After last year’s announcement that the school would freeze its tuition, President Dr. Rob Bridges once again says that the school will keep tuition costs the same for the 2020-2021 school year.

The freeze, although produced during a November cold front, is sunnier than you might expect.

The administration wrote in an email that “the board approved the 2020-2021 tuition freeze at its November meeting, keeping Cathedral’s tuition at $15,765.” Essentially, the administration is guaranteeing the students and their families that the price of admission to this high school will not be raised next year.

Bridges said in an interview that the school decided to freeze tuition in an effort to help out families that may be struggling with the cost of attending. “We wanted to make sure this awesome experience here is available to as many families as possible,” he said.

Bridges added that the finance team noted that Cathedral had increased its tuition for the past five years at a rate of 4.7%. Other area Catholic schools were increasing at around 2%.

To combat these numbers, Bridges said he believed it was necessary to stop the rise of tuition. “Our data told us that the Number-1 reason people came to us and saw our school but did not enroll was because of the price,” he said.

Bridges noted that he hopes at some point the school can go beyond freezing tuition and begin to reduce it to make it even more affordable for all families. He also added the idea of a potential “tuition promise.” This would be a guarantee to future incoming freshman families that the cost of attending this high school would never increase throughout the students’ four years here.

Bridges, the board and the administration are working to make the school more accessible. “I’d love to lower (the cost) to make it more affordable for people. It really bothers me that the price tag keeps people from having this (Cathedral) experience,” he said.