200 attend Catholic Schools of Sioux City meeting

November 25, 2004

About 200 people were on hand for the Catholic Schools of Sioux City board meeting held Nov. 22. They were interested to see if the proposed income-based sliding tuition scale for next school year would pass.

According to Alison Benson, marketing director for CSSC, the CSSC School Board voted 8-1 for the new sliding scale model, but passed it with an amendment stating that if parents could raise $550,000 by Feb. 1 tuition would be frozen for next year.

"Any family making $50,000 or below will have their tuition lowered regardless of the contribution outcome," she said.

The $550,000 is the projected budget deficit for next year based the following assumptions: a 3 percent raise for faculty and staff, a 15 percent increase in health insurance cost, a 2 percent increase in other costs with a $200,000 decrease in parish support and if the enrollment stays at its current level of 1,739.

This money is above the $300,000 goal for the Spirit of Excellence Campaign. Benson pointed out that if the $550,000 is not raised, all money will be given back to the contributors.

Presently, grade school tuition is $1,800 and high school tuition is $2,700. With the new sliding model, families with an adjusted gross income of $50,000 per year would pay no more than $1,239 per student for grade school and $1,757 per student for high school. For families with an adjusted gross income of at least $150,000 per year and families who are not active members of a Catholic parish, the sliding scale proposal means tuition next year could be up to about $4,129 for grade school and about $5,856 for high school students.

Under this new scale model, families would not pay for anymore than three students.