Fees Do Not Cover Full Cost Of Hohepa Homes

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30452, 28 May 1964, Page 6

Fees Do Not Cover Full Cost Of Hohepa Homes

Fees paid by parents do not cover all the running expenses of the Hohepa Homes because reductions are made for children whose parents are unable to pay the full fee said the chairman of the Canterbury committee of the New Zealand Trust Board for Home Schools for Curative Education (Mr A. G. van Asch). Mr van Asch was replying to a correspondent, “Interested,” who questioned the eligibility of including the Hohepa Home Schools in a charitable project such as the university students’ appeal. “Interested” writes: “While having every admiration for the aims of the proposed Hohepa School, and realising that there is a place for such a school in the South Island, I would question its eligibility for inclusion in a charitable project such as the university students’ appeal. I am given to understand that this school will be open only to children whose parents can afford to pay in the vicinity of £lOO a term in. fees. If such a school is considered a suitable project for a charitable appeal, why not all private schools? Perhaps the people concerned in the plans for Hohepa would clear this point up about fees, as I have had it mentioned to me on several occasions in the last few days.”

Mr van Asch replied as follows:—“The New Zealand Trust Board for Home Schools for Curative Education of Intellectually Handicapped Children, which has established and is administering the Hohepa Home Schools, is a non-profit organisation registered under the Charitable Trusts Act. The fees paid by parents do not cover all the running expenses of the home schools after they have been established, since, although the full fees are paid by parents who are able to pay, reductions are made in the cases of otherwise suitable children whose parents are unable to pay full fees. As “Interested’ will realise, it takes many thousands of pounds to provide land, buildings, furnishings and staff before any home school can begin to care for any. children. “For the necessary capital expenditure, the trust board has to rely on financial support from charitable appeals, legacies, etc.—this support has been forthcoming in the North Island during the last seven years and if the example of the University of Canterbury students’ capping committee is any guide, it will be forthcoming from the South Island in the years to come, now that the trust board is extending its work to the South Island. “In conclusion, it is desired to point out that there are so many differences between the Hohepa Home Schools and the ordinary private schools, that there is very little, if any, basis for comparison.”