Post by title1parent on Dec 7, 2009 6:25:01 GMT -5
www.suburbanchicagonews.com/beaconnews/news/1924519,2_1_AU07_CATHOLIC_S1-091207.article
Catechism tested: Economy takes toll on local Catholic schools' enrollment
December 7, 2009
By PAUL DAILING pdailing@scn1.com
AURORA – "Test Day" will take on special meaning for local Catholic high schools this year.
In addition to being the first look at the eighth-graders who could make up the schools' Class of 2014, test day will also be the day Catholic schools get a look at the number of applicants, the first real test of interest in the private, tuition-based schools.
With enrollment in Catholic grade schools down by about 4 percent in the Rockford Diocese and 3 percent in the Joliet Diocese compared to last year, test day – Jan. 9 for all area Catholic high schools except Marmion Academy – will take on extra importance and, hopefully, mean extra students next year.
This summer, decreased enrollment and rising debt closed Archbishop Romero Catholic School on Aurora's near East Side. The kindergarten-through-eighth-grade school was the first school the Rockford Diocese closed in 15 years.
Joliet Diocese grade school enrollment is down by 14 percent – more than 2,400 students – since the 2003-04 school year.
Marmion Admissions Director Bill Dickson said registration for its test last Saturday was good, but it's yet to be seen if qualified students' families can afford to fill the seats come September.
"Actually, the interest is exceeding last year's level, so the interest is high," Dickson said. "Whether or not parents are adjusting their budgets accordingly has yet to be gauged."
The freshmen class that started four months ago had 23 fewer students than the year before. In total, Marmion enrollment was down by 35 students. This was the first drop the school – now at 484 students – had seen in more than eight years, Dickson said.
"We did take a dip in regard to enrollment and that was basically due to the economic situation," he said.
Enrollment is up by one at Aurora's all-girl Rosary High School, which has 478 students this year.
"We're doing fine, thank God," said Sister Patricia Burke, Rosary principal.
Enrollment up at Aurora Central
While Marmion is run by the Benedictine Order of monks and Rosary by the Dominican Order of nuns, Aurora Central Catholic is the local school of the Rockford Diocese, the organizational structure for parishes in 11 northern Illinois counties.
By and large, Rockford Diocese schools' enrollment is down. But Aurora Central is one of the exceptions, gaining 45 students to rise to 530.
"Enrollment is very good, It's very strong. It's increasing, actually," said the Rev. F.W. Etheredge, Aurora Central principal. "We've been increasing the last 10 years. We're surprised."
The situation is not as rosy for the grade schools, said Etheredge, who is also the area superintendent of schools for southern Kane and southern DeKalb counties.
"The enrollment in the grade schools has been affected," he said. "It's down diocesan-wide about 4 percent."
Last year, Rockford Diocese schools served nearly 40,000 students -- 26,028 grade and middle school students, 13,414 high school students.
To fight this drop, Etheredge and a group of about 10 principals and priests have, within the last six months, reformed FACE, the Future of Aurora Catholic Education.
"It's a group that first met some years ago and we kind of did our work and disbanded," Etheredge said. "The reason we're getting together is to be proactive, to look ahead."
In addition to spreading the word about spreading the Word, FACE also shares ideas created on the ground level so that an innovation created by one person at one school doesn't just stay at one school.
"One of the problems for schools and principals is that they're busy with a lot of things," Etheredge said. "The hope would be what can we learn from one another and what can we share from a parish level."
Book of Numbers
In the last 10 years, Aurora Central went from 346 students to 530. Etheredge credits this in part to the comparatively low tuition.
"The reality is, yes, we are the most affordable private school in the Fox River Valley," Etheredge said.
Tuition for a student from a participating parish starts at $4,625 a school year but goes down with each additional student from a family. Tuition for students who aren't from a local parish -- including students who aren't Catholic -- starts at $5,350.
By comparison, Marmion's tuition is $9,100 per school year and Rosary's tuition is $7,550 ($7,300 for students within the Aurora Deanery). The only other private high school in the region is Aurora Christian, with tuition of $6,285.
While Rosary's enrollment went up by one student this year, it usually goes up by five to 10, Burke said.
But that doesn't reflect a lack of interest, she said. Nine girls had to drop out because of family job changes.
"Our parents are willing to sacrifice enormously for a strong Catholic education -- a single-gender one, I might add," Burke said.
So the decline isn't uniform, but are uniforms declining? In other words, has the economy hit the sales of the plaid skirts and crested sweater-vests the schools use?
"Yes and no," said Chris Voelker, manager of Lombard-based Dennis Uniform, which supplies the uniforms for Marmion and Aurora Central. "Very little. Instead of buying four polos, they buy three."
Catechism tested: Economy takes toll on local Catholic schools' enrollment
December 7, 2009
By PAUL DAILING pdailing@scn1.com
AURORA – "Test Day" will take on special meaning for local Catholic high schools this year.
In addition to being the first look at the eighth-graders who could make up the schools' Class of 2014, test day will also be the day Catholic schools get a look at the number of applicants, the first real test of interest in the private, tuition-based schools.
With enrollment in Catholic grade schools down by about 4 percent in the Rockford Diocese and 3 percent in the Joliet Diocese compared to last year, test day – Jan. 9 for all area Catholic high schools except Marmion Academy – will take on extra importance and, hopefully, mean extra students next year.
This summer, decreased enrollment and rising debt closed Archbishop Romero Catholic School on Aurora's near East Side. The kindergarten-through-eighth-grade school was the first school the Rockford Diocese closed in 15 years.
Joliet Diocese grade school enrollment is down by 14 percent – more than 2,400 students – since the 2003-04 school year.
Marmion Admissions Director Bill Dickson said registration for its test last Saturday was good, but it's yet to be seen if qualified students' families can afford to fill the seats come September.
"Actually, the interest is exceeding last year's level, so the interest is high," Dickson said. "Whether or not parents are adjusting their budgets accordingly has yet to be gauged."
The freshmen class that started four months ago had 23 fewer students than the year before. In total, Marmion enrollment was down by 35 students. This was the first drop the school – now at 484 students – had seen in more than eight years, Dickson said.
"We did take a dip in regard to enrollment and that was basically due to the economic situation," he said.
Enrollment is up by one at Aurora's all-girl Rosary High School, which has 478 students this year.
"We're doing fine, thank God," said Sister Patricia Burke, Rosary principal.
Enrollment up at Aurora Central
While Marmion is run by the Benedictine Order of monks and Rosary by the Dominican Order of nuns, Aurora Central Catholic is the local school of the Rockford Diocese, the organizational structure for parishes in 11 northern Illinois counties.
By and large, Rockford Diocese schools' enrollment is down. But Aurora Central is one of the exceptions, gaining 45 students to rise to 530.
"Enrollment is very good, It's very strong. It's increasing, actually," said the Rev. F.W. Etheredge, Aurora Central principal. "We've been increasing the last 10 years. We're surprised."
The situation is not as rosy for the grade schools, said Etheredge, who is also the area superintendent of schools for southern Kane and southern DeKalb counties.
"The enrollment in the grade schools has been affected," he said. "It's down diocesan-wide about 4 percent."
Last year, Rockford Diocese schools served nearly 40,000 students -- 26,028 grade and middle school students, 13,414 high school students.
To fight this drop, Etheredge and a group of about 10 principals and priests have, within the last six months, reformed FACE, the Future of Aurora Catholic Education.
"It's a group that first met some years ago and we kind of did our work and disbanded," Etheredge said. "The reason we're getting together is to be proactive, to look ahead."
In addition to spreading the word about spreading the Word, FACE also shares ideas created on the ground level so that an innovation created by one person at one school doesn't just stay at one school.
"One of the problems for schools and principals is that they're busy with a lot of things," Etheredge said. "The hope would be what can we learn from one another and what can we share from a parish level."
Book of Numbers
In the last 10 years, Aurora Central went from 346 students to 530. Etheredge credits this in part to the comparatively low tuition.
"The reality is, yes, we are the most affordable private school in the Fox River Valley," Etheredge said.
Tuition for a student from a participating parish starts at $4,625 a school year but goes down with each additional student from a family. Tuition for students who aren't from a local parish -- including students who aren't Catholic -- starts at $5,350.
By comparison, Marmion's tuition is $9,100 per school year and Rosary's tuition is $7,550 ($7,300 for students within the Aurora Deanery). The only other private high school in the region is Aurora Christian, with tuition of $6,285.
While Rosary's enrollment went up by one student this year, it usually goes up by five to 10, Burke said.
But that doesn't reflect a lack of interest, she said. Nine girls had to drop out because of family job changes.
"Our parents are willing to sacrifice enormously for a strong Catholic education -- a single-gender one, I might add," Burke said.
So the decline isn't uniform, but are uniforms declining? In other words, has the economy hit the sales of the plaid skirts and crested sweater-vests the schools use?
"Yes and no," said Chris Voelker, manager of Lombard-based Dennis Uniform, which supplies the uniforms for Marmion and Aurora Central. "Very little. Instead of buying four polos, they buy three."