Catholic high schools more affordable than most private schools

The 19 Catholic high schools in the Archdiocese of Baltimore continue to be more affordable than all but a handful of their private peers, as evidenced by the Catholic Review’s annual survey of cost of attendance among 41 nonpublic high schools in the archdiocese.

The accompanying chart was compiled from high school websites and administrators. For comparative purposes, it includes fellow members of the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association and the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland.

When available and consistent across all grades, fees were added to tuition to come up with the cost of attendance for the 2017-18 school year. Fees for athletics and graduation were not included, nor were costs for special enrichment programs.

Many families take on an additional commitment, in the form of a commute from their home to a high school in another jurisdiction.

That was of little consequence for the parents of Hannah and Bayley Lindsay, who commute from their home in Our Lady of the Chesapeake Parish in Lake Shore to The Catholic High School of Baltimore.

Both of their parents believe in the value of Catholic education. Their father, Chris, a biochemist, was in the class of 1987 at Mount St. Joseph High School in Baltimore. Their mother, Mia, taught at St. Jane Frances School in Pasadena.

“Hannah fell in love with Catholic High on her shadow day, and we knew she was going to find her niche there,” Mia Lindsay said. “It broadened her perspective, and inspired her to make the world a better place.”

Hannah entered the U.S. Naval Academy in 2015, the same year her sister, Bayley, entered Catholic High, where her current course load includes three AP classes.

The Lindsays are not alone in going to great lengths to drive their daughters into Baltimore City for a Catholic High education.

Megan and Sara Morales were raised in Harford County, but family ties have influenced their educational choices.

Both of their parents, Michael and Chris, attended the former parish school at St. Anthony of Padua in Gardenville. Along with their parents and grandparents, the Morales girls worship at St. Michael the Archangel in Overlea, where they attended the parish school and Sara serves as an extraordinary minister of holy Communion.

“No matter where we moved, our girls were going to go to Catholic school,” said Chris Morales, a graduate of the Institute of Notre Dame. “That’s the environment we want for our kids.”

Megan graduated from Catholic High in 2015, and is now studying marketing and communications at Notre Dame of Maryland University in Baltimore. Sara is in the Catholic High class of 2019, and wants to be a teacher.

For complete information about high school costs, parents and students should visit individual schools and their websites.

Email Paul McMullen at pmcmullen@CatholicReview.org.