STUDENT NUMBERS at some of the most expensive fee-paying schools in the State have dropped only marginally in the past year, despite the economic downturn.
New figures show that enrolment at many of the big-name fee-paying schools including Belvedere and Blackrock College – is holding up or even increasing.
But they also show the first signs of falling student numbers at schools like Alexandra College and Mount Anville in Dublin and Glenstal Abbey in Co Limerick.
Overall, the total number of students in fee-paying second-level schools this academic year (26,277) is down by just 327 students compared to last year.
The figures are based on enrolments in September 2009, compared to September 2008.
It has been widely predicted that enrolment would decline by up to 15 per cent as parents opted out of a “luxury” like private education. But the overall drop in numbers was less than 2 per cent.
Year-on-year student numbers are up by 4 per cent at Belvedere and unchanged at Blackrock College. Both schools have over 900 pupils.
However, a small number of fee-paying schools have seen a significant decrease in enrolment in the past year.
These include Gormanston College, Co Meath (down 20 per cent); Cistercian College, Roscrea, Co Tipperary (down 11 per cent); Sutton Park School, Dublin (down 8 per cent) and St Columba’s College, Rathfarnham, Dublin (down 6 per cent).
Alexandra College, Milltown, Dublin has seen a 5 per cent decrease in enrolment during this period.
Last year, the school was widely criticised after a Junior Cert pupil was removed because of her parents’ failure to pay more than €20,000 in fees.
There have been no other reports of fee-paying schools removing pupils for the non-payment of fees in this manner.
The new figures also track the remarkable growth in private education since 2004.
Several leading schools have registered a double digit increase in enrolment since 2004. These include St Conleth’s College (enrolment up by 13 per cent); Belvedere College (up 12 per cent; and Newbridge College (up 12 per cent).
Other schools to show a significant increase in enrolment since 2004 include: Notre Dame, Churchtown, Dublin (up 8 per cent); St Michael’s, Ballsbridge, Dublin (up 7 per cent); Gonzaga, Milltown, Dublin (up 6 per cent; St Andrew’s, Booterstown (up 4 per cent) and Loreto, St Stephen’s Green, Dublin (up 3 per cent).
One of the most expensive schools in the State – St Gerard’s in Bray, Co Wicklow – has seen an 11 per cent increase in enrolment since 2004. It has registered a 5 per cent increase in student numbers over the past years.
The State provides over €100 million a year to fee-paying schools, most of it for the salaries of some 1,500 teachers.
Last year’s budget increased class size for all second-level schools, but the cut was deeper for the fee-paying sector.
The Department of Finance backed a 50 per cent cut in State support for fee-paying schools in its submission to the McCarthy report last year but this proposal has not been implemented.
