A top prep school in western Massachusetts will offer free tuition and fees, including boarding costs, to admitted U.S. students whose families earn up to $150,000 a year.
Deerfield Academy Head of School John Austin said this announcement comes with a 6% boost to the school's financial aid budget.
"The way in which we're framing it for families now, we hope will be more transparent and clearer, so that they'll have a better sense of of what Deerfield might cost," Austin said. "And hopefully, that'll be more inviting to a broader range of kids from ... different walks of life."
For families making more than $150,000 a year, Austin said the school will not charge them more than 10% of that income.
"There are a lot of families who just look at the price tag of an independent school education ... and they just say to themselves, 'Well, I can't possibly afford that,'" he said. "And so, we really wanted to ... reframe the cost of an education so that it's just more inviting to families. And they don't assume based on sticker price that a school like Deerfield is completely beyond their reach."
The price next school year for tuition, fees, room and board for a student who lives on campus is $74,440. The cost for a "day" student is $53,860.
Austin said settling on the $150,000 threshold was "more art than science," and said it will be reviewed every year for possible adjustments.
Other schools that offer similar thresholds for full scholarships include Phillips Exeter in Exeter, New Hampshire, for families with incomes below $125,000 and Groton Academy in Groton, Massachusetts, which set its level at $80,000.
Both Groton and Phillips Exeter say they are completely need-blind throughout their admissions process.
That's not the case at Deerfield. Austin said a family's ability to pay is not considered in initial rounds of the admissions process, but may be considered before sending final offers.
"We're moving fast in that direction [of need-blind admissions]," Austin said. "And our board, I think appropriately, wanted to maintain a financial aid budget. Because if you go need-blind, you don't actually know the amount of money you're going to be spending in any given year. And so we want to maintain some fiscal discipline."
Deerfield Academy accepted 17% of applicants for this current school year, a spokesperson said.
Other western Massachusetts prep schools applauded Deerfield for its new financial aid offer — even as they can't necessarily afford to replicate it.
"It's phenomenal that Deerfield has the opportunity to do what they're doing," said Chris Dietrich, dean of enrollment management at The Williston Northampton School in Easthampton. "And part of us is a little bit envious of their ability to to have a threshold like that that is so generous."
Dietrich noted that while Williston in recent years has focused on growing its endowment, which now stands around $60 million, it's still a fraction of Deerfield's endowment of about $930 million.
Dietrich said Williston offers financial aid competitive with most other New England boarding schools.
"We're really proud of the work that we're able to do," he said. "And I think when a school that has the reputation that Deerfield does makes announcements like that, it tends to get the word out about boarding school, and it tends to increase everyone's applicant pools."
Northfield Mount Hermon, a prep school in Gill, likewise does not offer a program like Deerfield's.
"Northfield Mount Hermon does not use a predetermined family income threshold to determine financial aid awards, but instead makes individualized decisions based on the needs of individual families," the school said in a statement.
The Bement School, a day and boarding school in Deerfield that goes up to ninth grade, said it's "thrilled" by Deerfield's announcement, but does not offer a similar income threshold for free tuition.
"All families are welcome to apply," Director of Admission Kimberly Caldwell Loughlin said in an email. "Our financial aid is awarded to families who demonstrate financial need."
Disclosure: Several of the schools mentioned in this article are underwriters of NEPM. Our newsroom operates independently.
