In the age of ever-increasing tuition hikes at area independent schools, recent news out of the Park School will likely be met with a big sigh of relief by parents of incoming preschoolers.
Park recently announced that for the 2012–2013 academic year, tuition for students entering Park’s First Year Kindergarten program (similar to pre-K at other schools) will drop from its current rate of $23,120 to $16,000. It’s still a rather hefty price tag for preschool, but parents looking for a seamless transition to Second Year Kindergarten and beyond at Park will welcome the almost $7,000 dip in tuition fees.
Megan Ford, director of Admission for the Park School, says the decision was made after an analysis of competing schools’ tuition found Park’s higher than others, at least for the youngest students. “We confirmed that we were an outlier in that we were charging more for first year kindergarten and programs for 4-year-olds,” she remarked.
Not surprisingly, Ford acknowledges the higher-than-average tuition fees turned off some families, who then chose to look elsewhere for their preschoolers. “We decided to align ourselves with other schools,” Ford said. “We hope to drive our [admissions] numbers higher.”
