He graduated from the Hershey School in 1980 and later from the University of Pennsylvania. I wouldn't have bet on that when I was 12. Now he practices international law in New York and speaks for an alumni association that represents 7,000 graduates, more than 1,000 of whom have said they support the association's position against the school's leadership. While the Hershey trust has grown, the number of children at the school has shrunk. The school now has 1,150 students, in kindergarten through 12th grade, compared with a peak enrollment of 1,500 in the early 1970s.
Students receive tuition, board, clothing, health care and an allowance.
As of last year, the school covered virtually all college costs for graduates. But if we don't do it well, it comes back to haunt us. We have to have houses and house parents. Fouad and others accuse the school of enrolling students who are not at-risk or impoverished, even though they are disadvantaged according to federal income tables. Lepley responds that the school continues to enroll students from impoverished families but also serves the working poor, using financial need as one of several criteria for admission.