Shortly — very shortly — after I had written one of the larger checks of my life to the college my daughter had just entered, my wife and I received a solicitation from the annual fund of that college. I have to admit, my first thought was, “Are you kidding? I just wrote a huge tuition check and then they ask for a donation on top of that?” Then, of course, I remembered that I have been the Headmaster of a school for 20 years now, and I really do understand why an Annual Fund is vital to the success of private schools at all levels.

It surprises many tuition-paying parents to learn that private educational institutions consistently charge less than the full cost of educating a student. On the face of it, this doesn’t seem to be very smart. This leaves the actual cost of each student’s education to be made up partly by income from endowments (although relatively young schools like CWA have only modest endowment funds) and partly by contributions to healthy voluntary giving programs — usually called the “Annual Fund.”

Why do schools operate this way? Why don’t we just charge what the education costs? There are several reasons, led by the reality that the financial resources of the families whose children attend a given school varies widely. To charge even higher tuition amounts that would cover the full educational cost would negatively affect a school’s diversity and vitality. In addition, by making up the difference between tuition and actual costs with a voluntary donation, there is the financial benefit of the donation — and thus a part of your children’s true educational costs — being tax deductible.

So the Annual Fund has always been essential, even in the best of economic times — which these are not. A strong annual fund has never been more critical at our school. A robust level of Annual Fund giving will lessen the negative impact of the current economic situation on the life of the school and everyone in it; a weak Annual Fund will exacerbate the pressures on school programs.

The economic crisis in which our country is embroiled has certainly affected CWA families, just as it has affected our school. Enrollment fell from last year to this, decreasing by 35 students. And the school is in our second year of belt-tightening in order to make ends meet. As their contribution to this effort, employees received no salary increases whatsoever between last year and this year. Program expenses have been cut in most areas of the school, although we have strived mightily to do this in a way that minimizes the direct impact on the quality of education your children experience. At some point, further cutbacks cannot help but impact what we are able to do with and for our students.

This is my 14th year at Charles Wright, but it is the first year that I have assumed so direct a role in the Annual Fund. CWA has, in the past, followed the typical pattern among independent private schools and left the Headmaster out of this part of fundraising, primarily so that parents never need to wonder whether their children’s education is influenced by the Headmaster’s knowledge of the extent of their financial contributions.

But in this extraordinary year, I am asking families to strongly consider supporting our CWA Annual Fund. Naturally, the record of each family’s contribution level is kept confidentially by the school’s Development Office; I will at no time be accessing this information. But I feel it’s important to add my voice to those calling for your support.

Several years ago the CWA Parent Association adopted the motto Together We Make Such a Difference. That phrase speaks clearly to the partnership that families together with Charles Wright create to build a “team” around each student, helping them grow in mind, body and spirit — to reach their full potential during their time here. When the formal solicitation comes — even though your first reaction may be the same as mine was! — please consider supporting the 2009-10 Annual Fund as generously as you can.

And yes, the end of the story with which I opened this post is that I got out our still-warm checkbook once again and wrote a check in support of the annual fund at my daughter’s college. It’s now been five years since her graduation, and I consider both the tuition and Annual Fund checks among the most important investments I’ve ever made.