Financing Your Child’s Education

Choosing a school for your child is a big undertaking, and even if you have finally settled on private school as the ideal pathway for your student, the process of getting set up in a new school environment does not end there. Once you’ve decided on a specific private school, the real work begins as you navigate budgeting and working this new expense into your everyday life. 

However, this is not a process that needs to be emotionally taxing on you and your family, and today’s post will focus on some useful tips you can employ for financing your child’s education in a way that will not be overly burdensome.

Understanding the Cost

The first most important step when enrolling your child in a new private school is to get a solid understanding of the tuition and fees. All private schools should have a detailed tuition document available to you that breaks down every single fee and when it is required to be paid. This document should also outline which of the fees are refundable should you need to withdraw your student from the school for any reason. Most schools will make this information readily and publicly available on their website, as we do here at Keystone, but it is also worth asking for a physical copy of this document when you meet with the Admission Coordinator just in case the website information is outdated for any reason.

Be sure to take a look at all of the tuition and fees and read any fine print thoroughly before committing to a school. If you have any questions or doubts, voice them right away and don’t be afraid to raise your concerns – the job of the Admissions Team is to reassure you and make you feel comfortable with such a big and important investment!

Any Extras?

This initial meeting is also a good opportunity to ask the Admissions Team if any extra costs might crop up throughout your child’s schooling. For example, will there be a gym uniform that needs to be paid for? Do any extracurricular activities cost extra? When financing your child’s education, it’s important to know from the outset the grand total that will be required. 

This is also a great chance to determine if attending a private school can also eliminate any outside of school expenses you might have — for example, private schools like Keystone often offer very robust after-school clubs and programs such as language clubs, exercise and sports teams, and arts programs, that can replace the need to seek out these sorts of programs at other locations. If you plan to sign your child up to learn French but their private school offers a French club, it may be worth signing them up for that through their school. Or maybe your child’s school has a weight room and an exercise team that would supplement the need for a gym membership outside of the school. These extras may not even cost anything and could very well be included in the tuition, so it is worth asking about them from the very beginning and getting your child excited about all the possibilities!

Another perk of sending your child to a private school is the small class sizes, and the more personal relationship that can be established between your student and their teachers. This will often offset the need for any private tutoring sessions because your student will feel comfortable approaching their teacher directly for extra help. Here at Keystone, we hold study hall hours every afternoon after classes end, and so this also presents a great opportunity for students to get help not only from their teachers but also from one another. It is certainly worth considering how the private school you have chosen approaches tutoring and mentorship and whether a program exists that can eliminate any need to seek extra help elsewhere.

Financial Assistance and Scholarships

Financing your child’s education is not something that necessarily needs to be an insurmountable burden. Most private schools will offer some sort of option for financial assistance or scholarships, and this is something to focus on researching from the beginning and being transparent with Admissions Teams about.

At Keystone, we work with Apple Financial to provide financial assistance options to students and their parents. We also provide scholarships that can cover up to 50% of the tuition, and these are both options that are worth exploring and considering. The right school will do whatever they can to make you feel comfortable sending your child to them, and will be open and accommodating when discussing financial matters and options with you, so do not be afraid to ask about the possibilities!

Payment Flexibility

Finally, most private schools will offer a variety of payment options for financing your child’s education. This could be a lump sum payment with some sort of discount on the overall tuition, as well as flexible payment plans. At Keystone, we offer monthly payment plans to ease the potential burden on families, but we are also always able to adjust instalments to fit a particular family’s needs. The first step is to raise your concerns and ideas with the Admissions Team, and there will almost certainly be no problem developing a payment plan that is mutually beneficial. Once again, it is crucial to ask the questions and be open and transparent from the first meeting to achieve a result that all parties are comfortable with!

The most important recommendation we can make when enrolling your child in private school and making that important investment is to keep lines of communication open with the school you have selected. Ask any questions that are on your mind and voice any suggestions you have thought of — you will only benefit from having done your research ahead of time and coming up with a plan that will make your private school experience positive!