Enrollment in private schools remains steady

By Jennifer Hiller
Advertiser Education Writer

Private schools across the statewide appear to have pulled through a year's worth of worrying unscathed.

Although some private schools have lost students because of the post-Sept. 11 economic slump, overall enrollment in private schools is expected to remain steady at about 32,500 students.

"The post 9/11 trauma was certainly an issue for our schools, but it does not seem to be resulting in a loss of students," said Robert Witt, executive director of the Hawai'i Association of Independent Schools.

Last fall, most schools reported stable or rising enrollments. But as the state's tourism dependent economy took a nosedive post-Sept. 11 and has yet to regain its former strength, officials at private schools across Hawai'i worried about the number of applications coming into their mailboxes.

Bob Whiting, headmaster of Holy Nativity School, said the school has 10 or 11 fewer students than it had expected this year, which puts a dent in the school's budget. The school is looking to private foundations for donations or scholarships, he said.

"Some people aren't coming back because the economy is bad and they simply found that returning to a private school was too much for them," Whiting said. "Those are the people we are trying to get scholarships for."

Hawaiian Mission Elementary and Middle School was also slightly down in enrollment, but school officials are unsure whether the drop is due to the slumping economy or some other reason.

"A few of our families are working less, but they haven't left the school," said Tanis Riney, admissions director. "Children come in throughout the year. We still have people applying."

St. Louis School has seen a surge in applications, but has enrolled 771 students, down from 800 last year.

Rebecca Fernandes, marketing director for the school, said that new students are still enrolling and might make up that gap. But the sixth- through 12th-grade campus also is planning to expand next year to the fifth grade.

The effects of Sept. 11 could be felt more in other areas. For example, the amount of financial aid available for students, which is provided through a school foundation, was down slightly because of a drop in the stock market, she said.

More than 40 percent of the students at St. Louis receive some type of financial aid, which is common at Hawai'i private schools.

Dorothy Douthit, headmaster of Academy of the Pacific, said enrollment remained stable at 140 students.

The school last year forgave tuition payments for a few parents who lost jobs in the fall, but those families have since found other work.

"We've been able to keep those families," Douthit said.

She also said the school's mission has probably helped enrollment and applications remain on target. Academy of the Pacific specializes in students who are gifted but have had trouble in the regular school system.

"Generally, in difficult times, my experience is that the parents will pay for the child they are most worried about," Douthit said.

At Iolani School, officials worried last September and October when their phones weren't ringing with parents asking for applications.

But the school ended up receiving more applications than ever, and continued with a $20 million fund-raising campaign to build more classroom space and improve the flow of cars and people through campus.

In the early 1990s, following the Persian Gulf War and a similar dip in tourism, applications to private schools diminished.

To prevent students from having to withdraw from private schools during the school year, the Hawai'i Community Foundation last year stepped in with $600,000 in emergency tuition assistance for families laid off after Sept. 11.

HAIS and Hawai'i Catholic Schools administered the grant, $300,000 of which went to preschools statewide.

School officials say that the effort helped families get through the hardest times.

But Witt also suspects that Hawai'i networks of extended families pitched in to prevent kids from having to move to a new campus in the middle of the school year.

Now, with the expansion of the Kamehameha Schools campuses on Maui and the Big Island, the statewide private school enrollment is expected to grow by about 2,000 in the next few years.

Reach Jennifer Hiller at jhiller@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8084.