Tuition & Fees
We have the new tuition payment plans detailed below. These are, as usual, full-year, full-semester, and monthly plans.
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.
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
The total tuition for full-time attendance in 2024-25 academic year is $9900..
We’re giving our teachers a well-deserved raise. They have worked particularly hard in the 2023-24 academic year.
Like all businesses, we have been hit with inflationary increases in all the services we engage and our purchases of supplies, ranging from 0% (rent) to 135% (on smaller items, fortunately!). Our overall inflation in expenses is 3% from the 2023-24 academic year. We have thus increased our tuition rate by 3%. We trust that our LCA families, continuing and new, will understand the need.
In all, the new tuition plans, and our Annual Fund (many thanks for the great response this year!) support our carefully ambitious plans for two important initiatives: accreditation and the medium-term transitions to paid administration and purchase of the building we rent.
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, 2025. Please note that late payments incur fees.
Tuition Breakdown
Pay Year in Full
Pay Semester in Full
Pay Monthly
Amount Per Payment
$9,702*
$4,851*
$900
1st Payment
Date
15 July 2024
15 July 2024
15 June 2024
2nd Payment
Date
15 January 2025
15 July 2024
Final Payment
Date
15 April 2025
* 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.
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.