Still facing the reality of the local Catholic school closings, parents of students at one Philadelphia-area school are now dealing with an increase in tuition.
“It’s just been one horrible situation after the other,” said Christopher Caporelli.
Caporelli is the father of two children who attend St. Bridget Elementary, one of the schools that will be closed next year by the Philadelphia Archdiocese. Students at St. Bridget will have to attend the new combined school at St. Blaise Regional Catholic in Manayunk. With that new school comes a new price.
Caporelli received a letter saying he will have to pay $8400 to send his two children to St. Blaise. He previously only paid $4800 tuition for his kids to attend St. Bridget.
“We’re going to get $500 a child for financial aid,” said Caporelli. “That depended on I guess your involvement with the church. They decided on their own. Some folks are getting $1000 a child, some $500 and some none.”
Other parents refuse to deal with the tuition hike and are leaving the area altogether.
“Unfortunately it’s sad, my wife went here,” said Jason Smith, who plans to move his family outside the city. “But we have to do what we have to do for them.”
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“Once I got the tuition package and saw the huge increase, that just solidified my decision to pull my child out of the school," said another.
The Archdiocese says the new tuition fees were created by the impacted parishes. They also claim the increase is only affecting parents who are sending their children to St. Blaise and are not aware of any other tuition hikes.
Neither the pastor nor the principal at St. Bridget would comment.
