Meriden -- Faced with a 25 percent drop in its endowment and an expected decline in enrollment, Kimball Union Academy is cutting 12 jobs in order to ride out the recession while also bolstering financial aid for remaining students.

The grade 9-through-12 private boarding school in Meriden, which dates back to 1813, laid off eight workers last week and has notified four members of the faculty that their contracts will not be renewed this summer.

“We're going through a situation very much like what Dartmouth is going through. Virtually all the same factors are affecting us,” Jim Gray, KUA's chief financial officer and chief operating officer, said on Wednesday.

Gray said KUA's endowment is “something north of $10 million” but has dropped by roughly 25 percent because of the recession. The endowment, along with annual giving, normally fund about 14 percent of the school's operating costs, with tuition covering the rest.

“We've had a decline in both of those areas,” Gray said of giving and endowment revenue. “In addition to that, we're planning on increasing our financial aid next year. We have a number of families that have been unfavorably impacted by the economy.”

Because of the global economic woes, school officials expect enrollment, now at a record 355, to decline by more than 10 percent by the fall to 315, a level the school had about three years ago. Gray said KUA is therefore cutting expenses to “be prudent to ensure that we maintain the high quality of education.”

Tuition will also increase roughly 3 percent, to $43,800 for boarding students and $28,500 for day students, Gray said.

School officials said 33 percent of students receive financial aid, with an average grant of $18,000. KUA said it expects the percentage of students on financial aid to increase as some of their parents lose their jobs.

“We don't want to (lose) a student who has studied with us for three years and a parent gets laid off,” Gray said. “We're trying to do everything we can to keep a student in the class and allow them to graduate.”

KUA's financial aid budget is expected to increase by $100,000, to $2.4 million, under the plan.

Four other Upper Valley private schools are either minimally -- or not at all -- dependent on endowments to help cover annual operating expenses, administrators at those schools said this week, but some are tightening belts.

“We're experiencing, fortunately, the most interest we've ever received,” as far as students wanting to attend The Sharon Academy, Head of School Michael Livingston said. The school's tuition is pegged at the state average, which Livingston projects at about $11,500 for 2009-10. For 83 percent of the academy's students, that’s covered by school taxes, with 17 percent of families paying privately, he said. Grades 7-12 usually accommodate 160 students, and are at 167 now, he said.

So the jobs of the school's 22 staff members appear safe at this time, according to Livingston.

“I say that with all the appreciation you can muster. We're very worried about the situation around here and nationwide,” Livingston said.

Headmaster Robert Bracy at Mid Vermont Christian School in Quechee was less certain about everyone's continued employment there, but none of the 25 full- and part-time employees has been laid off, so far.

“Certainly, the current economic environment is affecting us. We've reduced the budget, frozen spending and are looking at some other options. We're looking for ways to trim next year’s budget,” Bracy said.

Although Bracy said he's planning for a drop in enrollment at the 130-student school, he won't know that until the middle of next month when the re-enrollment deadline arrives. Tuition in 2009-10 for a family's first high school child will be $7,369; a second child can be enrolled for $6,398.

“Most of our funding is through the tuition base and donations,” Bracy said.

At Crossroads Academy in Lyme, a school for grades K-8, Head of School Jean Behnke said the budget is planned for 143 students, and the enrollment now is 146.

“As long as enrollment holds, we'll be in very good shape.”

She said Crossroads did recently cut one administrative position that essentially became obsolete once the school's $5.8 million construction project was completed.

Annual tuition for kindergartners is $8,000, and $14,000 for grades one through eight, she said.

At Cardigan Mountain School in Canaan, where 204 boys in grades six through nine attend classes six days per week, Headmaster Dave McCusker said he's remaining “cautiously optimistic” that the school's 100 staffers, including 50 faculty members will still be there in the coming months.

“Right now, we're not calling for reduction in force,” said McCusker, who said that about 90 percent of the school's students board there at an annual tuition of $38,000.

McCusker also said it was disturbing for him to hear of KUA's plight, since Cardigan Mountain has a strong relationship with that academy.

“We send a good number of students on to KUA,” he said.

KUA's Gray declined to identify workers who were laid off there, but said KUA had reassessed its building and maintenance operations and decided to drop some full-time tradespeople from its payroll. KUA also plans to outsource a portion of its housekeeping.

“We're a nine-month school and we run a summer program. It's not economically sound to have the full housekeeping staff on the payroll for 12 months,” he said.

KUA also is dropping some courses outside its core curriculum that did not have heavy enrollments, including woodworking.

“In a college preparatory school, there's a lot of value for kids working with their hands, but at the same time, AP (Advanced Placement) physics is what gets kids into Dartmouth,” he said.

Head of School Michael Schafer had signaled the pending cuts to the KUA community last month in a letter entitled “Financial Crisis January 2009.”

“We are assuming conservative projections for revenues versus expenses to maintain our vital programs at the highest level,” Schafer wrote. “We have always worked hard to provide mission-centered, essential programs in depth, though without extravagance, true to our KUA and northern New England roots.”

KUA has no plans to close any dorms or sell any assets, but Gray said the school is curtailing all of its capital projects, as well.

“We have a fairly significant classroom building renovation that we're planning on. It is currently on hold until the till is full to be able to paid for with no risk for the school,” he said.

About two-thirds of KUA's student body this year are boarding students, coming from 18 states and 19 countries. Some 22 percent of the students are from abroad.

John P. Gregg can be reached at jgregg@vnews.com or (603) 727-3213. Bob Hookway can be reached at bhookway@vnews.com.