Many schools have “discounts” on their tuition for multiple children enrolled in the school, as well as for children from a particular faith community if they’re enrolled in a faith-based school.

Some Catholic schools even go so far as to say, “Here’s our cost of education, but here’s our tuition for non-Catholics, here’s a discounted tuition for Catholic students, here’s another discounted tuition for members of our parish, and here’s another discount for those with more than one child.”

Sounds like some insurance company commercials I’ve seen recently – discount, discount, discount!

This thinking reinforces the mindset that tuition is the only obstacle to enrolling a child in a faith-based or private school, when it’s actually all about ALL those things that go into choosing an educational environment today.  Also consider that in the business world, the cost of a product or service is usually lower than the amount which is presented to the consumer.  “Discounts,” therefore, offer an enticement for the consumer to buy, but the business rarely cuts its price to “below” the cost of doing business.

Doing so is a great way to go OUT of business.

In 2000, there were about 8,100 Catholic schools in this country, serving about 2.6 million students.  That’s an average of about 321 students per school.

In 2025, there were 5, 852 Catholic schools in this country, serving about 1.65 million students.  That’s an average of about 282 students per school.

And it’s not that those schools are successful – many of them are just hanging on.  If 282 is the average, and there are Catholic schools with over 2,000 students, that means there are a number of Catholic schools with enrollments of 100 or under.

Further, take a closer look at businesses today.  The majority of businesses offering discounts are the ones that are having difficult times, need to move inventory, or make room for new merchandise.  While your school may indeed be experiencing difficult times, discounting your per pupil tuition does nothing to build confidence that your school may be around for the duration of the child’s educational experience, but increases the expectation that discounting will continue from year to year.

Additionally, if you use a third-party for financial aid assessment, multiple students in a family are considered within the calculations.  Giving an extra multi-child discount on tuition is equal to “double-dipping,” especially if your cost of education is higher than your tuition.

With those difficult truths in mind, here are two “next practices” to consider.

First, don’t discount, but offer “incentives.”  The net result is the same, but the thinking is completely opposite.  “Discount” has a negative connotation; “incentive” is positive.

Second, if you want to still offer a discount, offer a “cash” discount.  Some schools are allowing parents to pay by credit card, but really don’t want to absorb the fee associated with credit card use.  Studies show that 4-5% of parents will use a credit card when the fee is passed on to the parent, but 25 to 50% will use a credit card when the school absorbs the fee.  Further, there are some states where passing the fee along to the parent is again state statutes regarding commerce transactions.

If you want to offer parents the option of using credit cards, then you might consider raising your tuition 3% across the board to cover the cost of credit card fees.  Then, if a parent chooses to pay in full via an automatic debit or with an e-check payment, you can give them a 2.5% “discount.”  Since many schools already offer a “pay in full” incentive (see what I did there?), this allows you to budget for that amount, and not just try to make up for it somewhere else in the budget.

Why not offer a discounted rate to those parents who choose to pay monthly?  First, because a “discount” means your school is losing revenue.  It’s school-focused.  You’re losing the benefit of receiving all the tuition upfront, and offering parents a payment plan so that they can fulfill their payment obligations.  Simply the act of allowing a parents to spread payments over 9 months to make it more convenient for them is an incentive.  It’s also because a parent might choose to pay with an automatic debit one month, and then switch to a credit card for another month, and you want to make sure your school’s budget can handle the credit card usage fee.

It’s also important to note that it’s dangerous to roll all your fees into your school’s tuition, but it’s a “next” practice to roll all your administrative fees into one fee.  If you’d like more information about that, let’s schedule some time to have a chat.  Visit this link to reserve some time on my calendar for a conversation, with the words “1 administrative fee” in the information box.