FINANCES
"Not slothful in business;..." Romans 12:1la
The expense for a total year's enrollment is
$14,400.00. This covers Room, Board, Tuition, PACEs, Laundry, and Recreation
Fee. This does not cover the student incidental expense account, medical
escrow, computer lab fees, or other expenses incurred by the student.
There is a $250.00 Parent Orientation
Fee to be paid to Mountain Park Baptist Church upon arrival to the campus. If
the student is enrolled, this fee will be applied toward the first month's
tuition.
PLANS OF PAYMENT
PLAN A: Payment in full on or before
enrollment....Calendar Year
$ 14,400.00
PLAN B: Payment for a total year's
enrollment on a monthly
basis of twelve equal installments '
$ 1,200.00
The actual
payment obligation for first year student tuition is as follows: 1st month -
$2,000; 2nd month • $2,000; 3rd month - $1,900; 4th month - $1,600;
5th - $1,300; 6th month - $1,200; 7th month - $1,000; 8th month " $900; 9th
month - $800; 10th month - $700; 11th month - $600; 12th month - $400. Upon
request, as a convenience to the parent of a first year student, MPBBA will
allow the 1st year tuition to be paid in 12 equal monthly installments of
$1,200.00 each.
Tuition payment
is due upon the anniversary date of enrollment each month. Statements are not
sent. Mountain Park is to receive one check each month in fall if paying
monthly installments. Do not divide tuition payments between parents or
paydays. Coordination for sharing the expenses within a family is to be
accomplished at your end of the business not at ours.
Financial
business with Mountain Park and personal communication with your child is to be
kept separate. Money sent should be in a separate envelope, not in packages or
letters to the student.
Avoid tardy
payments. Mountain Park's budget depends on your prompt payment. Staff time is
better invested in your child rather than in tuition collections. Your courteous
call, should you anticipate a late payment, is expected and will be much
appreciated.
The parent must
provide personal items, clothing, and health insurance separately. These items
are not included in the cost.
Money sent to
Mountain Park Baptist Church and Boarding Academy for services rendered is not
tax deductible.
EXTRA CHARGES DUE ON OR BEFORE ENROLLMENT
Medical Escrow $
500.00
Suit Cost (Female students
only) $ 240.00
Registration Fee (One time
fee) $ 90.00
INCIDENTAL EXPENSES (Estimated)
Parent Education (Tape of the Month)
(ANNUAL FEE) $
25.00
Incidental Expense Account (Accrued
student expenses per year) $
300.00 girls $ 500.00 boys
Computer Lab Fees (dictated by cost of
specific course)
varies
PLAN Test (prep for ACT/ 10th and 11th
grades) $ 8.00
A.C.T. College Test (12th grade
only) $
25.00
Additional expenses that may be
anticipated for graduating seniors $1,500.00
(Portraits, class ring, announcements,
senior trip, graduation dress, etc.)
Applicants are only admitted on the express
condition that they shall remain at the school until the end of the written
agreement, unless suspended or allowed to withdraw because of sustained illness.
The parent or guardian agrees that in the event the student leaves school
because of voluntary withdrawal (voluntary withdrawal includes situations where
a parent is asked to remove a student because of the parent's unwillingness to
support all MPBBA policies) on parent's or guardian's part during the written
term or any subsequent academic session, no part of the fee for the school year
shall be refunded or remitted and ANY UNPAID BALANCE ON ACCOUNT OF SUCH FEES
FOR THE SCHOOL YEAR SHALL BECOME IMMEDIATELY DUE AND PAYABLE TO THE SCHOOL AS
LIQUIDATED DAMAGE. SCHOOL RECORDS WILL BE WITHHELD UNTIL THIS CONTRACT IS
SATISFIED. THERE ARE NO ALLOWANCES FOR PARTIAL MONTH ENROLLMENT.
MPBBA does not give
money back. We reserve the right to use the money any way we deem necessary. An
exception in the finance policy for one is NOT meant as an exception in the
finance policy for anyone else.
Medical Escrow
The $500.00 medical escrow provides preparation against possible
medical expenses. Medical needs will be met from this account (appointments,
prescriptions, etc.). It is expected that this account be maintained at
$500.00. The balance of this account may be returned upon withdrawal as long as
all medical and other obligations are met. Allow at least thirty days to pass
after withdrawal before requesting the balance.
Parent Education (Tape of the Month)
The tape of the month will be sent to the parents or
custodial parent each month. A cassette tape recording of one of the preaching
services of Mountain Park Baptist Church will usually be selected. The purpose
of this is to provide the home with biblical instruction from the ministry of
this church. Parents are expected to listen to the tape every month.
Divorced parents are expected to share or reproduce a copy so that both may
receive the instruction.
Incidental Expense Account
The Incidental Expense Account provides for incidental
items such as dry cleaning, eyeglass repair, fuel expense to doctor visits,
etc.... You may check on this account at any time to ensure that sufficient
funds are available. It is important that you do not allow this account to
become overdrawn.
Expenses For Graduating Seniors
Specific information regarding these expenses will be
provided upon request. See Appendix D.
Giving
Occasionally the opportunity to give to a ministry
will be presented to the students, allowing them to feel a part of helping
others in financing God's work. The normal contribution will not exceed $1.00.
Parents who wish to give financially through the ministry of MPBC may contact
Pastor Wills or Pastor Gerhardt.
Educational Loans
The following educational loan
institutions have approved the financing to cover the cost of enrolling and
maintaining a student at Mountain Park Baptist Academy. Of course this is
subject to credit approval. Persons interested in considering this option
should contact these companies.
P.L.A.T.O. Junior,
1-888-752-8657 ext 110,, Mountain Park's ID # "163956"
SLM Financial Co.
(SallieMae), 1-877-834-9851, www.saUiemae.com/kl21oan- Mountain Park's ID #
"4174"
=======================================================================================
Those who are paying under Tuition Plan B, may write three checks as follows:
MPB Church, $1,290; MP Med Escrow, $500.; MP Academy (girls-$540./boys-$500.)
$1,200 each month
beginning _____/_____/_____
=======================================================================================
Survivor Comments
Here we have a financial picture
for the school year. Wow. $14,400 per student, per year, that’s a lot. It must
go to afford a wonderful program and excellent facilities, right? Wrong.
Let’s take
a look at what your hard-earned money is going to pay for:
Wills
Home #1 water-front property in Ft. Myers, Florida
Wills
Home #2 Another water-front home in Ft. Myers, Florida
Gerhardt
Home And yet a third water-front home in Ft. Myers, Florida
Yes, the Wills and
Gerhardt’s have nice homes, and if they have earned it, good for them. But have
they? Where has the money come from that they use for these luxuries, which
many of the parents who entrust them with their children cannot afford
themselves? Are Mountain Park and Palm Lane Academies really non-profit as they
claim?
In 1995 Mountain
Park lost their tax-exempt status after they had built two new homes on their
property valued at $130,000 and $90,000 each. The Wayne County Tax Assessor
said that they were obviously turning over a tidy profit to be able to build
such nice homes. When compelled to show proof of their revenue, Mountain Park
refused, and only paid their late property taxes after the murder of Will
Futrelle, when the press had already shown them in a bad light.
Let’s
look at the private plane owned by the Wills, the vans bought for staff
members, the almost $5000 shoe inserts bought for Mrs. Wills because of the
high-heels she has worn and forced the young women to wear for years. The
quality of life for students and the quality of the staff hired could be so
much better than it is. But other things seem to be more important. How much do
the Wills and Gerhardt’s seem ready to invest on themselves compared to the
amount of the parents’ money actually goes into their children’s education?
Allow
us to point out the greed of Mountain Park. The students are crammed into dorms
until there are not enough beds available. In the illustration at left, you can
see the bunks are stacked on top of each other. At night, the double staked
mattress is taken off the bed and placed on the floor for another student to
sleep. Is this really necessary? If you are paying the same amount of tuition
as the parent of a child who gets to sleep on a bed, are you not to expect for
your child to get a bed as well?
The
line that offends many of us in this paper is “MPBBA does not give money back. We reserve
the right to use the money any way we deem necessary.” What
makes paying a bill a donation? As I previously stated in other parts of this
site, giving for the Lord’s work is supposed to be a conscious decision made on
the part of a believer. It is not like paying for services rendered. If you are
paying for a child’s tuition, or sending money for the child’s expense account,
it is to go toward that child, and should not be considered a donation unless
previously stated as such.
In
1998, during a lawsuit brought against Mountain Park for the wrongful death of Will
Futrelle, Bob Wills attempted to file bankruptcy and was granted a stay in the
case. Soon after, he stopped the bankruptcy proceedings. Conveniently, all of
the land holdings of the Wills family, including their lavish homes in South
Florida and the entire academy of Palm Lane, are in the name of Betty Wills
alone, so if Bob Wills himself ever had to actually go through with the
bankruptcy, they would not lose anything substantial. As the founders and
owners of Mountain Park and Palm Lane, how can Bob and Betty Wills claim to
afford such luxuries as two half-million-dollar homes, a private plane, a 30
ft. private boat, numerous personal vehicles including an RV for vacations and
excursions, as well as an entire school and church (as Mountain Park itself is
supposedly owned by Mountain Park Baptist Church), if they can file bankruptcy
on a whim seemingly to avoid paying large sums in a lawsuit? If they are not
the owners, but only the administrators, common laborers in the work of the
Lord, then where do the large sums of money come from that afford them this
lifestyle?
Average
enrollment according to most former students is well above the advertised
space. Approximately 200+ girls and 35
boys is the normal count. From those figures, if we add up the tuition received
each year by Mountain Park, the total comes to $ 3,384,000. Add the student
count from Palm Lane, roughly 50 students, for another $720,000. That comes to
a total income from tuition alone of $4,104,000!!! Over $4 million dollars a
year from tuition!! Not to mention the fact that the students are paraded in
front of churches across this part of the country to gain sympathy for the
school and earn monthly donations by the thousands. Nobody knows for sure how
much money they bring in from these churches, but the number must grow steadily
as they make more and more trips out with their choir to sing and cry and give
rehearsed testimony on cue.