A for-profit business whose mission is to make money differs from a nonprofit school like Sterne, whose mission is to discover and nurture each student’s version of greatness. We do this by providing children with a top-quality educational experience that ensures academic, social, and emotional growth. By nature, high-quality schools are labor-intensive and people-oriented; salary and benefits make up about 80% of our school’s budget. Much would be lost and we would veer from our mission if Sterne became “more efficient” by combining classrooms, reducing staff, or cutting programs.
A tenet of Sterne’s mission is to celebrate uniqueness, and we strive to maintain a socioeconomically diverse and vibrant community. Raising tuition beyond competitive levels would have the adverse effect of discouraging families from applying. To offer competitive salaries and provide the programs we want our children to have, we try to minimize the year-to-year raise in tuition by soliciting current and alumni families, trustees, staff, and friends of the community for Annual Fund support. Further efforts are made to offset tuition increases by applying for outside grant funding and other fundraising efforts, such as the Spring Gala.
