Goki Baba, a grade 8 student at St. Mary’s International School, was satisfied with how the school used students’ tuition fees in 2025, after an explanation conducted by the school faculty. “I was confused for a long time, so I’m glad I finally understood it.” Baba reflected. Several students, like Baba, from St. Mary’s, showed concern about using their tuition fees. According to a survey that was conducted, it showed that 50% of the students in St. Mary’s thought that the tuition fee of St. Mary’s does not match the quality of education in their school. Based on the students’ opinions, the school decided to give a clear explanation of the case.
Throughout the past few years, Baba found that the school tuition fee has increased by 170 thousand yen. Through this, Baba wondered why the tuition fees increased by that much, and thought about how the school was using that money as well. “I found some other people who were also confused, so I decided to figure the case myself,” Baba thought. He did some research and found out that the economy of Japan was very high, and that was related to the price increase of the tuition fee. When he explained that to his fellow students, he was able to convince most of the students that the tuition increase was a valid action. However, he was still wondering about how the school used those high prices.
Dr. Andrew Davies, who will be acting as the school headmaster from the August of 2025, shared his opinion on the case of the tuition fee use. Dr. Davies was working as a headmaster in his previous schools, and when he was asked if he thought the school tuition fee was expensive or not, he answered, “It really depends on what country you’re in… when you look at it internationally, [it’s] cheaper.” According the St. Mary’s homepage, the tuition fee in St. Mary’s for a year is ¥2,780,000. In comparison to the average tuition fee in the US: “about ¥4,371,772”(Hanson), what Dr. Davies said is just. He also said that the further weakened yen is also one of the reasons why, to him, the tuition fees in Japan are cheaper than in other countries. He further said, “Every income that St. Mary’s gets back to running the school,” and shared that he thought that the way the school used students’ tuition fees was very impressive.
Further information about the way the school tuition fee is used was explained by Mr. Matthew Wakabayashi, the school business manager. “One of the reasons why we decided to increase our fees… [is because] everything is expensive because of inflation,” Mr. Wakabayashi explained. He was understanding that the increase in tuition fees is confusing some students, and hopes not to worry them too much, but this is something that needs to happen to keep up with the world’s economy. Furthermore, Mr. Wakabayashi explained how the school tuition is used. Although the school fees are used for facilities and resources that can make the school a better environment for learning, “but the biggest expense in our school is actually compensation,” he said. This basically means that the school tuition fee is used to pay the school staff members and teachers.
The increase in school tuition caused great confusion among several students, such as Baba. Further inflation in Japan affects several different places in the world, not only in schools. Despite being in this situation, St. Mary’s continues to find solutions to make sure that the fee meets the quality of education provided by the school. Moving forward, as the school prepares for Dr. Davie’s leadership beginning in August, communication between the administration and students about the financial decisions the school makes may become a shared, stronger sense of community and interconnectedness between people of St. Mary’s. “They confidently commented that the school is nonprofit, so that made me feel a little bit better in terms of how our money is utilized.” Baba shared, expressing the opinions of students who now think that their tuition is more like an investment rather than a simple cost.
