Summit Schools, a private school in Cedar Rapids known its multisensory approach to teaching literacy, is increasing its tuition about $6,000 next year after keeping costs lower for families for years during the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
School leaders cite inflation and a desire to reduce the dependency on fundraising for increasing the K-8 school’s tuition to $14,350 — a roughly 77 percent jump — for the 2024-25 academic year.
“It wasn’t an easy decision to make by any means,” Principal April Bickford said.
Families returning to the northeast Cedar Rapids school next year who do not yet qualify for the state’s new education savings account program will receive a one-year $5,000 “loyalty credit,” Bickford said.
Under a law signed by Gov. Kim Reynolds in January, all public school students and thousands of private school students became eligible to receive a roughly $7,600 education savings account per year to pay for tuition and other expenses at a private school. Part of the law will phase in based on family income.
Thirty-four students at Summit currently are using education savings accounts, and 20 of those students are new to the school this year.
Next year, students eligible to receive the accounts include all entering kindergarten students, all students enrolled in a public school and students enrolled in a private school with a household income at or below 400 percent of the 2024 federal poverty guidelines that will be updated in January.
By the 2025-26 school year, all K-12 students in Iowa are eligible for the accounts regardless of income.
Summit families also get a 5 percent discount if they have two or more students in the school.
In a school survey, 64 of 66 families responding said they plan to return to Summit next school year with the tuition increase, Bickford said. The wait-list of families interested in attending Summit is about 150 students, Bickford said. There are about 120 students enrolled in the school this year.
The average salary for educators at Summit is $47,346 a year.
Bickford said including next year’s tuition increase, the school has averaged an 8 percent increase a year since 2014. But traditionally, the school has relied on $100,000 a year in fundraising — which it received this year through a 25th anniversary gala in November.
“The bank doesn’t want to see us relying on money that’s not guaranteed,” Bickford said.
The school also doesn’t have the financial backing of a church like some private schools in the area.
Megan Hartz-Fernandez, a Summit school board member who has a second-grader at the school, said tuition in the past has not covered what it costs to educate a student. Although there’s some “sticker shock” with next year’s tuition costs, Hartz-Fernandez said it has been three years in the making.
Early on in the pandemic, the school lowered its tuition as an inventive to get families back in-person.
“The reality is Summit would not be able to stay open without the tuition increase,” Hartz-Fernandez said. “The goal is to keep the doors open, not to make it unaffordable.”
While the school does have infrastructure needs, Hartz-Fernandez said there’s no current plans to physically expand the school.
Private schools traditionally increase tuition each year to keep up with inflation, but Summit isn’t the only private school in Eastern Iowa eyeing a larger-than-normal price hike for next year.
Angela Olson, head of school at Regina Catholic Education Center in Iowa City, said by the 2025-26 school year, the plan is to increase tuition to a level that covers the cost to educate a student. This cost has not yet been determined.
Regina’s tuition for the 2024-25 school year will be set around February. Currently, tuition ranges from $5,120 to $11,590, depending if a student is in elementary, middle or high school.
Jodi Jonasson, development director at Trinity Lutheran School in Cedar Rapids, said the school’s tuition potentially will increase at a higher percentage than in previous years because the cost of living has increased so drastically. Tuition goes to pay teacher and staff salaries, technology and utilities.
The 2024-25 tuition rate for Trinity Lutheran is expected to be set in January. Currently, Trinity’s tuition for K-8 is $6,435. It gives between $80,000 to $130,000 in scholarships to families through private donations annually.
Jonasson estimates the school saw a 5 percent increase in enrollment that would not have been made possible without families’ accessing education savings accounts. Its enrollment is 260 students.
Cedar Valley Christian School Principal Jeff Pospisil said tuition is increasing 6 percent next academic year. For K-4, tuition will be $8,300; for 5-8, it will be $8,500; and for 9-12, it will be $9,500.
“We want to keep our increase manageable so it’s still affordable to families,.” Pospisil said.
The school saw about a 30 percent increase in students this year, about double its typical growth. Pospisil said he anticipates more demand than what the school has space for as re-enrollment season begins next month.
Education savings accounts have covered the discounts and financial aid the school has raised money for in the past, although the school still plans to give thousands in financial aid, Pospisil said.
“The way we come up with tuition isn’t a shot in the dark,” Pospisil said. “There’s a lot of discussion around what that number should be and how it impacts families and teachers.”
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School leaders cite inflation and a desire to reduce the dependency on fundraising for increasing the K-8 school’s tuition to $14,350 — a roughly 77 percent jump — for the 2024-25 academic year.
“It wasn’t an easy decision to make by any means,” Principal April Bickford said.
Families returning to the northeast Cedar Rapids school next year who do not yet qualify for the state’s new education savings account program will receive a one-year $5,000 “loyalty credit,” Bickford said.
Under a law signed by Gov. Kim Reynolds in January, all public school students and thousands of private school students became eligible to receive a roughly $7,600 education savings account per year to pay for tuition and other expenses at a private school. Part of the law will phase in based on family income.
Thirty-four students at Summit currently are using education savings accounts, and 20 of those students are new to the school this year.
Next year, students eligible to receive the accounts include all entering kindergarten students, all students enrolled in a public school and students enrolled in a private school with a household income at or below 400 percent of the 2024 federal poverty guidelines that will be updated in January.
By the 2025-26 school year, all K-12 students in Iowa are eligible for the accounts regardless of income.
Summit families also get a 5 percent discount if they have two or more students in the school.
In a school survey, 64 of 66 families responding said they plan to return to Summit next school year with the tuition increase, Bickford said. The wait-list of families interested in attending Summit is about 150 students, Bickford said. There are about 120 students enrolled in the school this year.
The average salary for educators at Summit is $47,346 a year.
Bickford said including next year’s tuition increase, the school has averaged an 8 percent increase a year since 2014. But traditionally, the school has relied on $100,000 a year in fundraising — which it received this year through a 25th anniversary gala in November.
“The bank doesn’t want to see us relying on money that’s not guaranteed,” Bickford said.
The school also doesn’t have the financial backing of a church like some private schools in the area.
Megan Hartz-Fernandez, a Summit school board member who has a second-grader at the school, said tuition in the past has not covered what it costs to educate a student. Although there’s some “sticker shock” with next year’s tuition costs, Hartz-Fernandez said it has been three years in the making.
Early on in the pandemic, the school lowered its tuition as an inventive to get families back in-person.
“The reality is Summit would not be able to stay open without the tuition increase,” Hartz-Fernandez said. “The goal is to keep the doors open, not to make it unaffordable.”
While the school does have infrastructure needs, Hartz-Fernandez said there’s no current plans to physically expand the school.
Private schools traditionally increase tuition each year to keep up with inflation, but Summit isn’t the only private school in Eastern Iowa eyeing a larger-than-normal price hike for next year.
Angela Olson, head of school at Regina Catholic Education Center in Iowa City, said by the 2025-26 school year, the plan is to increase tuition to a level that covers the cost to educate a student. This cost has not yet been determined.
Regina’s tuition for the 2024-25 school year will be set around February. Currently, tuition ranges from $5,120 to $11,590, depending if a student is in elementary, middle or high school.
Jodi Jonasson, development director at Trinity Lutheran School in Cedar Rapids, said the school’s tuition potentially will increase at a higher percentage than in previous years because the cost of living has increased so drastically. Tuition goes to pay teacher and staff salaries, technology and utilities.
The 2024-25 tuition rate for Trinity Lutheran is expected to be set in January. Currently, Trinity’s tuition for K-8 is $6,435. It gives between $80,000 to $130,000 in scholarships to families through private donations annually.
Jonasson estimates the school saw a 5 percent increase in enrollment that would not have been made possible without families’ accessing education savings accounts. Its enrollment is 260 students.
Cedar Valley Christian School Principal Jeff Pospisil said tuition is increasing 6 percent next academic year. For K-4, tuition will be $8,300; for 5-8, it will be $8,500; and for 9-12, it will be $9,500.
“We want to keep our increase manageable so it’s still affordable to families,.” Pospisil said.
The school saw about a 30 percent increase in students this year, about double its typical growth. Pospisil said he anticipates more demand than what the school has space for as re-enrollment season begins next month.
Education savings accounts have covered the discounts and financial aid the school has raised money for in the past, although the school still plans to give thousands in financial aid, Pospisil said.
“The way we come up with tuition isn’t a shot in the dark,” Pospisil said. “There’s a lot of discussion around what that number should be and how it impacts families and teachers.”
Private schools seeing larger-than-normal tuition hike
Summit Schools in Cedar Rapids sets tuition at $14,350 next year for new families.
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