Home > Blog > Financing

Financing Overview

Don’t let the cost of boarding school deter you. From private loans, to scholarships, there is help available. When is payment due? Does your boarding school offer a tuition payment plan? How much financial aid is available? In this section you’ll find the answers to these questions and more.

View the most popular articles in Financing Overview:

Financing a Boarding School Education

Updated January 25, 2018 | by Robert Kennedy

Financing a boarding school education can be very confusing for many parents. Here are some strategies to help you understand your options.

Financing a boarding school education can be very confusing for many parents. You wonder whether you make too much to be eligible. Is there a specific time when you apply? Here are some facts most of us didn't know about private school financial aid.

1. You have to apply for it.

Applying for financial aid at most private schools is a separate process from applying for admission to the school. You also need to make sure that you apply early. This is particularly important if the school has no specific admissions deadline or rolling admissions. Each school has allocated a specific pool of funds for financial aid. Once it is spoken for there generally are no more funds in that academic year.

2. You may be eligible for free tuition if your family income is below a certain amount.

Exeter, Andover, Groton, St. Paul's and Deerfield, to name just a few schools, all have financial aid programs which offer a tuition free education to admitted students whose income is below a certain threshold. The threshold varies but is in the $60-75k range. Why are these highly competitive schools offering a free education to children from families with incomes below $75,000? Simply because they want to make their excellent educations available to a wider constituency. When tuition and expenses creep into the $50,000 range, it means that only a tiny percentage of American families can afford to attend those schools. Schooling has to be

Updated January 25, 2018 | by Robert Kennedy

An Overview of Paying for Boarding School

This hub is designed as a guide to the financial side of things as you explore boarding schools.

One of the first questions parents ask about sending their children to boarding school is how to pay for it. Boarding schools charge from $25,000 to $65,000 a year. That is a lot of money for most of us. Since I am not Boston Kennedy but rather a poor Scots-Canadian, I remember well confronting that reality when we were investigating schools for our daughters. With that experience very much in mind, I have created this hub as a guide to the financial side of things as you explore boarding schools.

How Do They Pay for It? examines the answers to a question one of my young employees asked me when he discovered that many boarding schools cost significantly more than what he made in a year. He didn't realize that most private schools offer financial aid.

Financial Aid 101 explains how financial aid in private schools works. Private schools give families millions of dollars annually to help them afford a private school education. Even families who have incomes in the $150,000-$250,000 range can be eligible for financial assistance depending on their financial situation.

Paying for Private School introduces you to the several payment options available to you. The important concept to understand here is that if you need financial assistance to send your child to boarding school, ask about it at every school on your short list. Always ask.

Making the Financial Aid Process Work for You walks you through the financial aid process one

. . .read more

Financing Options at a Glance

Updated January 31, 2017 | by Robert Kennedy

You can pay for boarding school in several different ways. One option will be right for you.

As you begin to think about sending your child to private school, how you are going to pay for her education is probably going to be at the top of your list of questions. As you can see from the table below, most private schools offer a variety of payment options. Hopefully one or more of these options will suit your needs. Copy and paste this table into your worksheet that you have set up to keep the private school search process organized. That will remind you to ask specific questions about financing your child's education.

Payment Type	N-PK	PK-8	9-12/PG
One Payment
Two Payments
Tuition Payment Plans
Loans
Financial Aid
Work Study
Scholarships
Vouchers
Sibling Discounts
Free Schools
Miscellaneous Fees

One Payment

What this means is that you write one check for the entire year’s tuition. Some schools will give you a cash discount when you pay the entire bill up front. Paying tuition in one payment usually takes care of everything except the sundries. Sundries are charges for riding lessons, some elective courses, some athletic activities, music lessons and so on. Most schools will bill you monthly for those charges.

Two Payments

When you pay using two payments, be aware that most schools expect one payment in June or July or at some time well before school begins and the second payment in December. The split varies from school to school. Some schools split the years fees 50/50. Others 60/40. For example, if your child’s tuition and fees total $50,000 and

. . .read more

How To Pay for Boarding School

Updated February 07, 2018 | by Robert Kennedy

Because paying for boarding school involves so much money, it makes sense to look at all the options available to you.

I remember wondering years ago how we were going to pay for our daughters' private school educations. It was a major expense then. It is still a major expense today. Back then in the 90s boarding school cost $11,000 a year. Because paying for boarding school involves a major part of the income for most of us, let's look at the options which are available to you.

You can pay for boarding school in several ways.

By check

Fees at most schools are payable in advance. You will receive an invoice with your acceptance letter. Half a year's tuition and other fees are due in the summer, usually in July or early August. The second half of the year's tuition together with other fees is due in December. Payment dates vary from school to school but most expect payment around these times of the year. If you have your child's boarding school expenses allocated already or have sufficient income to cover two substantial payments a year, then paying by check might make sense for you. Effectively you are paying cash for your child's education. Should you expect a cash discount? It never hurts to ask.

Don't forget to budget for the other fees besides tuition. Your tuition invoices will not include items such as tuition insurance, fees for supplies used in special courses, textbooks and supplies as well as your child's athletic equipment. Boarding your daughter's horse is not included in tuition. Neither are music lessons.

Plan on paying for

. . .read more

Understanding Financial Aid

Updated February 21, 2019 | by Robert Kennedy

Learn how financial aid works in boarding schools.

One of the major issues most families consider when thinking of sending their child to boarding school is the cost. Though it may seem daunting, the boarding school financial aid process isn’t as complex as you might think, and understanding the system will pay off in the long term.

Recently, boarding schools began reshaping their financial aid policies to allow more talented, middle-class students to attend their schools. Today, a large percentage of students at boarding schools receive some form of financial aid from grants, and in some cases that number is as high as 40%. Each school’s aid policy is different, and officers are your best bet for accurate information. Contacting them will give you a better understanding of the steps you will need to take, but below are some basic tips that will apply to all schools.

What is financial aid?

Financial aid is funding intended to help students cover the cost of attending private schools (tuition, board, fees, etc.). Aid does not have to be repaid (unlike loans).

Generally, the endowment of a school correlates directly into the amount of financial aid that can be offered. Each year, a percentage of the budget is set aside for financial aid. Thus, it’s very easy for a boarding school to run out of financial aid.

Tip: sending in all the required documents as soon as possible increases the chances that your student gets an affordable package.

What types of financial aid are there?

Aid generally comes

. . .read more