The school does offer a slew of scholarships for students, but the number of applicants for financial aid has not increased from last year, Jensen said.
Helping bankroll the school’s budget are more than 20 Seventh Day Adventist churches throughout Southern California — including Glendale’s local wing — that have established scholarship programs for students, she said.
Reliable funding from churches has allowed Glendale Adventist Academy and other private schools to continue operating at steady levels, while public schools continue fretting in the face of a record budget standoff that has so far delayed $100,000 in payments to the Glendale Unified School District.
But not all private schools rely on parish funding to operate.
At Holy Redeemer School in Montrose, operations are supported mostly through tuition from its 199 students. For students who are members of Holy Redeemer Catholic Church, the school’s annual price tag ranges from $4,075 to $10,045. Tuition for students who are not members of the parish runs from $5,538 to $11,934 a year.
Enrollment at the school remains the same as the 2006-07 school term but is 9% lower than two years ago, Principal Susan Fite said.
“Some moved out of the area,” she said. “We may have had one or two go to public schools, which may be a part of the economy.”
Like most schools, tuition at Holy Redeemer School is expected to rise by as much as 4% next year to keep pace with pay raises for teachers and administrators, she said.
