Mercy High School in San Francisco, founded in 1952, has decided to close after the current school year ends. The Catholic girls’ school cited a lack of applicants, a 70% drop in the size of their 2023 class and financial instability as the main reasons that they would dissolve at the end of this year. Mercy’s stated mission is “to educate women to pursue lives of spiritual and intellectual depth, determination and daring action to improve our world.” Of the around 300 current students, 240 will be transferring to other high schools next year. Students and faculty alike felt blindsided by the announcement, on January 10th of this year, that Mercy would close.
The announcement came after most applications were due for San Francisco private high schools. Senior Ariana Ramos recalls many students crying on campus. Though this is her last year at Mercy, she is saddened that younger girls will be unable to have the positive experience she did. “Being in an all-girls school really empowered me” she said. Mercy’s closing is not an unfamiliar story as enrollment in Catholic schools, especially single-sex Catholic schools, has been on the decline for years. Single-sex schools have increased difficulty enrolling enough students since they only recruit half the student population.
Across the country, the number of students enrolled in Catholic schools reached their peak in the 1960s, with more than 5 million students in Catholic schools. Enrollment has dropped to just over two million students in the modern-day. While there are many explanations for this drop, experts said that decreased church membership decreased interest in religion and economic concerns as the leading causes.
In cities like San Francisco where the cost of living is already expensive, many families are priced out of private school tuition. Bay Area Catholic schools also have to compete with a growing and thriving independent school community. Mercy Senior Annabelle Young said that Catholic school can be a hard sell for liberal city kids. She herself never intended to go to a Catholic school but found that the public education system did not serve her needs. Catholic schools like Mercy give students like Young the opportunity for an affordable education outside of the public school system. At Mercy, between 50% to 60% of students are on financial aid. At peer schools, such as Saint Ignatius and Mercy High School in Burlingame, only around 30% of students are on aid.
With Mercy’s tuition at $20,240 attending Mercy is relatively inexpensive compared to the average San Francisco private school. Full tuition here Lick-Wilmerding, for example, is $49,215. Mercy’s cost, combined with financial aid offerings, makes it affordable to many San Francisco families. Young also thinks that Mercy’s reputation contributed to its closing.
She and fellow senior Ariana Ramos reported being told by those outside their community that all Mercy girls get pregnant and that Mercy girls are dangerous. These comments echo a larger reputation that Mercy has and contribute to San Franciscans demeaning the girls who attend Mercy. “I have never not gotten catcalled walking down 19th avenue if I’m in my Mercy skirt” Young said. Young thinks this reputation was a part of Mercy’s failure to attract students and donors. Despite also being a single-sex institution, facing many of the same limitations in enrollment as Mercy, Archbishop Riordan, Mercy’s all-boys brother school, has not suffered to the same degree as Mercy High.
The attacks on Mercy are critical of the female student body thus Riordan’s all male student body escapes the bias against women. Archbishop Riordan is one of the schools along with Mercy High School Burlingame that Mercy San Francisco’s administration is encouraging their students to transfer to. Current freshmen, sophomores, and juniors now attending Mercy Academy have the option to transfer to public or private schools across the Bay Area but the administration is, according to all the students interviewed, strongly advising students to apply to Mercy Burlingame or Riordan. Both Mercy High School and Archbishop Riordan are schools under the authority of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, as are the other Catholic schools in San Francisco. Riordan, which is located just around the corner from LickWilmerding, on Frida Kahlo Way, was founded in 1949 and is an all-boys Catholic school.
Currently, 680 students are enrolled there. Riordan has also experienced enrollment drops since its peak and has the campus space to accept around 300 more students. On January 30th the Riordan board voted 14-4 in favor of admitting girls for the next school year, including the Mercy girls. By increasing their recruitment population, Riordan looks to avoid Mercy’s fate. The young men currently at Riordan have mixed feelings with respect to the merger of the girls’ and boys’ schools. Students and parents are concerned about the end of the Riordan “brotherhood.” More than 1,000 people have signed a change.org petition to keep Riordan single-sex. Riordan junior Philip De Castro said, “The topic is divisive, I personally am okay with it because I have gone to co-ed schools my entire life.” However, De Castro is concerned about the way his fellow male students will treat the 150 new female students next year.
Both Young and Ramos said they would be apprehensive to attend Riordan, citing negative interactions they or their friends had, in the past, with Riordan boys. Young’s concerns paralleled De Castro’s, she envisioned that verbal harassment of the girls may be rampant. However, she acknowledged that Riordan may be the best option for the majority of Mercy students and that she herself would probably have enrolled there if she was not a senior.
Despite the Mercy administration’s reassurances that they were unconcerned about their students receiving the financial aid they need to attend school next year students reported that Mercy Burlingame was not matching financial aid packages, making that school unaffordable for many Mercy students looking to transfer. Riordan offered much more financial aid to Mercy transfer students, making the school more attractive to families. As of March 10, 80 Mercy girls had committed to attending Riordan next year. Riordan is also accepting applications from female transfer students and 9th graders around the bay area. Yang indicated that her younger peers are expecting over 150 girls to attend Riordan next year.
There are logistical challenges to Riordan admitting girls. The campus has no women’s restrooms or locker rooms. Large renovations will be made over the summer to the Riordan facilities. In addition to physical changes in Riordan’s infrastructure, changes will have to be made in the school’s programs such as adding female sports teams. However, Mercy girls are already planning on starting a cheer team. They say they are ready to dive into the challenges posed by their new school.
