agency that CSSC would use is a company called FAIR out of Minneapolis, Minn. The local school administration and business office would not see the information. FAIR would evaluate the information and recommend to the school what financial aid should be awarded to a family.

"We are trying to make Catholic schools affordable," said Father Patrick Walsh, president of the Catholic Schools of Sioux City. "Nobody is being asked to pay for anyone else. All anyone is being asked to pay for is the cost of their own child's education."

The families that might choose not to apply for assistance would pay the full cost per pupil, but would not pay more than the cost to educate their child.

"The other component of this proposal is that if you don't belong to a parish, you don't get financial aid," said Father Walsh.

The proposal will effect all families or potential families with children going to a Catholic school in Sioux City - high school or elementary.

"It is a good idea because one, it matches the tuition to the people's ability to pay. Two, the number the parishes are giving us is declining. Parishes say that they have declining numbers and declining giving so we can't look forward to say that is always going to be there. Thirdly, we are asking people that can afford it to pay a higher percentage of the per pupil cost," said Father Walsh.

If the new plan is approved by the CSSC board, it will take effect at the beginning of the 2005-2006 school year.

The current plan is a subsidy model in which families have been asked to pay an average of 49 percent of the cost per pupil between high school and elementary school. This year the cost per pupil is $4,270, so the tuition amount for the 2004-2005 school year is $2,700 for high school and $1,800 for elementary school.

The difference of the cost per pupil was provided through parish investment of 38 percent and development at 13 percent. The development money for CSSC came from the Spirit of Excellence Annual Award, planned giving and the spring auction.

"We can't continue to depend on parishes giving us the same amount of money, so we have to ask some people to pay more for Catholic education," said Father Walsh. "We are planning on being here. We are trying to look to the future and plan it so that Catholic Schools of Sioux City will survive and be here for Catholics to utilize it."