After doing some research based on search terms, I have come to the conclusion that the top search term people add to your Lutheran school name is the word "tuition." What does this mean? People are interested in sending their kids to your school, but they might have a list of private schools that could work. Therefore, they're not searching with their hearts as much as with their wallets. It's easy to discount these searches and assume you'll get the students you need without addressing the word, but any Lutheran school that wants students needs to address the desire for people to know how much it will cost.
Just think about it for a moment. The people searching are not typing in your school name with terms like:
- Christ Centered
- Staff
- Principal
- History
- Famous Alumni
- Failure Rate
- Church Debt
- Many other terms you might focus on in website articles
People just want to know how much it's going to cost them to send their kids to your school. And from what I've seen, most Lutheran schools want to keep it a secret until the parents show up for a tour. Honestly, that might be fine. You'll lose a few people who will make assumptions about the price, but your tour might very well sell the school and the price. My point isn't that you need to give an exact number. The point is that you need to have a page that at least addresses the search term so that people will find your best argument.
You might be aware, however, that a lot of other schools with very similar names DO publish exact tuition expenses on their websites, which may lead to confusion if the third link on Google is for a similar-sounding school 100 miles away. I know, some marketing guy told you to avoid disclosing, and your admissions person wants to work her magic, but this is a real issue.
You will want to make it clear that the tuition amount is not the final offer. You can mention value, tax incentives, scholarship programs, and whatnot, but just be sure you use the term "tuition" somewhere on your Lutheran school website.