Variable Tuition & The Cost of Christian Education

My wife and I send three of our five children to Eastern Christian School. As a pastor, I'm often extra conscious of the schooling choices that we select for our children. I recognize that there is no "one-size-fits-all" and try hard not to make someone else feel that they have to make the same decision that we've made; in fact, even before I arrived at my church, which strongly supports the Christian school, this was one of the values that was inherent in the culture–the Pastor wouldn't have to send their children to the Christian School unless he chose to. Yet we recognize that any schooling decision that we make for our children will be scrutinized and potentially followed by the people in our church and in our community.

Not long ago I was meeting with a group of pastor's and the school administration and we raised the question that many of us pastor's had confronted at times within our own congregation. The assumption that people had was that we all had received "sweetheart deals" because of our position. That is, because we were pastors, the school had treated us differently than it would any other family who wanted to attend EC. To be honest, most of the pastor's there weren't really sure if that was true, so we asked the administration.

They said, unequivocally, "no". The conviction of the administration was that they would work with any family who has a desire to attend Eastern Christian and was serious about their commitment.

Fast forward a year or so, and our school has just announced what they are calling "Variable Tuition". In short, everyone who has a serious commitment and desire to attend the school will pay what they can afford, up to 80% of the tuition. That 80% is correct, by the way. No student at the school pays 100% of the cost of tuition because of the endowment, financial gifts, and other ways that the school raises money to reduce the cost of tuition across the board.

This isn't a post on why Christian Education is the right choice for your child. As I mentioned, I don't think there is one solution that is correct for everyone. What this is about, however, is why I believe Eastern Christian is doing all that they can to remove finances from the equation when you are making the educational choice for your children.

THE EQUATION OF SCHOOL

In my experience the greatest hurdle towards people considering Christian education is the finances. I talk to Christian School graduates who know what the school offers, who look positively on their experience, who are considering schooling options for their children, and yet, the number one thing standing in their way is the finances. I get it. Christian school ain't cheap.

The assumption here is that there is a Christian school option available to you in your area, that it is a decent school, that it is a part of your consideration, and that you would seriously consider sending your children there if the finances really weren't an issue. In other words, I'm making the assumption that you already agree with me that Christian education is a good idea, if you can afford it. I'm not trying to convince the unconvinced, I'm trying to encourage the convinced. You can do this! And here's why.

First, Christian School is not the same as private school

Okay, okay. It is a private school. I get that. But it's not a private school the way that private schools are private. You with me?

I graduated from a Christian School in Miami and our athletic league consisted mostly of other private schools in the area. When we went to those schools, there was a distinctly different vibe. The vibe was, "we are an exclusive club. We pay to be here." The parking lot looked like a luxury car dealership. The thing is, no one argued that there was a benefit to those schools or that they would like to send their kids there if they could. That stuff was assumed. But you could only access it if you could pay for it, or if you had a special talent or ability that the school deemed worthy of a scholarship. It remained an elite school because it was only for the elite.

And that's the chief difference between a Christian school and every other private school.

If a Christian school is an elite school that only some people can afford, then it's functionally a private school that has bible classes. It's not a Christian school. If it's a Christian School, that believe that the Gospel is relevant to every area of our life, and that there truly is "no square inch" of the universe that God does not control, then it also has to assume that it has value to every Christian parent and every Christian student. It must also gladly operate under the assumption that every student should have the opportunity to learn in an environment that upholds God as the Sovereign Creator and Jesus as the Savior and King.

I'm reminded of the quote, perhaps by Abraham Kuyper, that no education is religiously neutral. That is, your education will either come from the perspective that God exists–even when studying things like evolution or sub-atomic particles–or it will come from the perspective that God does not exist. The content ought to be the same, but the perspective matters.

If Christian School is important, we must be of the conviction that it is important for all Christians. And if it is important for all Christians, then it must be accessible to all Christians.

This is what distinguishes Christian School from other private school options. I know of no other private school that believes that it ought to be universally accessible. Christian school, and Eastern Christian in particular, does believe that

In fact, this is the belief that makes variable tuition possible. Variable tuition only works when we believe that Christian education is valuable and should be accessible to all Christian parents.

Most people know that some–maybe even most–families at Eastern Christian receive some sort of scholarship. What Eastern Christian is doing is just calling it for what it is. Some people pay more than others. That disparity is justified, as long as we recognize that everyone has a different financial capacity, and that Christian school should be accessible to anyone who values it and wants to commit to it with their family.

If we really value Christian education and believe it should be accessible to all, then variable tuition is the obvious choice.

Which leads me to a final point.

Variable tuition only works when everyone is being legit about what they can afford.

The truth is that if you believe that Christian education is valuable and should be accessible to all, and you are committed to it, you will make the necessary sacrifices. But how do you know?

This is one of the reasons that Eastern Christian uses a third party to help determine how much someone can actually afford. The application, if it's the same as in past years, includes questions about what kind of cars you drive, credit card debt, etc. It's a basic financial application, but it's the same across the board. That third party is processing everyone's request and making determinations about what they think you should be able to afford. Sometimes that may work for your family, other times you may need more assistance than they suggest, but it helps to provide some sort of metric.

It would be easy for those who pay full tuition–and those who don't–to wonder about their respective sacrifices. There are times when I show up in my old vehicles and someone else shows up in their new vehicles and I think to myself, this is harder for me than it is for him. But my guess is, he might feel the same way, knowing that I probably get a scholarship and he doesn't. 

Variable tuition, especially as monitored by a third party, removes that second-guessing from the equation. Instead, it allows us to say to one another that...

My tuition and your tuition may be different, but our sacrifice is the same.

My tuition and your tuition may be different, but we value the same thing.

My tuition and your tuition may be different, but we need each other.

If you are seriously considering Christian Education for your children, do not let finances stand in your way. There may be good reason to choose a different path, but "the money" is no longer one of them.

Thoughts on Education

As a Christian, I believe the most important thing that I can teach my children is that God loves them, and that as a result of that love shown to them through the atoning death of Jesus Christ, they can love God and others and ultimately experience what life was always intended to be about. I can achieve everything else as a parent, but if I fail to teach them that exceptionally good news, I've won nothing. I can't control the outcome when they leave my house, of course, but I can do everything in my power to teach them that good news so that it has the best chance of "sticking" even without me around.

It's important that Christians put education, generally speaking, in that context. Some time back I read an article or a book (I can't remember where or I would give proper attribution) and the author stated emphatically that there is no "religiously neutral education". I considered the premise and believe that he was right. The truth is that we will either view the world through the lens of God's existence, so that everything contains traces of his goodness and wonder, or we will view it through some other lens; namely, a lens in which he does not exist. We cannot have it both ways. We cannot say that God is powerful and worth knowing, but unnecessary in relation to the rest of our studies, as if God has nothing to say about writing, or arithmetic, or our basic ability to communicate through words and language, let alone whether or not his existence has any bearing on the universe or why things are the way that they are or why we interact the way that we do. If God is unnecessary for the study of any of these things, then as one philosopher suggested, God may as well be dead. We simply don't need him anymore.

On the other hand, if God does have something to say about all of these subjects, as the Christian believes that He does, then we must approach the education of our children with that conviction. Writing is no longer simply about "grammar", but it is about the wonder that we can even communicate at all, or that we can pass things on to other generations, or that thoughts can become sentences which can become complex arguments or narrative that can be written down and passed on and can create a sense of enjoyment in a person we have never even met. Math is no longer about the memorization of equations or facts but is instead about the way that God has ordered the world so that there are "laws" and "patterns" that always hold true, in every circumstance. Biology is no longer simply about why things are the way that they are, but is instead about what these things tell us about God and his design and plan and wisdom in creating things the way that he did. Studying the cosmos reminds us that things may not always be the way that they seem; that perhaps God used methods and timeframes that we cannot even possibly wrap our minds around in his sovereign control over the entirety of all that is.

I might argue that if we lose the wonder of who God is in the education of our children then it is nearly as serious a flaw as if we forget to teach our kids to love Jesus. That is not to suggest that they are on the same level. Failure to teach about Jesus has eternal implications; failure to view education through the lens of God's sovereignty may just incur temporary boredom. But it is a tragic boredom! It is a similar type of boredom that leads our culture to endure education for the sake of a future promise or paycheck. The type of boredom that makes us stick it out, even though it stinks. To learn math because we have to. To ask the teacher, "when am I ever going to use this?", only to have her give you some canned response about the importance of grammatical construction of a sentence when you are an adult when the teacher knows full well that the answer is, "you probably won't have to use it, except to pass the test."

The Christian can answer the question differently! It's not about whether you "use it". More importantly, what do we discover about God through it? That is the important piece!  

This is why education matters for our children. More important than whether or not they memorize facts is whether or not they understand God's purpose in creating those facts to begin with, and then, when we understand them, how we can use them to make a difference in the world.