Charter School Feasibility Study in the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN Metro Area

Schools in the Chicago area record

Schools, covering elementary and secondary including charter, are 22 of 39 among the classes in the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN area, yet the area is 8 of 154 nationally for the class. The approvals come to 30 loans and $36.4 million over FY2017 to FY2026. Schools take almost exactly their national share of loans, shown by a location quotient of 1.05x puts schools almost exactly at their national share, while the median loan of $924,500 is 1.35x the class's national median: each loan here is larger than usual.

Who holds the loans, and how large they are

The middle half runs from $369,000 to $1.6 million. SBA 7(a) holds 17 loans and SBA 504 holds 13, a nearly even split between the two programs. Cook County, IL accounts for 17 loans and Will County, IL for 5. SBA 504 holders that print: Small Business Growth Corporation, 7 loans, $7.5 million; and SomerCor 504, Inc., 6 loans, $13.5 million. The franchise share is withheld.

Only FY2022 prints a volume, with 5 loans and $4.1 million. Every other year is hidden, since a handful of loans sit behind each, which is a different matter from none. Cancellation and charge-off rates are declined by Loan Analytics for the school cohort, which holds fewer than 30 loans. A school operator should take the absence as missing evidence, never as a clean sheet, and a lender should ask the applicant to show how enrolment, funding and lease terms will carry the debt.

Limits, and what a school study has to test

The industry code that holds charter schools also holds private schools, so the two cannot be told apart here, and most charter schools are nonprofits, which SBA does not lend to. The loans on this page are therefore best read as school-related businesses and not as a count of charter schools. Area membership comes down to the county where the project sits, as the July 2023 list has it. A feasibility study for a school has to test enrolment demand within a realistic travel distance, the facility cost against a typical loan near $924,500, staffing and tuition or funding, and the lease or ownership of the building. The appraisal must rest on the property's alternative uses as well as the school's income.