Columbia plans private k-8 school

Hoping to attract the nation's most prestigious faculty, Columbia University recently announced plans to construct a 12-story apartment complex on its New York City campus to house faculty residences and a private k-8 school.

"The housing market is very tight in New York City and locating affordable housing in the city is a real challenge for new faculty coming to Columbia," said Columbia spokeswoman Lauren Marshall.

The Columbia School -- the current title of the elemntary school -- will contain an estimated 700 slots for children at around $18,000 each year.

Marshall said that the school's tuition price was typical of "the market cost for independent schools in New York City."

Plans call for the school to be housed in the first four floors of the building.

Officials believe that the independent, Columbia-affiliated school will serve as an important perk for faulty and professional staff. As a benefit, Marshall noted, half of the school's spaces will be reserved for the children of Columbia faculty.

And Columbia faculty will also receive a break in tuition; tuition costs will either be cut in half or parents will pay on a sliding scale according to income. Payment methods, however, have yet to be finalized.

In addition to the reserved spaces for children of faculty, a tenth of the school's openings will be reserved for scholarship students from the local community.

According to Marshall, the university hopes that "as the school is developed, Columbia will be working with both public and private schools in the area to assure that the benefits of the school extend beyond the Columbia community."

The university will base their independent school on the models of other successful programs such as the University of Chicago's lab school. But Columbia has not escaped criticism for their choice to begin an independent school -- rather than a public one.

In a press release, Columbia reaffirmed the decision to create a private school, claiming "the most feasible way of serving the children of faculty was through an independent school rather than by a charter school, which would be legally mandated to accept students by lottery."

Columbia's announcement comes on the heels of Penn's groundbreaking on the new upscale apartment complex the Left Bank -- located on Chestnut Street -- as well as the University's ongoing plans to create a public, Penn-assisted in the West Philadelphia community.

But University Vice President for Community and Public Affairs Carol Scheman said that there are few similarities in the plans.

Scheman made it clear that though both Ivy League institutions would be embarking on the creation of new, university-affiliated schools, the comparisons end there.

"What Columbia is doing is completely different than what Penn is doing," she said adamantly. "We are not building a private school for faculty, we are putting together a public, community-based school."

She did add, however, that faculty members, graduate students and the University community as a whole would feel the positive ramifications of the plans.

And Scheman noted that Penn may very well be entering the record books as the first university to start such an assisted public school.

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