Universal Tuition Benefits: The Answer to All our Problems?

If you ask any international or independent school educator about the benefits of teaching at their school, you’re likely to hear about free tuition for dependents.  Before I had any kids myself I thought little about this benefit for obvious reasons, but also because I’ve taken for granted the relatively great education I received in US public schools.  It wasn’t until I started working at a K-12 international school that I realized the enormous benefit of working at a great school with excellent teachers who would one day teach my children.

If you’re like me, a product of the US public school system, then you grew up in the same classroom as the children of the school’s secretary, principal, and custodian.  However, in international schools this isn’t as a common.  Instead of extending tuition benefits to all employee’s dependents they are often only extended to the faculty.  Even in many NAIS schools you’re unlikely to find the custodian or lunch personnel receiving this benefit.  In a recent conversation with an independent school administrator, he laughed (and cringed), at the feeling that his children had been providing the social economic diversity to a school filled with much wealthier students.

This isn’t to say that there aren’t good reasons to limit tuition benefits.  For many schools, allowing even one or two students per staff member could balloon the school population by hundreds.  In international schools the difference between host culture curriculum and international school curriculum could cause some major hiccups in the school learning environment.  Furthermore, universal tuition benefits could lead to great divides and more cliques in the school.  Not to mention that this makes the assumption that international or independent schools automatically offer a better opportunity for the host culture’s community.

Yet, I believe if done correctly, universal tuition benefits, might answer many problems our school’s face.  For instance, it would certainly lead to a stronger connection with the surrounding  community, new perspectives in the classroom, increased loyalty by employees, etc.  Also in cases where schools are inundated with a core student population that isn’t from it’s host culture, it would lead to increased diversity in every way.

Whether or not universal tuition benefits are the right fit for your school, in an education atmosphere that often speaks of diversity, global awareness, and outreach, the practice is bound to help model and strengthen these values.

So what do you think?  Does your school offer universal tuition benefits?  Has it been discussed?  Do you think it would be helpful or more harmful?