🚀 go-pugleaf

The growth of public school alternatives has signifant impact on
parents  and in a larger context - on the education marketplace. We want
to start assembling information about the financing alternatives for
private schooling and putting it at everyone's disposal.

Higher education has become a business. Universities employ MBAs,
corporate executives, ad agencies, etc. to increase market share and
profitability. Financial assistance plays a significant role in the
universities' attempts to entice wavering students and attract and
retain the best performers. 

This trend started off in college sports which had professional
equivalents (football, basketball). It has since extended beyond
athletes to include other categories of high performers.

The growing private school movement (home schools, vouchers, religious,
etc.) leads us to believe that private schools will behave more and more
like universities - emphasizing entrance tests, recommendations, etc.
They will place an increasing emphasis on financial aid packages.

The result of this trend will increase the gulf between the haves and
the have-nots. Lack of information transparency in this market will
imply that our kids will loose the chance to attend the best schools
simply because we did not know how to afford these schools.

Our goal is to increase the awareness of the role of financial
assistance in the education business and provide a clearing house for
information parents striving to provide their kids a great education at
an affordable price.

We are looking for information, consultants, parents, programs, etc.
pertaining to financial assistance provided by private schools in the
US. In particular, we are focusing on the San Francisco Bay Area. The
"Silicon Valley"'s booming economy makes this a particularly relevant
issue - the good school districts are priced beyond the reach of most
double income families!

Please respond via EMail or to misc.education. I will summarize all the
responses and maintain it on the net.

Thanks
Rajesh Desai