Those circumstances have now changed. Wall Street bankers are raking in eight-digit pay packages, and New York City is beginning to thrive again. Real estate prices are soaring as people who had fled to smaller cities or rural areas during the pandemic come back.
Among her clients, Aronow said she has seen more applications for private schools among middle and high-school students. Concern that New York City will phase out gifted and talented programs and change admissions criteria to favor a lottery system is making some public-school parents feel that their children’s education is increasingly out of their control, she said.
“Nothing is sure in public school admission, so a lot of parents got scared and applied to private schools,” Aronow said.
The Collegiate School based in Manhattan’s Upper West Side sent re-enrollment contracts informing families that its all-inclusive tuition will be $60,400. In a letter seen by Bloomberg, the all-boys school said the rising fees would help “keep the boys and faculty safe in school,” and included costs for Covid-19 tests and other related mitigation steps.
At Chapin, an all-girls private school on the Upper East Side that’s been likened to the elite institutions in the hit TV show “Gossip Girl,” the cost of attendance will be $59,700 for the upcoming school year. According to a parent who asked not to be identified, families paid $57,250 per student for the current academic year.
The Spence School, whose alumni include actress Kerry Washington and Gwyneth Paltrow, has approved tuition of $60,880 for the next academic year.
Despite a 3.5% increase in school fees, Spence said it was “judicious in setting the annual budget.” In a school re-enrollment letter to parents, its board wrote that hiring and retaining the best educators was of utmost importance, noting that staff compensation makes up 73% of the budget and that tuition only covers 75% of actual costs.
Horace Mann, a co-ed college-preparatory school in the Bronx, will charge $59,800 for the 2022-23 academic year while Grace Church School, an independent school in the East Village, will need $59,310 “plus fees,” according to notices seen by Bloomberg. Dalton offered returning students its “lowest possible number” at $57,970 to provide competitive compensation for its staff, after raising tuition for the previous year by 1.9% to $55,210 — the smallest increase in its history.
Brearley’s tuition will increase 4.25%, bringing the annual bill to $58,700. Nightingale-Bamford, located just blocks away from Central Park on the Upper East Side, will charge $59,000.
Although costs to attend the elite academic institutions are reaching new highs, the schools may be attempting to compensate that at least partially with more financial aid: The NAIS estimates that the median financial aid budget among independent schools increased 104.7% from 2010 to 2021.
Chapin says on its website that it provided $6.9 million in financial aid to 21% of its students in the current academic year. About 19.4% of Spence students receive financial aid, with grants ranging from $7,920 to $58,395.
--With assistance from Janet Lorin.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.