Tuition & Fees
We look forward to another full year of in-person education for our students!
We have the tuition payment plans detailed below. These are, as usual, full-year, full-semester, and monthly plans. Even as inflation adds to various costs, we are holding the amounts unchanged from the 2024-25 school year.
Please note that the first payment for the monthly plan is in June; it’s the same schedule as last year. This gives us time to talk with parents who will be continuing their children’s enrollment about the plans for the next academic year. Thus, we can plan for teacher time and for any new class structures that meet the needs of every individual student.
The total tuition for full-time attendance remains at $9900. Scholarships are available (see below).
In 2024-25 we gave our teachers a substantial and well-deserved raise. We raised tuition modestly then, keeping us just in tune with inflation over the past 7 years. For the 2025-26 school year we are holding tuition amounts unchanged. Our decision comes from a complete analysis of our new financial regime, in which we accept the offer from Tinsley and Anita Preston to sell us the fine building at a favorable price. We are buying it from funds we accumulated and our first-ever mortgage!
The table below is useful for seeing the structure of our payment plans. As last year, the 11-month installment plans begin with the first payment in June but continue through July, so that the final payment is in April, 2026.
|
Attendance/ payment plan |
Amount per payment |
1st payment date |
2nd payment date |
Final payment date |
|
Full time, pay year in full |
$9,702* |
15 July 2025 |
|
|
|
Full time, pay semester in full |
$4,851 * |
15 July 2025 |
15 January 2026 |
|
|
Full time, pay monthly |
$900 |
15 June 2025 |
15 July 2025 |
15 April 2026 |
Fees
We have no extra fees for books, other supplies, or class activities, including science demos. Some events or expenses are optional – after-school clubs, perhaps pizza for students, and field trips with significant travel expenses.
Admissions application fee
The current fee is $50.
The fee is payable with a credit card in the online application for admission.
Scholarships
We offer a small number of need-based scholarships. Applications, available here, are required and are evaluated by a scholarship committee. Our Head of School, Dr. Lou Ellen Kay, can confer with you in advance if finances are critical in considering enrolling your child.
Tuition Information
More information follows, about enrollment dates, tax regulations, and ways to pay. Donations and volunteering are other ways you can keep us going and growing. Please look at the boxes below. Thanks.
* Full-year or full-semester payments get a 2% discount for ease of billing and bookkeeping.
Please note that late payments incur fees.
** We accommodate late enrollment, while strongly encouraging early enrollment that lets us plan schedules and teacher time effectively.
*** We adjust the payment plan for late enrollment; we create pro-rated plans.
Important Information
- Tuition is not tax-deductible, except at the college level (IRS form 1098-T)
- Tuition for the early kindergarten program is not tax-deductible as day care payments (IRS form 2441) because our early K program is fully academic. If we claimed student attendance as day care we would violate other federal laws and regulations and our own Articles of Incorporation.
We send invoices the first of each month, and they’re due on the 15th of that month.
If you choose the 11-month plan, we ask you to consider automatic payment when your financial institution allows it (some institutions do not). This reduces bookkeeping, the problems of missed and late payments, and general stress on you and on us. Please contact us for help in setting up autopay. In any event, payment monthly by check, Zelle, or ACH works well. We are just beginning a mortgage for purchasing our building; we are changing banks in order to meet requirements of our lender. Please contact Vince at 575-571-2269 or vince.gutschick@gmail.com for information.
Tuition payments are nonrefundable except in unusual circumstances. Withdrawing a student by choice rather than necessity (a move, financial problems) reduces our finances without reducing our commitment to our teachers. It also can leave us with a place in which we could have enrolled another student who was on a waiting list. We trust that you understand our position.
Donations
We budget each year for improvements to our programs and for the major initiatives that will keep us going for the long term – accreditation and lease-purchase of our fine building. Tuition is crucial but provides about 92% of our budgeted income. Like all other private schools with no state funding, we require that all families donate to their ability to do so; we have a goal of $30,000 each year, or about $600 per student, though up to half that is met by friends of the school. Some families have donated several times that amount, while others have given what they could; the Annual Fund meets the abilities of all families. This past year your response has been phenomenal. We thank you for such generosity!
Volunteering
Volunteering time and expertise is another donation. By enrolling at least one student, each family agrees to assist in three or more school activities. This might include driving students on field trips, chaperoning walking field trips, inventorying and shelving books, helping at special events such as student parties, assisting in the classroom or after school as requested by teachers, etc. We acknowledge this work in our weekly email newsletter, so that we can all be proud.