Time for a Tuition Reset? Critical Considerations for Independent Schools

In this episode, Dr. Lucie Lapovsky, an economist who consults, writes and speaks widely on issues related to finance, pricing, strategy, governance, and enrollment management, defines what a tuition reset entails, describes how independent school boards can strategically consider pricing and affordability options, and explains the lessons learned from other schools that have engaged in tuition resetting. A parent of three independent school alumni, Dr. Lapovsky has served on the boards of McDonogh School in Baltimore and Packer Collegiate Institute, her alma mater, in New York. She has led an NAIS research effort to produce guidance and recommendations for ways schools can rethink their tuition, tuition-setting strategies, and tuition discounting approaches, informed by several case studies of independent schools that have recently decided to reset their tuitions. She is the co-editor of three books: Strategic Financial Challenges for Higher Education: How to Achieve Quality, Accountability and Innovation; Roles and Responsibilities of Chief Financial Officers and The White House Project Report: Benchmarking Women’s Leadership. She blogs for Forbes and is the author of more than 200 chapters and articles and is a frequent speaker at major higher education conferences. She received her B.A. degree from Goucher College, and her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Economics from the University of Maryland at College Park.