Tuition and Income

The day finally arrived when Paul would enroll in the Pokemon Trainers' School. Right now, he was quite excited to try and register to his new school. He talked with his parents earlier, that they would go to the school to submit certain official documents so that they could start the registration for him. Paul would also need to undergo an entrance exam first, to see if he would qualify in studying at the Pokemon Trainer School. If he got great results, the school might offer him 25% tuition fee discount at a minimum, and up to 100% free tuition fee at the maximum.

He wasn't quite nervous at the slightest thought of the exam; he was actually thrilled to participate again in an exam with other participants. It just wasn't the same compared to his monthly tests with his tutor Charles. What he was most curious about is the tuition fee, especially seeing the school saw it necessary to sponsor other children who has great results. Sadly, the school only offers 3 spots for scholarships, as they only accept 25 students per year. Officially, the school only accommodates 100 students in total, spanning from 1st year classes to 4th year classes. The school mostly has students around the age of 7-10 years old, though there are some exceptions which there might be students who are younger or older.

He could feel the competition for those three spots every year, and the effort it takes to maintain it until graduation. Paul knows how this feel, as he was also a product of scholarship programs. It really takes hard work and effort to gain and maintain a scholarship. So, he dropped the ball to his parents when they were on a car ride to the school. Of course, with two Eevees by Paul's side at the back seat.

"Uhm, Mom? Dad? How much is the supposed tuition fee of the Pokemon Trainers' School?" He asked his parents with a curious face.

Seeing the curiosity in her son's eyes, Mary answered the question, "It costs around a million pokedollars per semester, totaling to two million pokedollars a year. Why are you curious though?" She asked, while looking back to her son.

"I was just curious, because they offered scholarships. If it wasn't expensive, they wouldn't do so." Paul stated, which made his parents nod. He continued, "I know how big an opportunity this is to other children who can't afford the tuition fee though. Good luck to them I guess." He ended.

After finishing the tuition topic, he started another one, "Another thing I'm curious about…" he dragged to get his parents' attention. "How much do you guys actually earn? Now that you're not doing your past job." Paul queried.

Mary and Joseph were surprised that he was curious regarding their income. Joseph was the one who responded this time, "Well, before, when we were working for… you know…It was around 5 million pokedollars a month, for the both of us. It was quite a rewarding income, but we were also always involved in a lot of field work, so I guess the salary was proportional to the job. Adding other odd and side jobs here and there, we were able to save for the breeding house business as we told you before." At this, Paul nodded.

Joseph continued, "At the start of the business, the income was on the negative, as we were just starting. It wasn't that big of a loss at the start though, as we made sure to be more self-efficient regarding the food and of course the land. Eventually, it finally made even until we started earning profits. Selling excess berries, honeys, and milk were a good turn for us though. It was worth the wait at the start, and we started raking in cash since then."

Mary also added in her thoughts, "Also, since we were able to stabilize the breeding house, we started selling baby pokemons, of course, those selected by each herd to go out into the world. Interestingly, they are the one who chooses which pokemon would be taken in by a trainer. We observed that those who likes to battle more were the ones chosen. It was a good thing for them, and us too. So, with the reputation of our excellent pokemons, we were also able to attract not only individuals to patronize our business, but other private and public laboratories was also interested in us providing them pokemons to hand out to their starter trainers."

She stopped to see if her son was still listening, and he was. So, she resumed, "It was a virtuous cycle, the berries, the honey, and the milk. Not mentioning the other pokemons. We have limited the quota though, as to not overwhelm the herds. They release about five to seven pokemons every year, as we have 32 species, we sell 160 to 200 pokemons every year. The most profiting pokemons, of course, were the grass type initial starter pokemons. For now, the breeding house is now on its tenth year. Starting seven years ago, we had an annual revenue of around 200 to 300 million pokedollars a year, this including the side businesses of the breeding house. If we include our annual expenditures, we have around 200 to 250 million pokedollars as our annual income." Mary finally finished.

Paul was shocked. He didn't know that his parents were able to earn that much just from the breeding house. He was able to ask, "Does all breeding houses earn that much?"

Mary shook her head, "Of course not. We are just lucky that we know a lot of strong and good herds of pokemons, not mentioning how they send out their battle minded clansmen. I think we're in a special situation, as we were also able to grasp efficient ways to produce berries, honeys, and milk." She patiently answered her son.

"What do you do to all the money then?" Paul questioned.

Joseph answered for his wife, "We reinvest, to different promising businesses. Well, I studied finance and the market quite a while for this, while Mary handles the main management of the breeding house."

Paul nodded, showing his parents he did understand. That was quite an educating fact, which made him picture out the wealth of his parents. After all the talking, they finally arrived at the main street of Rustboro City. Here, you could see the Rustboro City Hall, Rustboro City Gym, Rustboro City Pokemon Center and Supermarket. You could also catch a glimpse of the large Devon Corporation located at the northwest of the city. In addition, not forgetting the reason they went here today, which was also located at the center of the city; the Pokemon Trainers' School.