I have been thinking all year about the independent school value proposition and why parents pay for something that can be gotten for free down the street. There are, of course, plenty of reasons why families make financial and other sacrifices so that their children will receive the best possible education and the best possible life experience during their formative years. Among other things, many parents become committed to Quaker education and the notion that their children are part of a community that strives to see that of God within each person and encourages them to Let Their Life Speak.
Independent schools, in turn, have to deliver. For Sandy Spring Friends School, that means offering an outstanding college prep program, to embrace and celebrate diversity and to be accessible through affordable tuition and financial aid to a large demographic of families. This last one, reasonable tuition, has come under a lot of pressure over the last ten years or so and needs to be addressed in a clear and systematic manner. We are lucky at Sandy Spring as we have this phenomenal endowment of 140 acres. A number of years ago the Board and Ken Smith began the process of considering how the school could increase non-tuition revenue in order to give families better visibility on future tuition. This work continues and, with the increasing popularity of the Sandy Spring summer camps, the success of the Adventure Park, new ideas such as the climbing wall and the support of the entire community for the Annual Fund, it is our goal to limit tuition increases over the next 4-5 years (our planning horizon) to something like inflation while being able to improve faculty salaries in order to attract and retain the top-notch teachers that make us who we are.
There are other ways to alter our "business model" that can moderate the effect of tuition increases. For instance, by growing the size of the School each year - not dramatically, say by 10 students or so for the next four or five years - we can remain entirely true to our mission while also improving the School's financial strength. This year we have 572 students. This number was not ordained or handed to us on a tablet. Rather, this number is derived from good old supply and demand. So if we are going to consider a slightly larger enrollment, we will need to consider doing more in the areas of marketing and brand awareness. But we also need to be realistic. Although it might be nice to think that if only more people knew about us we would receive more applications (and this in fact is probably true), it is also a healthy thing for us to ask ourselves, what can we do better or differently that will stimulate demand for a Sandy Spring Friends School education. What does better look like?
So far better looks like a lot of things, including teaching Mandarin in the Upper School; adding computer science courses; building a climbing wall for outdoor education; going wireless; introducing a select course on Peace and Social Justice; planning a production garden; and rethinking the Lower School playground space.
What else does better look like?