The Private School Pinch

Note to parents who've always thought of private schools as a closed, clubby bastion of the silver-spoon set: There may never be a better time to storm the castle walls.

From coast to coast, many of the nation's 27,000 independent primary and secondary schools are scrambling to fill spots left by recession-struck families. To ease the admissions process, some are waiving fees and extending deadlines. Others are even lowering the bar, taking kids with lower test scores. With the economy still roiling, many schools are working to fend off further departures by freezing or discounting tuition. And while you won't hear them announcing it over the intercom anytime soon, they're also more willing to negotiate -- in some cases, allowing cash-strapped parents to literally barter services in exchange for a tuition break.

How can schools afford these moves? Most say they're working to fill tuition shortfalls, not to mention their shrinking endowment coffers, by clamping down on administrative costs, postponing construction projects and throwing more fund-raisers. And to be sure, not all schools are having to dig too deeply into their waiting lists to reel in replacement revenue. "It is still extremely difficult to be admitted to choice programs," says Steven Roy Goodman, a Washington, D.C.­based educational consultant.

Indeed, private-school officials say they can't gauge what toll the recession has taken, since enrollment figures for September usually don't shake out until early summer. But many are seeing worrisome signs, such as lower attendance at open houses and smaller numbers of actual applicants. And that's on top of a demographic dip in school-age children in many areas of the country.

So it's no wonder this $25 billion industry is bracing for a downward jolt: The National Association of Independent Schools recently warned its members to create not only a financial "contingency" plan but also a "disaster scenario" plan -- the latter if income plummets by more than 20 percent. All of which, ironically, spells more opportunity for education-conscious families: "This is the best time for the consumer," says Dennis Guilliams, head of the Chesterfield Day School in St. Louis, Mo.

Gayle White won't argue. Last fall, when she saw that her daughter was not getting what she needed at her big, impersonal high school, the Springfield, Mass., CPA set her sights on transferring her to a highly regarded boarding school nearby. Not that she was holding her breath. For one thing, it was already November, well into the academic year. For another, the MacDuffie School wasn't exactly an easy "in." The exclusive, 119-year-old college-preparatory school, with its small classes, international mix of students and bucolic New England campus, hadn't had a single open spot in its 10th-grade class in three years.

But MacDuffie's enrollment had slid more than 10 percent from its peak of 235 just a year before. And to the Whites' surprise, within about a week of applying, their daughter Taylor was accepted. One factor that helped her nab the coveted spot? Another family had recently withdrawn -- "for financial reasons," says Kathryn Gibson, MacDuffie's head of school.

For middle-class parents traditionally scared off at the schoolhouse door by nosebleed tuition costs, the new welcome-mat moves can be a little jarring.

After all, in recent decades, getting your kid access to those smaller classes, more rigorous academics and country club­like campuses usually meant enduring some serious sticker shock -- and hefty annual bumps. Sending a child to board at Phillips Exeter Academy, with its more than 450 courses and Washington, D.C., internship program, will set you back close to $38,000 this year -- up 67 percent from a decade earlier.

Even the midpriced privates have seen swelling fees. At the Charles Wright Academy, a day school in Tacoma, Wash., tuition this fall will run, on average, $18,065 per year, 76 percent higher than a decade ago. According to Pat Bassett, president of the independent schools association, private-school tuition has outpaced inflation by an average of three points every year for the past 25 years.