Dear Parents,
I want to thank the many of you who have written to share your stories of how the current pandemic has affected your businesses and income. Your continued support for ASF and the education of your children is truly appreciated by all of us who serve here and partner with you for their future.
As the reality of the pandemic began to dawn here in Mexico, some of you with international connections were already aware of the coming financial consequences. Orders were delayed or cancelled, contracts were put on hold, and travel restrictions began. In the past few weeks, those new realities have arrived in Mexico City and every strata of society is feeling the effects. With a public that is increasingly practicing social distancing, restaurants are empty, construction has slowed if not stopped, appointments are being cancelled, retail shops are largely empty, and the economy has slowed. We feel for every one of you as your struggle to keep businesses going. We thank you for all you are doing to keep people employed during these difficult times.
We know, too, that many of you have seen cash flows dwindle and that some of you are struggling with finances.
ASF is established as a Foundation dedicated to the education of children for present and future success. While the move to online learning challenges us all, our priority is to see each of our students through to a successful end of the year and ensure they are ready to move on next year to the next grade level. For our seniors, this will be university studies in Mexico or abroad. For our K3 students, it will be moving across the street for their first year in Lower School.
In order to do this, we must maintain our tuition as is. We take no profits and are committed to delivering a quality education to our students and to devoting our financial resources to the changes required by online learning. Similarly, we contract on a yearly basis for goods and services outside of the academic day. We are not in a position to simply turn them on and off at will.
However, since the beginning of this pandemic, we have been working with our external contractors and suppliers. In a time where so many have lost incomes and revenues, all of us have to be willing to share the pain, so to speak. Therefore, we are doing the following for our parents.
On your upcoming statements from the School, you will see tuition and fees remain as they have been each month.
For the months of April and May, we will be sharing with parents what we have been able to reduce in terms of our contracts with suppliers and contractors and save through careful budgeting. For April, that amount will be $3,215 MXP per student.
While not yet confirmed, we are confident that we will be able to repeat this for the May 2020 payments as well.
We hope our families know how aware we are of the struggles you are facing. We hope you will all keep safe and healthy for each other and remember always what a special community we have here at ASF.
Wishing you all the very best in difficult times,
Mark Iver Sylte
Executive Director