"But on the other hand we are a private law school with a fairly steep tuition so our concern has to be tempered by students' economic necessities."

His boast seems to be reinforced by the caliber of students drawn to Stevens, where the average combined College Board scores are more than 1,300 and whose steep tuition comes close to Ivy League colleges.

Although some Mexican families pay the steep tuition required of out-of-district students, most do not, and many that pay taxes out of their paychecks do not pay the property taxes that support public services.

Several years later, Ms. Jenkins enrolled in the graduate film school at New York University, using student loans and a day job as Gal Friday to a wealthy socialite to pay the steep tuition.

Yet getting this kind of education comes at a cost, and not just a steep tuition.

So Shengda's promise persuaded students and their families to pay unusually steep tuition to gain an edge in the job market.

Montana is charging the steeper nonresident tuition to all students on courses above 170 credit hours.

The family, with little savings of its own, borrows from friends to pay the steep tuition and the rent for part of a small walk-up apartment near the school.

But they share one thing in common - parents who, at wit's end, have decided that the academy's steep tuition is a small price for a last-ditch effort to straighten out their children.

Minority children are indeed accepted at private schools, but even though "they can afford the steep tuition," their parents "often choose other options, including parochial schools and a move to the suburbs" where the public schools "have a better reputation."