Again, you are the one who brought up privates saying they need to charge tuition or else they will close. This is a separate argument and I certainly have my thoughts on it. However, you are putting words in my mouth and looping it in with changing the radius and attempting to strongarm my position.
I've spent a nauseating amount of time researching private schools and their funding over the past several years trying to figure out how I'm supposed to afford sending my (4) kids to one and how private schools as a whole are going to survive if inflation keeps going the way it's going.
I am also a vendor to numerous private/public schools across Chicagoland and am constantly reviewing their 990 forms.
Since I didn't give an opinion on private schools
needing tuition dollars to survive I will share it now rather than you keep speaking for me.
The poorly operated ones most certainly do and the well operated ones do...but not nearly as much.
Well Operated Example: Wheaton Academy 990
- 40% (10.7m) of their 26m revenue is donations.
- 52% of their revenue is tuition (13.4m)
- they are operated at a surplus of 6.8m per their most recent 990 (guessing it went towards their massive capital campaign)
- Tuition is north of 20k a year but they have kids paying as little as 5k. This is because they have the
Wheaton Academy Foundation Board that is tasked with raising funds for the school so family's can afford the tuition price and capital improvements. They do a fantastic job.
Their grade school is even more impressive.
Wheaton Christian Grammar 990
- 54% of their revenue is donations.
Another good example is
Chicago Christian. 44% of their revenue is donations.
Badly Operated: Yorkville Christian 990
-10% (189k) of their 1.8m revenue in donations.
- 72% of their revenue is tuition (1.3m)
- they operated at a loss of -$210,891 per their most recent 990.
*Aurora Christian and Parkview Christian are other Badly Operated examples.
Catholic Schools 990's are not publicly available but I imagine the top end one's operate similarly to Wheaton.