Tuition + Financial Aid | High Meadow School

TUITION AND FINANCIAL AID

High Meadow School strives for a diverse and inclusive culture that honors each child’s approach to constructing knowledge, and encourages risk-taking in academic and artistic pursuits.

To adapt to our changing demographics and meet our mission we provide tuition assistance for accepted students who would not be afforded an opportunity to attend our school.

We have adopted guiding principles to evaluate requests rather than basing financial assistance on financial need alone. Each variable is weighted based on its relative importance to our learning community. Our financial assistance programs help engage students with differing strengths, interests, cultures, ethnicities, and social/economic backgrounds to form a diverse student mission-appropriate population and community through financial aid grants, scholarships, and work exchange opportunities.
Tuition for qualifying families may be as low as $8,380 per year with Financial Aid Grants alone.

Our families apply through FACTS (our student information system) for each of the programs, which allows High Meadow School to consider important elements of your family’s financial situation like your income, total assets, family size, and other factors to determine the appropriate level of financial assistance available for families. Learn more about our Financial Assistance and how to apply.

2024-25 TUITION

Nursery 3s

Nursery 3 students must be 3 years old by December 1. The 2024-25 rate is $13,850 for five days/week (M-F); $8,350 for three days/week (T, Th, F); and $5,550 for two days/week (M, W).

Early Childhood and Lower School

The 2024-25 rate for Kindergarten-4th grade is $19,875.

Pre-Kindergarten

Pre-Kindergarten students must be 3 years old by December 1. The 2024-25 rate is $16,340 for five days/week (M-F).

Middle School

The 2024-25 rate for 5th-8th grade is $20,950.

GRANTS, SCHOLARSHIPS +
WORK EXCHANGE

HOW TO APPLY FOR FINANCIAL AID GRANTS

The Board of Trustees has generously pledged up to 10% of gross tuition revenue to be awarded to families requesting assistance each year. High Meadow School strives to offer enough assistance to ensure families are not overburdened while balancing the costs of our educational programs.

Based on the information provided by families, the criteria of financial need, diversity, and the learning environment are evaluated by the administration, which then awards financial assistance. Families should take advantage of the application questions that allow for the inclusion of additional information about family situation, or can contact Bonita Chase, CFO/Finance Director at (845) 687-4855.

Returning families wishing to apply for financial assistance for the 2024-25 school year must complete financial assistance applications by Friday, January 19, 2024. High Meadow will announce financial assistance awards by February 1, 2024 for all applications received by the deadline.

Financial Assistance applications will only be considered complete when the following are provided:

Online Application for Financial Aid via the FACTS SIS (district code HMS-NY)
Copy of most recent IRS Tax Filing (i.e. 1040)
Cover Letter and/or a statement of need should be addressed to our CFO/Finance Director, Bonita Chase.

For new families joining the community after the traditional deadline, awards may be granted throughout the year depending on availability of funds. Eligibility is determined by submitting an online application via the FACTS SIS and relevant tax information to the Finance Office.

The family must be in good financial standing with the school. Past due balances on either incidental or tuition accounts will void any application. We honor the confidentiality of every family in this process. High Meadow is a registered 501(c)(3) educational organization.

HOW TO APPLY FOR THE HOPE FOR THE FUTURE SCHOLARSHIP

High Meadow School is honored to announce its partnership with the Helen’s Hope Foundation. We are deeply grateful to the foundation for their generous grant, allowing us to fund school wide initiatives related to diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice, as well as the Hope for the Future Scholarship fund, which will provide scholarships for High Meadow students who identify as members of the BIPOC community and whose families are in need of financial support in order to attend a tuition-based school. The grant was awarded specifically to HMS so that we can continue on our mission to increase racial and socioeconomic diversity in our growing community.

We would like to first engage our High Meadow Community for nominations. If you would like to nominate yourself, a family member or friend for this scholarship, please reach out to Admissions.

The scholarship eligibility requirements:

Students must be entering 4th-6th grade for the 2024-25 school year
Families must have a student who identifies within the BIPOC community
Families must be eligible for the maximum financial aid of 50% of tuition
Families must re-apply for the financial aid award each year
HMS would use the Helen’s Hope scholarship to cover $5,000 of tuition after financial aid until graduation
Eligible students will be required to go through the regular admissions process

HOW TO APPLY FOR WORK EXCHANGE

Work exchange is an important way that High Meadow School maintains socio-economic diversity as well as enriching our programming and beautifying our facilities. By employing barter, High Meadow has been able to benefit from the hard work and wide range of talents and expertise held by HMS parents and community members.

Work exchange is defined as a parent providing skilled services to High Meadow and remuneration is received in the form of a credit toward tuition. This remuneration is documented at the end of the year as non-employee compensation Form 1099 and submitted to the IRS. Work exchange participants are treated the same as a new hire, including a background check.

The decision for work exchange available for families will be based on:

Online Application for Financial Aid via the FACTS SIS (district code HMS-NY)
A list of needs determined in advance of the barter process by the Administration and the Board of Trustees
The skill levels of individuals requesting exchange and quality of references
A clear scope of services, with tuition remission outlined

If an individual is interested in work exchange, they must submit a proposal directly to the Head of School and CFO/Finance Director by using the Work Exchange Application. Families that have participated in our work exchange program during the previous years must update their proposals annually and complete a Financial Aid application (even if they are not requesting financial need-based aid).

POLICIES

FEES + DISCOUNTS

Additional annual fees include a facilities fee ($475) and the FACTS service fee ($50). A sibling discount of $1,000 is offered for each additional full-time enrollment.

INOCULATION

Children attending daycare and pre-K through 12th grade in New York State must receive all required doses of vaccines on the recommended schedule in order to attend or remain in school. This is true unless they have a valid medical exemption to immunization. This includes all public, private, and religious schools. A medical exemption is allowed when a child has a medical condition that prevents them from receiving a vaccine. There are no non-medical exemptions to school vaccine requirements in New York State.

PAYMENT PLAN OPTIONS

Families have the option to pay tuition in full, quarterly, or on a 10-month payment schedule. For those on a payment schedule, payments will be automatically deducted on either the 5th or the 20th of each month. Incidental charges incurred, such as field trips, aftercare, or afterschool classes, must be paid through FACTS within 30 days. Incidental billing completed through FACTS can be set for autopay.

After 30 days, a monthly charge of 1.5% will be applied to any outstanding balance.
After 60 days, an additional 2% will be applied to the entire unpaid balance.
After 90 days, the school reserves the right to suspend or remove the family from school until payment is made in full, or at least half of payment due is made, and a signed arrangement established.

The school reserves the right to suspend, discontinue, or deny re-enrollment to a student with an outstanding balance of tuition for the current school year after May 1st. If the contract is in default, and High Meadow School refers the matter to its attorney for collection, the defaulting parents or guardians will be charged a legal fee not to exceed 15% of the amount of tuition and interest outstanding at the time of referral.