A LancasterOnline.com talkback correspondent recently questioned the validity of the number of students reported by the Academy. This correspondent wrote: “There is no way PAM can have 325 students.”
The fact is, the PAM leadership never said that these are all PRIVATE students. This 325 number includes those enrolled in the Academy’s three choirs, theory classes and the early childhood class (that includes infants). There may be other classes as well. The per-student fee is considerably less for a class than for private lessons.
Information about the student body should include the numbers in the various age ranges: pre-school, elementary and high school. Also, how many of the Academy’s high school age students are preparing for careers in music and, out of this number, how many are planning careers in performance (as opposed to teaching careers).
Since public funds went into the PAM enterprise, the new trustees should make this information public.
You do not count heads when determining student population. You count full time equivalents. In other words, if a “full time” student is 12 hours of instruction, then 3 students at 4 hrs. each equal one FTE. Head counting is a smoke and mirrors way of saying the student body is up when tuition dollars may very well be down.