As families struggle, Hawaii private schools brace for enrollment declines

HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) - The loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs in Hawaii due to the coronavirus pandemic is creating economic uncertainties for the state’s private schools.

Some, like the Mid-Pacific Institute, are already seeing a dip in enrollment for this fall.

Others like Punahou School and Iolani School aren’t seeing a drop but are bracing for a surge in demand for student financial aid.

“I’m sure we’re simply going to lose some enrollment because some of the jobs ... aren’t coming back and it looks like the tourism market is going to take two or three years ― if not more ― to come back,” said Philip Bossert, executive director of the Hawaii Association for Independent Schools.

Bossert said that during the 2007-2009 “Great Recession,” Hawaii’s 122 private schools lost more than 1,000 students.

A sharp enrollment decline could mean teacher and staff layoffs at some schools. A prolonged recession could mean worse.

“We had six schools close between 2007 and 2012," Bossert said.

Mid-Pacific said it won’t know how many students it will lose until the fall when classes start up again.

“Our projections show that our financial aid output could increase by as much as 72 percent over last year,” the school said in an email.

Punahou said it expects “full enrollment” but that demand for financial aid will increase by 50 percent.

In an email, Iolani School said it also expects its classrooms to be filled but added:

“We budgeted $6 million in aid for this coming year … we do expect an increase in that number for the fall," the school said.

Bossert said that many parents won’t know if they have a job or not until late summer when Hawaii tourism sector is expected to fully reopen.

“We have have these meetings with the admissions directors who say parents are saying 'I can’t give you back my enrollment contract right now but if you give me some more time I’ll know in July or August what my situations is," Bossert said.

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