Is Catholic School Just For Rich Kids?

Mike Dwyer fears it’s getting that way:

I attended Catholic schools at the end of a long era of affordability. For decades parochial education was subsidized by a large supply of clergy. When most of your staff has taken a vow of poverty it certainly keeps overhead down. As the number of clergy began to dwindle in size during the 1980s, tuition rates began to creep upwards. For comparison my high school alma mater charged about $150 per year when it opened in 1953. By the time I graduated 40 years later, tuition had risen to about $2,700, Still affordable enough that I could pay it myself with a part-time job bagging groceries at the local supermarket. Today this would be impossible. A full year at the school I attended costs roughly $12,000.

The once erroneous perception that a Catholic education was only for the well-off has now become a reality. What does this mean for a faith with deep roots in the middle class? Whereas parochial schools were the norm for most Catholic children a half-century ago, will there be a day when American Catholics become sharply divided among the haves and have-nots, with a private education being the wedge?

In response, Mike Schilling says he doesn’t expect a Catholic class divide to open up in America anytime soon and suggests there are more interesting questions to ask:

Both of my kids went to Catholic middle and high schools, because they were the best schools we could afford. The middle school was highly subsidized; the high schools were not, but were still half the price of a non-parochial private high school. They got amazing educations, and I don’t regret the expense.

The high schools in particular fostered religious values without being sectarian. The open house at which my son fell in love with his featured students of all denominations explaining why they loved the school, including a Jewish girl whose ambition was to become a cantor. This was great for us, but I’ll ask Mike D.: is that a good thing, or does it mean that the schools aren’t focusing enough on their duty to children who are Catholics?

More context for the debate: the average Catholic schools charged $9,066 in tuition in 2007-08, the most recent year for which statistics are available, while nonsectarian private schools charged $16,247.