Early re-enrollment is now open for students to register for the 2024-25 school year. I know it seems like we just started school, but it is almost Christmas and we will hit the halfway point for the school year just a couple of weeks after returning from break.
Advantages of Registering Early
We offer early enrollment because it helps us get a better handle on what our staffing needs will be for the next school year. It saves the school money to be able to plan for staffing needs in advance of an upcoming year. Payroll is our largest expense, so it helps us out to know what our enrollment will look like. That's why we offer you a lower rate of tuition and fees for completing the registration process before February 1 of the coming year.
We have reached a point where most of our classes are at or near capacity enrollment. Registering early means you have a guaranteed spot in a class for the next school year. For example, right now we have 18 students in the Kindergarten class, with a capacity of 21, which means that we only have room for three more students before the class is closed. We currently have six applications for Kindergarten with enrollment fee paid and paperwork completed. So if one or two of our current kindergarten students are not re-enrolled, someone may grab their spot in the class on February 1. It's possible that we will have two kindergarten classes next year, since it's early, and we already have six waiting to get in. But we can't always guarantee that. So register early and you're in!
Over each of the past three years, our re-enrollment rate of current students has exceeded 95%. It's almost certain that classes in grades K through 7 will be at or near capacity next year. In each of the past three years, we've had about 50 applications from new students, across the grade levels, primarily in the lower grades. Our current enrollment won't leave that many spaces open for new students, and it means that on February 1, just about every open space we have in a grade will be taken. So parents who haven't enrolled by then may lose their spot.
Quality Education in a Distinctively Christian Environment
MCA is fully accredited, a distinction it achieved during recovery from the pandemic. What that means is that the quality of the education offered by the school meets or exceeds a specific set of standards considered to be measurements of school effectiveness. In addition to the educational quality and efficiency of operations, MCA was also evaluated for, and recognized for the quality of its spiritual life, which was part of the accreditation process.
Standardized testing is used to measure the educational progress of our students from year to year. Over 90% of our students meet the grade level benchmark scores in the core subjects in language arts, reading and mathematics with over 65% of students being "proficient" in those subjects. Students leaving kindergarten at MCA are reading on a first grade level.
MCA graduates have a wide variety of high school options to choose from. Those who choose another Christian school, such as Chicago Hope Academy or Timothy Christian, are easily able to meet the entrance requirements and easily adapt to being part of the student body. Our students also find a high level of success in gaining admission to selective enrollment high schools in the Chicago Public School system. And a few students opt to go to their neighborhood high school, or to one of the nearby charter schools, such as Instrinsic, ITW Speer or Horizon Science Academy.
But the most important emphasis we offer as a school is our commitment to being distinctively Christian. With over 200 students representing nearly 60 churches in the community, our teachers help our students learn to study the scriptures, pointing to salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. We spend time in worship together each week, and all students have a class dedicated to studying the Bible every day.
Every student is different, and every student must approach their relationship with Jesus Christ on their own. At school, we will support them with our prayers and with our guidance and presence in the classroom, to help those who are already Christians grow in their faith and listen for God's call to ministry in their life, and for those who do not know Jesus, to make a profession of faith.
An Educational Bargain
We are able to operate as an extension ministry of a local church, an independent and autonomous ministry with the ability to determine, from our interpretation of scripture, our own mission and purpose. We receive no public funds, consequently we are free from the regulation and restrictions on freedom of conscience which go with the acceptance of tax dollars. Much of the cost to parents is subsidized at MCA. We occupy buildings owned by the church on which we pay for our own maintenance, but we have no lease obligations. Our teachers consider their work as a ministry calling, and sacrifice the kind of salary they might earn elsewhere.
We estimate that the full value of a year's worth of education at MCA comes in at around $13,000. The contributed use of the building, sacrifices made by teachers and gifts of generous supporters of the school subtracts about $8,000 of that. This makes tuition and fees at MCA among the lowest in the city for a fully accredited, non-denominational, Christian private school. Our tuition rates, including discounts, are significantly lower than other religious-based, private schools in our area. You get way more than the actual monetary value of that in return.