Preservationists look to preserve historic buildings. Environmentalists try to protect the earth and its inhabitants. President Richard O’Hara and fellow administrators follow their own pursuit and, as O’Hara puts it, try to “be good stewards of the school’s resources.”
Those resources are finite, and, in this economy, they are running low. As families tighten their belts and the economic forecast grows increasingly bleaker, O’Hara and the administration have become increasingly aware of the struggling market. “We really need to be on our toes to [cut back] on unnecessary spending,” said Director of Development Laura Lang.
“We’ve budgeted very conservatively for next year,” said O’Hara. The magic number is 827 – the number of students the school needs to enroll in order to stay out of the red, according to current projections. “If we soar past that number, it may allow us to do things we couldn’t do [with the number we budgeted for],” O’Hara said.
However, the consequences of a situation where enrollment hits below the needed number is far from desirable, from the point of view of any party involved. O’Hara asked of himself the critical question that has been weighing on everyone’s mind: “At what point do we start losing staff?”
Some teachers have already been informed that their positions at JC are on the fence for next year. “We’re still waiting on the numbers [for next year],” said O’Hara. At the time of publication, the incoming freshman class numbered 193 students, but the bigger concern is the rate of attrition that could affect the overall population.
While the school has planned for the worst and frozen teachers’ salaries at their current steps on the pay scale, O’Hara said that the administration is “cautiously optimistic.” If enrollment falls on the plus side of that magic number, there will likely be some adjustment to pay for the teachers come January 2010.
“The faculty and staff [are what] keep people coming here,” said O’Hara. “The interest level has not decreased. Families want to be here, kids want to be here.”
But the desire to come here is not the issue. Money is. One teacher, who wished to remain nameless, said, “I find it odd to raise tuition when we’re trying to attract students.”
Bob Schick, world history and TV production teacher and member of the Faculty Executive Committee – which functions as a sort of union at JC – said that people tend to get anxious at times like this. “Everyone’s bills go up,” he said. “The cost of everything in the school goes up [each year].”
“This is the lowest tuition increase from year to year in the past five years,” O’Hara said, “We had a desire to keep the increase as low as we possibly could.”
Unfortunately for the families in need, the school continues to be dependent upon tuition income to run the facilities and staff the building. Compared to older schools like Gilman and The Friends’ School, JC lacks a well-established endowment that would come from alumni gifts and other contributions. An endowment is a large fund – usually in the millions – that earns interest. Schools use these dividends for a variety of purposes including helping families with financial aid and issuing scholarships.
Even without a massive endowment, Lang said, “The school will bend over backwards to keep students here even if they are having trouble paying.”She also said that “while the average gift to the school from donors is down over the past year, overall donorship is up” which gives those families some hope.
Regardless of how dire the financial straits appear for next year, O’Hara wished to “emphasize that we’re all in this situation together.”
(Additional reporting by Nick Temple, Copy Editor)