The Cost of a Catholic High School Education

Sixth through eighth graders across our archdiocese are talking with their parents, teachers, and friends about their future in high school. Before the end of the winter, more than 1,000 students will enroll as the “class of 2023” in one of our 17 Catholic High Schools in the Archdiocese of Omaha.

These freshmen will enter a school culture that is built on faith, community, rigor, service, and excellence. During their four years they will learn that there is no separation between academic formation and spiritual formation. They will understand that everything they earn and believe they have is a gift from God, ready to be offered freely to others. They will grow in confidence, they will know God’s love and presence in their lives, and they will develop lifelong friends who support their beliefs and practices that are often counter to the ambient culture and environment that they will enter as adults. These graduates will have tools and training to confront a world of “me first” with a belief in “I should be last.” They will practice modesty and chastity while popular media fights for their attention with sexualized music, gaming and product advertising. They will look for Christ in others while those others ridicule, defame, and attack their beliefs, practices, and Church.

I titled this blog “The Cost of Catholic High School Education” to get your attention, but it’s really about the overwhelming return on that investment. From a financial perspective, enrolling in Catholic high schools allows families to live in areas that have a lower public school tax bill and cheaper housing, and still attend an academically successful school. Consider all the money a Nebraska family will spend pursuing a “free” public education by moving into a more expensive house and paying higher taxes just to be districted into a “free” public school of their choice.

Catholic school students have higher ACT scores than their public school peers, and are offered more college scholarship money. They are allowed to study religion, join faith-based student activities, and include prayer during their school day. These students spend their day with outstanding adults who not only have made a financial sacrifice to serve Catholic school communities, but are models of religious study, spiritual growth, and personal formation.

We are blessed with past generations of Catholic high school graduates who are partnering with schools to provide tuition assistance. Each year our high schools expand their tuition assistance and stretch further to make the family costs as low as possible. I pray that their efforts will meet the efforts that you and your family will make to enroll your child in one of our excellent Catholic institutions.

In Christ,

Dr. Michael Ashton


Explore what a Catholic high school education can do for you:  here’s a list of all Metro area Catholic High School Entrance Exam Times. Save the date January 12, 2019!