In last week’s Tetrahedronics article, “Catholic Schools: ‘Foundational’ to the Parish,” I made the bold suggestion that if a parish-based Catholic school closes, that sends the message that the next closure or merger may be that of the parish itself.

Why?

Because if there is no school, that sends the unspoken message that parents with young children should seek out a parish that has a school associated with it.

For many schools, the parishioner tuition rate is lower than the non-parishioner rate (which is also a great way to accelerate the closure of a school).  More young families at a parish with a Catholic school means fewer young families at parishes with no Catholic school.  As those parishioners age and pass on without younger families to continue to the parish’s vibrancy, the parishes become targets for merging or closure.

This is not news; this has been happening for quite some time in certain areas of the country.  It’s just that no one talks about it, or, perhaps, recognizes the trend.

In a way, I feel a bit like author and consultant Patrick Lencioni, who believes that he was put on this earth to remind people of things that they already know.  In his presentations, he quotes the English writer Samuel Johnson who said, “People need to be reminded more often than they need to be instructed.”

With that insight, I believe I’ve been put here to see trends and call attention to them.

There is a market for it.

Cars have more and more early warning systems built in to their technology – the gas gauge and that “low fuel” light that illuminates, sometimes at the most inopportune times, was one of the first.  Today, there are cars that will apply the breaks automatically when it senses a collision is imminent.

As for your school, five of the best financial trends you can monitor are your enrollment, your revenue, your uncollected tuition, your cost of education, and your revenue per student.

Here are some observations relative to what’s currently happening relative to school finances.

This year marked my high school graduating class’ 46th anniversary.  There were 149 of us in that class.  That’s more than some Catholic high schools have enrolled today in the entire school, and it’s more than some Catholic elementary schools have enrolled in entire school!  Today, if each of us in that class who are still living gave $100 to the school, the amount would almost be enough to cover the tuition and fees for ONE student to attend the school for a year.

The parish I belonged to when I was growing up had a Catholic school which I attended and graduated from back in the 1970’s. As time progressed, it merged with another school and was renamed, but the school was still located in the building where I went to school.  In 20o9, the merged school closed.  Five years later, in 2014, the parish was involved in a study along with three other nearby parishes to see which are the most viable to serve the local Catholic population in the years to come. Interestingly, all four of these parishes used to have a Catholic elementary school at some point in their history, and two of them even had a high school!  In 2018, two additional parishes were added to the new Holy Apostles parish, and in 2020, the merger of 6 previous parishes were merged into one parish named Blessed Trinity Parish.  There is not a Catholic school associated with any of the parishes, and not with the newly formed one that’s now almost 4 years old.  Two of the buildings have closed, and now two priests serve four worship sites.  Their Mass schedules changed dramatically and facilities are being used differently than they were in the past.  Is this parish positioning itself for growth?  Um….no.

After the 2009-2010 school year, three schools in the South Hills of Pittsburgh merged – Nativity in Broughton, St. Valentine in Bethel Park (where my wife and I used to lead the contemporary choir back in the day), and St. Germaine in Bethel Park. The new school was called St. Katherine Drexel, and was housed at the St. Germaine facility. Sadly, the 2012-2013 school year was the last year that this school would educate students. Interestingly, none of these schools used a tuition management provider. The new school did not use one either.  Three years after the school celebrated the excitement of have a vibrant and life-filled school, it closed.  Why?  Perhaps because about 2 miles away from that school was another Catholic school that did not charge tuition.  A Catholic school education was only offered to members of the parish.  Since people can drive cars today, and aren’t restricted to going to another Catholic church for worship, guess where a lot of those people went?  Today, that school has merged wtih another previously large school in the South Hills of Pittsburgh, and tuition is charged there.

About the same time, the Catholic school my children attended closed, and was merged with two other schools in the Eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. The two schools that were closed did not use a tuition management provider; the school that they were merged into did.  Several miles away, two other schools were merged into one. The one that was closed was about to begin using a tuition management provider, but the parents there couldn’t believe things were so financially difficult that the school had to go that route. I think it became apparent that was the case when the school closed, and was merged with a school that uses a tuition management provider.

Today’s faith-based school requires a system of 5 mindsets – the pastor, the principal, the business manager, the parents, and the school board – to be “on board” with a positive attitude toward the sustainability of the school.  A tuition and fee billing/management platform is not a punishment for parents – it’s a necessary financial tool,, allowing schools to shift energies from chasing tuition to chasing enrollment. Rather than just sending out a packet of information if a parents requests one and hoping they return to the school to enroll their child, the school needs to institute follow-up procedures to ensure the school continues to grow, development initiatives to generate financial aid funds, and retention strategies to educate and keep the parent community together.

It’s difficult work.

Further, disconnecting tuition and fee capture oversight from school administration and having it reside within the parish office makes it that much harder, since financial reports are outdated as soon as the principal receives them from the Church.  A tuition management provider allows the school to be a “school,’ focusing on all those other things it needs to do, including improving curriculum and ensuring a safe and caring environment for students.  It also provides payment security, as schools that don’t use a tuition management provider somehow find their way into the evening news reports when money is discovered missing.

And that’s an image that you don’t want your school to have.

© Michael V. Ziemski, SchoolAdvancement, 2012-2024