Have you all seen this post by Shyfoxling?

[sweettalkeress.livejournal.com]

I'm Dreamwidth friends with her so I noticed she was exploring Pottermore.

What she found was this.

I left a comment at the bottom of the page with my initial thoughts, but now I'm torn between that and WHYYY DID ROWLING THINK THIS NEEDED TO BE EXPANDED UPON?!

Still more credence for the theory that Rowling has the mental maturity of a twelve-year-old?

Comments

[oryx_leucoryx]

Oh, another thing: So at least in the 18th century there were Gaunts at Hogwarts. I wonder if the last 2 generations of them still went there or if they preferred homeschooling. Was Dumbles teaching when Merope attended Hogwarts (if she did) in the 1920s, or was he still researching alchemy?

[ladyzenobia.livejournal.com]

I always assumed the Gaunts didn't have the money to go to Hogwarts or for homeschooling either. They look completly uneducated. But of course that's Rowling beating us over the head with a sign saying "inbreeding is evil" so maybe they weren't that bad off. They knew basic spells, after all. But they lived in a hovel and didn't seem to have any money, so how could they go to Hogwarts? I know there's a fund and everything, but it seems to be to help students pay for books, robes etc. Don't they have to pay for tuition?

[maidofkent.livejournal.com]

I assume it's like a UK state school or US public school and funded by the government (in this case the Ministry). Muggle schools are funded via taxation, but we don't know if this exists in the WW. I think Whitehound suggests that Hogwarts could be funded on donations, and investment in property, as Oxbridge colleges used to be. At any rate, no one mentions having to pay tuition fees.

[oryx_leucoryx]

There is no mention of tuition in the books, only of purchasing of books, uniforms, etc. And we know there is a fund for needy students, which is how the orphan Tom Riddle was able to buy his school equipment.