Dorm life still has appeal
Virginia’s boarding schools thrive despite changing attitudes

by Heather B. Hayes
for Virginia Business
February 2006

St. Catherine’s School has accepted boarding students for most of its 115-year history. But not anymore. Last fall, officials at the private girls school in Richmond decided to phase out the boarding program so that St. Catherine’s could devote more space to its growing day school.

For two decades, the number of boarders at the school has been dropping, from 147 in 1984 to 43 in 2005. This past summer, the school didn’t receive a single application from a would-be boarder.

Auguste “Gussie” J. Bannard, the head of the school, says that St. Catherine’s lost its identity as a boarding school as the number of boarding students declined. At the same time, growing demand for slots in the day school resulted in waiting lists for some classes. By converting its residence halls, the school will be able to expand its capacity from 820 to 915 students by 2010. “We felt the time had come for us to make the day classes the bigger funnel of opportunity,” says Bannard.

St. Catherine’s experience tracks a national trend, with many boarding schools closing their doors over the last decade or seeing flat enrollments. But that’s not the story statewide. Many Virginia schools that put a heavy emphasis on boarding programs say they are thriving. “I don’t know what the magic number is, but if you get much more than 50:50 day to boarding students, the boarding side becomes kind of the orphan,” says Dr. Phillip Hadley, headmaster at Virginia Episcopal School (VES), a co-ed private school in Lynchburg with a 65:35 boarding-to-day student ratio. “At that point, the day community just drives it more and more.”

VES now has 273 students, and officials are building an additional girls’ dormitory that could house as many as 16 additional girls. “Our boarding program is better than it’s been in 15 years,” Hadley says.

Likewise, The Madeira School, an all girls school in McLean with a 55:45 boarding-to-day ratio, and St. Margaret’s School in Tappahannock, which has 116 boarding students, are filled to capacity. Woodberry Forest School, a boys boarding school in Orange County, has always been a top draw and continues to compete with leading schools in New England.
“Our boarding schools overall are quite healthy,” says Steve Ruzicka, executive director of The Association of Boarding Schools (TABS), an organization of 200 boarding schools in the U.S., Canada and abroad. “A lot is made of the fact that we’re not keeping up with the rate of new enrollment for day schools. But boarding schools only have so many beds, and by virtue of their missions, they don’t want to become these big, huge campuses. Their mission is to offer that personal attention to the students 24/7.”

Still, says Madeira Headmistress Dr. Elisabeth Griffith, boarding schools can never take success for granted. Once considered the most prestigious schools in the country, boarding schools in recent years have had to compete with private day schools charging half the price, as well as public charter and magnet schools. Boarding schools also have lost market share because of major shifts in cultural values and parenting philosophies. “You’re often marketing to consumers who don’t know anything about boarding schools and, in fact, might even have a negative image of what you’re all about,” Griffith says. “Marketing becomes critical.”

Each school has to develop its own niche, she says, and then craft a message that resonates with parents and dispels their misconceptions about boarding schools. The biggest misconception is that boarding school is a dumping ground for parents who want to hand over their responsibilities to an institution. “It’s not like that at all today,” says Margaret Broad, headmistress for St. Margaret’s School, noting that between e-mail and phones calls, parents are constantly in contact with their children. “Parents want to be more engaged in their child’s lives, and we want that for them, too.”

St. Margaret’s, for example, developed a parent handbook that provides a month-by-month calendar of activities that invite parents’ participation. St. Margaret’s, like other boarding schools, also assigns an adviser to each girl. The school provides lengthy reports to parents by phone at least six times a year.

Boarding schools today must appeal to students as well as parents. Hadley says that students are often the decision makers in choosing a school. He recalls that twin girls from San Diego, Calif., enrolled at VES after one of them discovered the school on the Web.
Jeanette Cadwallender and her husband, Nicholas, never considered sending a child to a boarding school until their oldest daughter, Julia, told them she wanted an alternative to the local public high school. The Fredericksburg couple began looking at options and eventually settled on Madeira.

“We certainly were not trying to send our daughter away, but we found that the environment was just really geared towards her excellence and offered a wonderful sense of community and opportunities to broaden her horizons and make friends from around the world,” says Jeanette Cadwallender, who later sent her younger daughter, Mary, to Madeira. The girls often came home on weekends, and the Cadwallenders frequently traveled to McLean for school events. “We’ve stayed very involved as parents, and don’t feel we’ve given up anything by sending them away to school.”

Jane and Butch Keller of Rich-mond had no qualms about sending their son Matt to VES, because both parents had worked at boarding schools. “Being at a boarding school helps kids become more independent. It forces them to take ownership of their own education and their own development process,” says Jane Keller. For all the potential advantages, though, “it has to be the choice of the child.”

Boarding school officials are finding new marketing opportunities in the frustrations some parents face in getting a good education for their children.
For example, many parents who are interested in private schools consider boarding schools when their children wind up on waiting lists at local day schools. Also, some parents in urban areas begin to look at boarding schools after realizing how time-consuming and stressful the daily commutes can be to private day schools. And still other parents, especially those who work long hours or travel frequently, see boarding schools as a safe haven from destructive cultural influences.

“At a boarding school, you have the opportunity to create a culture that your students are going to live in,” says Broad. “We refer to ourselves as an intimate community of 200 — the girls, the faculty, the staff — where everyone lives together and shares the highs and lows.” At St. Margaret’s, creating that culture involves limiting Internet use, enforcing an honor code, and providing evening and weekend community service activities.

The Madeira School also has developed a community-service environment for students by requiring them to participate in internships in the Washington area. Many girls work on Capitol Hill for U.S. congressmen or for nonprofit organizations. For instance, Julia Cadwallender last year had an internship at a Falls Church law firm that provides legal assistance to immigrant women.

Boarding schools also can offer American students the opportunity to study with foreign students, many of whom are trying to prepare themselves for acceptance at U.S. colleges. VES, for example, has 25 international students, about 10 percent of the school’s total enrollment. VES limits its international student enrollment because, as Hadley says, the demand is so great, “we could fill the school with international boarders.”

Thanks to financial aid, some boarding schools have been able to put together diverse student bodies that represent a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds. Woodberry Forest, for example, has an endowment of $195 million. The school currently has 394 boys from 29 states and 12 countries. Nearly 15 percent are ethnic minorities and more than one-third receives needs-based financial aid. “I think we are able to attract and provide more diversity than a private day school,” says Dr. Dennis Campbell, headmaster at Woodberry Forest. “And that diversity makes for an extremely positive, culturally rich experience for the entire student body.”

Boarding schools, however, still face challenges. Hadley notes that enrollment tends to rise and fall with the economic cycles. “At $31,000 a year, our tuition is quite frightening — even in the good times,” he says. “And during downturns, we can’t provide as much help with financial aid.”

Nonetheless, Broad remains optimistic that, no matter what difficulties arise, boarding schools will continue to be a small but important player on the educational scene. “I think so long as boarding schools retain their unique mission and ability to address the total life of the child, there will always be a need and a demand for them,” she says.