Quote:This is a very good point. Hogwarts is a school for wizardry, which of course implies that one must have a certain level of magical ability to qualify. All of the other schools we've heard of to date have been on the Euro-mainland. And we've been given hints that uncontrolled sorcery is potentially dangerous, either to the manifestor, or those around him. That would argue to me that Hogwarts would be much like what we call in the US a trade school... you have to have an aptitude for a certain skillset in order to get in, but once in its about like any other pubic school... (NOT!, but this works for where we're going with this) IE that the government (in this case, specifically, the Ministry of Magic, Schools and Licencing department) funds Hogwarts to some extent to provide the wizarding youth with the schooling they need to control and direct their talents...
We know that there are several schools of witchcraft in the world, and I suspect that the only reason you need to apply to Hogwarts (if not the rest) is because it's not for Muggles. I rather doubt that Hermoine's parents applied her, either. I think that the Ministry of Magic watches for such talented children and admits them pro forma, so that they don't cause too much trouble. As for wizarding families, it may just be the country-wide equivalent of a high school...
Of course, the school could also be set up on an "ability to pay" scale, where folks like the Malfoys have to pay a tuition, while the Weasley's, with their very large family which eats well into Weasly Sr's income, would not."I was an Otaku before those kids came along and changed the meaning of the word."
-- HM "Howling Mad" Wilson to more than one team-mate.
Hear that thunder rolling till it seems to split the sky?
That's every ship in Grayson's Navy taking up the cry-
NO QUARTER!!!
-- "No Quarter", by Echo's Children