Any 1st-hand knowledge? St. Mary’s Ryken School

slsc98 · Feb 16, 2020

Any here with kids attending - or who attended - St. Mary’s Ryken (SMR) school, in Leonardtown?

I guess my primary Question is: Do they give sports scholarships to cover any portion(s) of high school tuition at SMR?

Thanks in advance! Asking for a friend ...

basscat · Feb 16, 2020

My son went there about 5 years ago. Very good school. It like a mini college campus. Somewhat expensive but that's what quality costs.
Definitely a college prep school. As for scholarships, well that's like 10 round mags, you can't buy them but you can sorta buy them if you get my drift. :innocent0

slsc98 · Feb 16, 2020

Good morning and Thanks basscat!

I’m guessing tuition runs somewhere between $10,000 and $15,000 a year? Their website is pretty nice but, unlike St. John’s doesn’t list a lot of details ....

Certainly sounds like a wonderful opportunity for any kid!

Biggfoot44 · Feb 16, 2020

Littlefoot44 went there for a cpl years . ( Her departure had to do with her , not the quality of the education . She had a small Music scholarship , so they're not shy about scholarships generally , but I have no knowledge of athletic specifically .

The expense is both variable and relative .

Any private school at the HS level is a not insignificant $ . But generally Catholic Schools are much more reasonable than comparable Independent private schools.

And it's a big variable depending upon your ( student's l religous affiliation . +/- 50% of Catholic School students are non- Catholic, there simply for the quality education . They have a required class in religion, and various manditory services in the chapel , but they don't particularly seek to convert anyone . And also have the starting point of full retail list tuition .

There are various steps of tuition breaks for being Catholic, for being Catholic and member in good standing of a parish within the Archdiocese . and if your Parish is designated a feeder parish for that specific school . And substantial discounts for multiple children . I will observe that Ryken had the lowest tuition of any of the Catholic HS within the Archdiocese .

If you are member in good standing , and it is your designated school for your Parish , the tuition will be a lot closer to $5k than $10k .

slsc98 · Feb 16, 2020

Bigfoot, WOW, thank you!

Ima gunna pass this on (that last sentence will be most welcome I am sure as I am pretty sure the family in question are local diocese members - and that last number Range is totally within their reach! (Fingers crossed!)

basscat · Feb 16, 2020

You would be hard pressed to get that tuition figure below 8k. Average is now between 10-14. Not trying to discourage you because I think it's well worth the investment. If there are any sports involved i will say that when college rolls around, most show priority to kids who graduate in the WCAC conference in which Ryken competes.

eddiek2000 · Feb 16, 2020

basscat said:
You would be hard pressed to get that tuition figure below 8k. Average is now between 10-14. Not trying to discourage you because I think it's well worth the investment. If there are any sports involved i will say that when college rolls around, most show priority to kids who graduate in the WCAC conference in which Ryken competes.

I wish it was 10-14. 16 or so paid in full/one payment. Then there is the clothing costs, transportation costs, food costs, and sports teams costs.

My kid loves it but his grades are lacking and we are on the fence for next year. We are members in good standing in our Parish and I've heard there may be some kind of discount, but SMR doesn't make it easy and the $$ isn't much - i.e. the juice isn't worth the squeeze.

inkd · Feb 16, 2020

A friend of mine has 2 daughters in Ryken. She said it's $16,500 per year. They don't do scholarships for sports technically, but, do give out scholarships for other areas like leadership, GPA, community service. She said there is a list of available scholarships on their website.

With whatever scholarships they get, and help from their church, she pays a bit less than half the tuition.

Tomcat · Feb 16, 2020

3 of my grandsons went there 10+ years ago. They all played sports, lacrosse and ice hockey. Don’t think there were any scholarships per say but remember one of them telling me they “bussed in some players from other school districts for sports. I believe some of this has changed since they built the football stadium.

Not_an_outlaw · Feb 16, 2020

Stepdaughter went there and graduated in 2000. It's OK. I didn't think it was as good as the public schools in St. Marys County. I just write the checks.

basscat · Feb 16, 2020

Not_an_outlaw said:
Stepdaughter went there and graduated in 2000. It's OK. I didn't think it was as good as the public schools in St. Marys County. I just write the checks.

Have to disagree here. It's much better than the 3 county high schools. Nowhere near the problems of the others and students actually learn something.

slsc98 · Feb 16, 2020

First of all, I CANT THANK Y’ALL ENOUGH - every bit of info is helpful and one of the things that has me scratching my head is the student-in-question’s um, lets call it lackluster academic performance thus far AND equally questionable athletic ability.

OTOH, it would not be the first time I’ve seen a student thrive in a more challenging, more disciplined environment. But, I think someone one of the parents) is pulling the wool over not only their own eyes but those of the the other parent and the student.

We shall see ....!

slsc98 · Feb 16, 2020

eddiek2000 said:
... and I've heard there may be some kind of discount, ...

This may be the answer to the mystery as to why all of this is coming up, now, pretty much outta left field ... I think there may be a chance the amount and nature (possibly even existence) of this discount may have gotten blown out of proportion once it got into the “neighborhood rumor mills”. Has happened before and at least one member of the family in question is indeed prone to (constantly, to the point it can be exhausting) getting “overly excited, prematurely.”

Postell · Feb 16, 2020

One of mine went to Leonard Hall and the other to Chopticon, both received quality educations.

Biggfoot44 · Feb 16, 2020

Back at post #12 . The greatest beneficiaries of an education like this are average to below average students going in .

I'm feeling old doing the math in my head . LF started as freshman when the first ever season of having football , so I'm talking 7-8 yrs ago .

Mrs Biggfoot did all the applying and number crunching , I was just told what to pay . ( And no that was not including transportation .) Haven't keept up with the $ tuition since then .

bbguns · Feb 17, 2020

My oldest son graduated from Ryken in 2016, youngest would have graduated in 2019 but we moved to Florida.
Good school, does some things better than the public options but not everything. The tuition seemed to increase by $500 every year. There are ways to get financial aid, although athletics were not officially supported. I recall several of my sons' teammates paying substantially less than us...and they weren't Einsteins.
Don't forget to add various expenses...iPad (required when my boys were there), uniforms, athletic fees, books, etc. Add-ons were anywhere from $500-$1k per year...

traveller · Feb 17, 2020

My oldest is going through the application process this year. He applied to the president's scholarship (goes by grades and principals list), some leadership scholarship (he had to give a presentation) and a music scholarship (auditioned). All of them knock off a few $$ if he can get them. Most of our friends with older kids got some scholarship money, but it's not like you go for free.

If you are in a normal wage earner bracket and/or you have plenty of kids, there is also needs based financial aid. It goes through an outside contractor and is basically a 'mini FAFSA'.

The application process for all of this starts in November. 'decision day' for scholarships etc. is Feb 20th. My registration check didn't bounce, so I assume he'll get in, the only 'decision' is how big of a check I have to write ;-)

slsc98 · Feb 17, 2020

All, THANK YOU!

The info you all are providing is invaluable! I am passing it all on and the family there in SoMD are like, “Wow, WTH are you getting all this information?!”

At this point, I am getting the sense one of the parents has their head completely in the clouds and I not only can’t imagine but, don’t care where they are getting their “info” from (it is simply not realistic but, this is pretty standard for the pattern this individual demonstrates on a regular basis).

Luckily, the actual dope I am able to pass on is allowing the rest of the family to: a) stay grounded and b) protect the student in question from getting their hopes up and subsequently being crushed.

I’m gonna hope this works out as I feel it may just be what’s needed to jump start this student back on the path to some (any!) academic success.

We are, “Hoping for the best (but) remain prepared for less!”

Thank you ALL AGAIN!

BigBull · Feb 17, 2020

My oldest daughter graduated from Ryken last year. Out of state tuition for her first year of college was cheaper than her Ryken tuition. Great school. Will most likely send my younger two children to Ryken as well.

BigBull · Feb 17, 2020

And to answer your question about scholarships, there is a bus that goes from Leonardtown to PG County twice a day. I would bet the contents of my 401k that there is at least one student on that bus on a sports scholarship.

Any 1st-hand knowledge? St. Mary’s Ryken School

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