The Benedict News urges the Admissions Office and administrators to make a concerted effort to show that financial circumstances should not prevent a boy from receiving a valued education at St. Benedict’s Prep. That generous financial aid has always been offered here and will continue to be is a crucial message as the tuition increases.

As reported by Mahishan Gnanaseharan, the change will increase the tuition to $12,500. Robert DiQuollo, the Vice Chairman of Finance Committee of  the Board of Trustees, said that the change was appropriate in order to “accurately reflect the value of an education at St. Benedict’s Prep.” Mr. DiQuollo, along with faculty and other board members on a tuition committee, compared the existing tuition to that of other schools’ and established an appropriate price.

With this increase, St. Benedict’s tuition is in the same range as local private schools including Union Catholic Regional High School and Seton Hall Preparatory School. Parents from Newark, who are demographically different than many of the parents in  neighboring schools, and are considering sending their sons to St. Benedict’s Prep, may be discouraged after seeing this large sum.Without consistently and emphatically conveying this crucial information about financial aid to parents, the school stands to risk losing potential students and endangers its mission of serving the sons of inner-city parents. In fact, one UDII from Newark said that if he had seen the $12,500 price-tag, he would not have applied.

Financial aid will still be available to those students who perform well in their three “A’s”—Academics, Attitude, and Activities—and have similar financial circumstances. If students fulfill these reasonable conditions, their contributions towards their tuition are expected to remain at the same rate as prior years; they will receive additional financial aid to compensate for the increase.

This is important information for prospective and current parents and students to fully understand.