Private school enrollments have been declining in MA. How are local schools faring?

FRAMINGHAM — Mary Kate Feeney's parents chose to send her to the Saint Bridget School in Framingham because they believed in a Catholic education.

"My parents were teachers — they taught in Catholic schools — and they sent my brother, my sister and myself to the school because they believe in Catholic education and wanted that for their children," said Feeney, a 1997 graduate and board member at Saint Bridget, which is at 832 Worcester Road (but accessed via Granite Street).

Feeney, an active Framingham community member, said she joined the board to give back to the school and help ensure that its students today have the same experience she did.

"Being a student there, I learned the basics of social justice and being a good citizen, which I try to live every day in my activities in Framingham," she said.

Now, more families are trying to get in on the Saint Bridget experience, according to its administrators.

Saint Bridget opens second preschool class, sees enrollment rise

In a recent interview, Principal Marissa Bianchi and Vice President of Admissions and Advancement Amanda Popp said enrollment is increasing at the private school, especially for its early childhood classrooms. The school, which serves preschool (3-year-olds) through Grade 8, opened a second preschool class this month, generating a 2% increase in total school enrollment and a 54% increase in the preschool enrollment, according to Bianchi.

"We're seeing an increase in applications across the board," Bianchi told the Daily News. "Every grade has two classes, so two classrooms for every grade year. Our middle school has our largest enrollment at 82 students."

Overall, she said Saint Bridget enrolls 267 students, up from last year. For full-time students in grades 1-8, its tuition for 2023-24 is $9,175 for a family's first child and for full-day kindergarten, $8,100 for a second child, $6,950 for a third and $5,000 for a fourth, according to its website. Preschool and pre-kindergarten rates vary.

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Bianchi attributes the increase to the sense of community she says St. Bridget provides for students and their families.

"Students are skipping into school, the faculty and staff love their jobs, and we've been praised on our focus on faith and virtues and traditional family values," she said. "Parents really like that we pray together as a school every morning, we say the pledge of allegiance, we go to Mass every Tuesday at St. Bridget's."

The church is beside the school.

Bianchi said the school's small class sizes — averaging at 13 students — are also a draw for families.

St. Mark's enrollment remains the same, sees increase in applications

At St. Mark's School, a coeducational, Episcopal prep school in Southborough, enrollment has remained largely the same, with about 365 available seats during pre-pandemic years, and 380 in 2022-23. Enrollment has remained the same due to dorm space for boarding students and seats for day students.

But according to Director of Admission and Enrollment Management Anne Behnke, the school has seen a "definite" increase in applications to the school over the years.

"I would say, we've easily seen a 20% to 25% increase in applications over the past 10 years," she said. "Families are looking for a school where it's a smaller class size, different opportunities than other schools where they can do everything in one place."

At both Saint Bridget's and St. Mark's, tuition has increased incrementally over the years. At St. Mark's, it's been between a 3% to 4% increase over the years. For the 2023-24 school year, it's $58,080 for day students and $72,930 for boarding students, according to the school website.

"The biggest costs at a school like ours is food, to feed the children and faculty salaries," said Behnke, who's been at St. Mark's for 20 years.

Statewide, non-public school enrollment trended downward in the years leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic. But since then numbers have risen and then plateaued. Saint Bridget's enrollment dropped by about 12% in the first full school year (2020-21) after the pandemic hit, but has risen since then.

Saint Bridget's and St. Mark's increasing enrollment and applications come at a time when a number of religious-affiliated schools in Massachusetts have shuttered in recent years.

In 2023, three Catholic high schools belonging to the Archdiocese of Boston closed at the end of the 2022-23 school year.

Mount Alvernia High School, an all-girls school in Newton that opened in 1935, closed after its founders, the Missionary Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, decided they were no longer able to continue living on campus.

Saint Joseph Preparatory High School, a coeducational school affiliated with the Sisters of St. Joseph in Boston, and Bishop Connolly High School in Fall River, a member of the Diocese of Fall River, also announced their closures.

Locally, Marian High School in Framingham closed after the 2017-18 school year and Milford Catholic Elementary School closed after the conclusion of the 2016-17 school year.

This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: Local private school enrollments hold steady, unlike state figures