Catholic schools staying afloat

LYNN – Lynn’s Catholic schools are maintaining a steady enrollment this year despite a difficult summer that hit the pockets of many area families hard.Costs continue to rise for such necessities as energy, food and insurance while most residents are struggling to stay afloat as their paychecks remain the same.Tough times such as these make it difficult for families to enroll students in private schools such as the Sacred Heart Elementary School or the St. Mary’s Junior Senior High School in Lynn, but officials from both schools say financial aid along with some of the lowest tuition rates in the area have helped to ease the burden on families and keep enrollment somewhat steady.St. Mary’s, which serves students in grades 7-12, enrolled 677 students this year, 21 less than in 2007-08. Despite the drop off, the school is still filled to capacity in nearly every grade.St. Mary’s has slots available only in the seventh and 11th grades, and the school also took in over 300 applications for ninth-grade students this summer. St. Mary’s welcomes most new students in ninth grade after they move on from public middle schools.”We have hit a slight bump this year, but it is nothing that we are really concerned about,” said St. Mary’s Headmaster Raymond Bastarache. “Even though it is down this year, we have had consistent increases in enrollment the previous five or six years prior to that.”Bastarache blamed the economy for the drop off, but understands the families’ plight as the school has been forced to look at its own budget in recent months to try and make ends meet in some areas.”It is a difficult decision for families that want a Catholic education, but are seeing income decrease with rising prices everywhere else,” he said.St. Mary’s tuition is among the lowest of Catholic schools in the state, and far and away the lowest in the area. Tuition is $6,900 for high school students and $4,300 per year for middle-school students.Malden Catholic High School and Bishop Fenwick High School in Peabody are both around $10,000 per year to attend, while St. John’s Prep in Danvers costs over $16,000 per year.St. Mary’s also handed out over $300,000 in financial aid this year, a record high for the school.At Sacred Heart enrollment is just about even with last year, when the school saw an increase of about 15 students coming in. Like St. Mary’s Sacred Heart offers financial aid packages for students, including a family plan for those families that have more than one student attending the school.Tuition for one student is $3,310 per year, $5,500 for two students and $6,800 for three students.”That family plan is a piece that has really helped us out a lot. When you have two or three kids they can get in at a discounted rate, by the time you get to the third kid they are virtually going for free,” said Principal Joanne Eagan. “That really helps, I had three of my own children that attended school here and I know I couldn’t have afforded it without the family plan.”Bastarache said that while St. Mary’s is losing a small amount of money with the decrease in enrollment the school has actually been able to add six new courses this year by slimming the budget in other areas.”We have trimmed our budget a little bit, but we did it without altering our plans or taking a step backward,” he said. “Despite the drop off, we were still able to add six new courses this year that will provide a good, quality Catholic education.”Among the new courses at St. Mary’s are marine biology, Advanced Placement computers and intro to criminal justice, which will provide three college credits for students that take and pass the class.