As a follow-up to a prerecession study conducted in 2006, a 2013 survey of parents who filed for financial aid through the School and Student Services by NAIS (SSS by NAIS) examined how these families think about and approach paying for school costs. SSS by NAIS conducted a corollary study in 2014 that specifically looked at high-income families who were unlikely to seek financial aid.
Overall findings from the 2013 study suggest that families seeking financial aid tend to experience generally positive results and outcomes from the process. In addition, more applicant families reported in 2013 than in 2006 that they received financial aid from any school to which they applied. Applicants also placed high importance on having a workable and predictable outcome in the aid process and viewed financial aid as “very” or “extremely important” to their ability to send their child to a private school.
How applicants arrange their finances to pay tuition has shifted slightly over the past several years. Aside from using the financial aid they receive from the school, parents are most likely to use their own income and personal savings to pay for tuition. Fewer families use credit cards, gifts from the child’s grandparents, and home equity. Most parents do not use other types of loans to pay tuition costs. However, among those who do use loans, there’s been a noticeable shift for many from seeking loans from banks to seeking them from family.
The 2014 study reveals that, similar to financial aid-seeking parents, relatively few high-income families use loans to help pay tuition costs. Instead, nearly all high-income families reported that they pay tuition from their current income, which for these families meant that most of them have decided to sacrifice or delay spending on something else. For these parents, the most common lifestyle change was spending less on discretionary items such as dining out or taking vacations while others reported saving less for retirement, spending less on or delaying buying new cars, and saving less for college.
As the results of these studies suggest, whether a parent seeks financial aid or not, paying for private school tuition is a sacrifice. However, findings also revealed that making this choice comes with tradeoffs that families feel are worthwhile and that getting clear and helpful information about financial aid is valued. Overall, the parents surveyed tend to feel positive about the outcomes of the aid process, given that it ultimately yields what is best for their children.