Below you’ll find the total cost of a year at Friends, including tuition, fees, books, breakfast and lunch, and all required trips. At Friends, we believe that affording the academic experience should be accessible to all families, regardless of their financial profile. In an effort to make Friends affordable to all, the School offers financial aid packages toward the total cost of tuition and fees.

Depending on students’ engagement in school life, there may be additional costs beyond tuition for optional experiences, like our global education trips or our after school programming. For families who receive financial aid, we offer support for most of these costs beyond tuition (see this page for more information). Part of our mission is to ensure that all students have access to the full depth and breadth of the Friends experience.

 

Upon enrollment or re-enrollment, we require a non-refundable deposit for new and returning families. For families receiving financial aid, the deposit amount is adjusted according to their percentage of aid and total tuition cost. To ensure families have a variety of ways to manage their balance, Friends offers three payment plans determined upon enrollment: a one-installment plan, a two-installment plan (payments in May and November), and a nine-installment plan (payments between April and December).

To ensure that all families have access to the full Friends experience, we are committed to offsetting additional program costs. If other costs present themselves throughout the school year, please reach out to Samantha Margles, the Assistant Director of Admissions and Director of Financial Aid & Affordability, to see what ancillary aid may be available.

We invite all K-12 families to apply for financial aid packages if they need assistance to afford Friends Seminary. Our Financial Aid Committee comprehensively reviews and considers every completed financial aid application in a process that is kept separate and confidential from the admissions application process. All financial aid packages are based on a family’s financial need; we do not offer merit-based scholarships.

Over 20% of our student body receives a financial aid package to offset the cost of tuition. Financial aid packages range from 5% to 99% of the school’s tuition. In some cases, enrolled families who haven’t applied for financial aid packages in the past apply when they experience drastic changes in their financial situations; in other cases, families who have received aid in the past decline to apply for a financial aid package when they become able to afford the full cost of tuition.

Friends honors that all families are different, but we expect that all parents/guardians assume financial responsibility for an applicant’s education to the extent that they are financially able. Thus, to be considered for financial aid, we require financial aid applications and tax documents from all custodial parents/guardians and households. We also require families to disclose whether grandparents or other parties contribute financially to a student’s tuition. If only one parent/guardian is legally and financially responsible for an applicant, we ask for supporting documentation before waiving the application requirement for any other parent/guardian.

First and foremost, the financial aid application process is personalized and confidential. The Director of Financial Aid & Affordability serves as a family’s liaison throughout the application process and during the school years once a student is enrolled at Friends. As a Financial Aid Committee, we take time and care to review every aspect of a file, seeking to understand the stories beyond the numbers. We consider a family’s size, their special situations and circumstances, and the nuance of their finances, and we strive to meet the needs of as many families as we can within our financial aid budget. We expect that all families applying for aid will be forthcoming with their financial information to help us have as accurate a financial landscape profile as possible; we also expect they will submit their application and supporting tax information before the deadlines.

Friends prioritizes applications received before the deadline in the following order:

1. Families who are Members of the New York Quarterly Meeting
2. Friends faculty/staff
3. Currently-enrolled Friends families already receiving aid (including K Early Notification)
4. Currently-enrolled Friends families who are applying for financial aid for the first time
5. Families of newly-admitted students
6. Applications submitted late, and applications of families whose tuition balances were not paid-in-full by the application deadline. Late applications can only be reviewed if funds are available.

Financial aid packages are shared in the enrollment and re-enrollment contracts and are accompanied by a detailed letter to each family from the Director of Financial Aid & Affordability. In some years, the Financial Aid Committee is able to offer a window for families to submit appeals if their financial circumstances have changed drastically since the time they submitted an application. Families can contact the Director of Financial Aid & Affordability if they have questions about their financial aid packages.

Yes, All families must complete a financial aid application and submit required tax documents every year that they apply for financial aid. Additionally, all tuition balances and other school accounts must be paid in full before a family can be considered for a financial aid package.

Can we expect the same aid every year?

Tuition increases happen in most years for most families, but families receiving aid can reasonably expect continues financial support in line with their demonstrated need. If a family experiences significant financial changes in any given year, tuition awards will be adjusted accordingly.

While financial aid packages apply to the cost of tuition, we offer comprehensive support for additional costs beyond tuition for almost everything for which there is an additional cost, like school events, trips, and activities with fees. Please see the Costs Beyond Tuition pages for more details.

Before enrolling at Friends, we encourage families to carefully assess their capacity to afford the complete and long-term educational experience an independent school provides. If initially accepted without, or not currently receiving, a financial aid package, a family cannot expect to receive financial aid at Friends unless there is a major change in life or financial circumstances (unemployment, health issues, etc.).

The School budgets for financial aid in advance and works to anticipate the needs of enrolled families using information from the previous year and projected data. However, the School does reserve a modest emergency fund for families who encounter dramatic, unforeseeable financial crises over the course of their time at Friends. Modest aid may also be awarded to families whose income growth has not kept pace with that of tuition and other expenses. In some cases, a family may be offered a one-time financial aid package as they work to stabilize a unique circumstance. If a family should not expect a financial aid package in the upcoming year, the Director of Financial Aid & Affordability will communicate well before the time of enrollment.

Questions about Financial Aid & Affordability, Costs Beyond Tuition, and General Support?
Contact Sam Margles at 646.979.5043, or smargles@friendsseminary.org

Questions about Payment Plan and Tuition Amounts Due?
Contact Amber Tian at 646.979.5075, or studentbilling@friendsseminary.org

Questions about Navigating the Contract or Re-Enrollment?
Contact Crystal Scott at 646.979.5041, or cscott@friendsseminary.org

Questions about SSS?
Contact the SSS Help Desk at 800.344.8328, or sss@solutionsbysss.com
(A Spanish-speaking representative is available during business hours.)

While all families applying for financial aid must fill out an application through the NAIS School and Student Services (SSS) website, we offer additional tuition support to Quaker families applying to Friends who are members of a Meeting. Please see below for the various funding that may be offered.

• Endowment for the Education of Quaker Students: In 2012, the Friends Seminary School Committee established a fund to ensure that children of Quaker families admitted to the School are supported financially so that they may benefit from an education at Friends Seminary.
• The Gilmore Fund for Quakers: This fund provides financial aid for Quakers.
• The Friends Council on Education’s National Endowment for Quaker Children Fund: This fund aims to increase the ability of Quaker families to afford to send their children to Friends schools. Friends schools value the presence and active participation of their Quaker families; likewise, Quaker families value the institutional missions and commitments of their schools. For this reason, NEQC and Friends Council join the efforts of families, schools, and Monthly Meetings to provide tuition assistance for Quaker families who demonstrate need. Grants from this fund are available to children of Monthly Meeting members in grades K- 12 who are new to their Friends school. Families must meet financial need standards as determined by the school and at least one parent of a prospective student has been a member of a Monthly Meeting for a full year prior to the supported year. Upon acceptance to Friends Seminary, the NEQC Tuition Aid application process begins when the family submits an Application Form to the Monthly Meeting for signature of the clerk and to the Director of Financial Aid. Awards from the National Endowment for Quaker Children (NEQC) take the form of grants to the schools for $1000 per student in addition to their financial aid grant from the school. Checks are sent to the schools in the fall in a lump sum for all participating students at each school.

Please note, individual Meetings may have their own education funds in addition to the ones listed above, so inquire about further support from your Meeting.