Chicago Public High Schools Getting More Private School Applicants

By Samantha Battle


Many of the public college preparatory high schools in Chicago get thousands of applicants every

year. This year, many of those applicants are coming from private schools because it is getting

expensive for parents that have their kids in private schools.


Many graduating eight-graders and some seventh-graders from private schools are deciding

whether to go to a public school or stay in the private school system, a choice that can be very

difficult because it makes people choose between financial stability and a top-notch education.


"A lot of my friends and I want to go to public high schools after we graduate," said Stacie Webb, a

seventh-grader at St. Columbanus Elementary School, a private Catholic school in the Park Manor

neighborhood. "We are all trying to get into the same high school but half of all our choices are

college preparatory high schools."


According to CPS records, the number of eighth-graders trying to get one of the 3,000 slots in

public college prep high schools has risen 10 percent this spring to 12,857.


During a recession, it could be understandable that parents may not have enough money to

continue to pay for private schools. Some students even want to make it easier on their parents by

suggesting they go to public school when they have spent their whole educational experience in

private school.


“Seeing that my parents have been paying for going on nine years of Catholic schooling I want

them to have a break and my mom loves the fact that I want to go to a public high school,” Webb

said. “She actually wants me to go to a public high school rather than a catholic high school

because she wants me to experience something different rather than what I’m use to. She is

trying to do everything she can to get me into a good public high school.”


According to the Archdiocese of Chicago, average tuition for a Catholic elementary school is

$2,476 and a Catholic high school is $4,500. Fees for public school round out to about $250 for the

whole school year according to the CPS Web site.


King College Preparatory High School in the Bronzeville neighborhood had about 31,000

applicants for the upcoming school year and about 8 percent of those applicants were from private

school, according to Jeffrey Wright, the principal at King. About 10 percent of the students that

were admitted into King for the upcoming school year is from private schools.


"Our goal is to get some of the best students in the city of Chicago to come to King," said Kevin

Tate, the assistant principal at King College Preparatory High School.


"The system is open to anyone who lives in Chicago. Their parents pay taxes for the public schools

regardless of where they choose to send their children for their elementary education," Wright said.

"As long as everyone is given equal access and applies through the same process, with the same

standards, it seems only fair that both public and private school students are given access to the

selective enrollment schools."


The amount of private school applicants is about the same as the public school applicants

according Wright.


Private schools do offer different scholarships to help parents who can’t afford to pay the full tuition

but for some parents, that isn’t enough.


"I would like for my child to stay in the private school system but the money just isn’t there right

now," said Yolanda Ferguson, a stay-at-home mother who has a daughter at Providence St. Mel.

"Even with the scholarships they offer, it’s still hard and you have to qualify for those scholarships."


For now, Ferguson is going to keep her daughter in her current school until she can get into a good

public high school. She is currently applying to some public college prep high schools for the

upcoming school year.


There are difficult potential consequences that some parent’s face when trying to find a public

school for their kids to go to, such as credits not transferring. Also, college preps want students with

high test scores and then there is the possibility of having to choose a less academically rigorous

school and also a school that is not in a safe neighborhood if the student is not accepted into the

college prep school of choice.


Private school curriculum is different from the public school curriculum so if their child is

transferring, there may be a problem in transferring credits because of the difference in curriculum.


"In the catholic school system, we teach religion and it is a part of the curriculum along with

vocabulary, which may not be a part of the curriculum in public schools," said Michele Moore, a

seventh grade Spanish teacher at St. Columbanus. "Students here at our school need to have

taken these classes in order to graduate whereas at a public school, these credit wouldn’t even

count. This goes for the curriculum in private high schools also. My son attended Hales Franciscan

High School for a year and they were required to take religion and vocabulary also."


In order to get into the good college prep high schools that most parents prefer, you have to score

high on the admissions test. Students also have to have the acceptable test scores that the college

preps are looking for in order to qualify to take the entrance exam.