Reading, writing, religion

With the economy in detention, affordability is becoming even more important at private, Catholic, college preparatory high schools across Westchester.

“The mission here has always been to provide an excellent college preparatory academic program at the most affordable rate,” said Paul Carty, principal of the 61-year-old Archbishop Stepinac High School in White Plains.

And at an annual tuition of $7,300, “we charge about $5,000 or $6,000 less than some of our neighboring competitor schools.”

Carty said the school had a very successful open house in October, which was attended by more families than in the past couple of years.
The number of students applying for the fall also has increased.

“I think the reality is that over next couple of years as people are making choices about schools, they are going to appreciate the values that this school represents,” Carty said.
Carty said compared with competing schools, Stepinac has an equal percentage of graduates going to four-year colleges, 13 advanced placement classes, comparable facilities in terms of technology, course offerings that match up equally, “and then we have a range of extracurricular activities, clubs and sports.”

“The opportunities exist here for students as they do at the other schools, they can just do it here cheaper,” Carty said. “And even though people are in a financial crunch, we still have our benefactors and alumni donors who continue to support the school because they recognize what the school did for them.”

At Iona Preparatory School in New Rochelle, Principal George Teasdale said the school will be offering more need-based financial assistance for the 2009-2010 school year.
“I think we”™re just going to carefully examine how much we”™re going to spend on academic scholarships versus need-based financial aid,” Teasdale said. “I think every private school is in the position to recognize that for some families it is a luxury item and one of many expenses families have. We realize there are more families that will need more financial assistance paying the tab, and we want to provide the most assistance we can and provide the best product we can.”

Next year”™s tuition, which is subject to the approval and vote of the board of directors, will be determined over the next few weeks.

Some tuition rates at four-year Catholic, private college preparatory high schools in Westchester County, according to the schools’ Web sites:
Ӣ At Iona Preparatory School in New Rochelle, tuition, all fees, and books for the 2008-09 school year totaled $12,850.
Ӣ At The Ursuline School in New Rochelle, tuition for the 2009-2010 school year will be $13,800.
Ӣ At the Academy of Our Lady of Good Counsel in White Plains, tuition was $7,575 for the 2008-2009 academic year.
Ӣ At Salesian High School in New Rochelle, tuition was $6,025 for the 2008-2009 school year.
Ӣ At Our Lady of Victory Academy in Dobbs Ferry, tuition and fees totaled $7,120 for 2008-2009.
Ӣ At the School of the Holy Child in Rye, tuition and fees for the current school year are $24,500.