The annual cost of a private high school is a significant expense, often as much as the annual cost of college. Families that intend to bear this expense should budget and plan for it well in advance. If the student plans to live at school, the cost of room, board, travel and spending money will often be double the expense of tuition.
Instructions
1. Apply for financial aid in the form of scholarships and student loans concurrently with your child's application for admission. This is generally required by private high schools and will allow you to assess your ability to pay when you receive the student's acceptance letter and financial aid determination.
2. Make arrangements well in advance if you expect to borrow from a bank to help pay for a private high school. Using a home equity line may give you a lower interest rate and easier repayment terms than other student loan products. However, it may also take several weeks to set in place.
3. Contact the school as soon as your child is accepted for admission, or even earlier if you wish, to find out about payment options. These may include lump-sum payments or monthly installment payments.
4. Send the school your tuition deposit immediately upon acceptance to hold the student's place. This is ordinarily a relatively small amount, but large enough that it allows the school to determine which admitted students will attend so that it can offer additional openings to waiting list students.
5. Deduct your tuition deposit plus the value of any scholarships or student loans to determine the remaining balance that you will have to pay for a private high school.
6. Pay the cost of private high school in lump-sum payments if you have sufficient access to cash. Usually a private high school requires a lump-sum payment annually in July or August and again in December or January. Making lump-sum payments will save the cost of an installment or handling charge.
7. Establish an installment payment plan through the private high school to spread the payments over the course of the year. Most private high schools contract with an outside financial agency to allow parents to make nine or ten equal monthly installment payments.
8. Budget for the typical ancillary costs of private high school, which may include the cost of books, student supplies, athletic gear and clothing. For boarding school students, add the cost of room and board, travel to and from school and incidental living expenses.
9. Establish a student account for your child if the school he will attend is a boarding school. This will allow the student to withdraw a weekly amount for incidental expenses at the student store and snack bar. You may include an extra amount, or set up a separate account, for expenses at the student bookstore.
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