helping children absorb and retain educational material

How A Parent On A Tight Budget Can Afford The Cost Of A Private High School Education For Their Child

15 February 2016 by Reginald Long

Unlike the cost of a public education, parents typically have to pay all or most of the cost of a private high school education themselves. The cost can seem prohibitive for parents with a limited budget and income to afford the average cost of a private high school education – which is $12,900 for the 2015-16 school year. However, you shouldn't get discouraged if you don't have a lot of money and you want your child to receive a private education. Here are 2 options you can explore to help you afford the cost of a private high school education.

Tuition Adjustment Programs

Some private high schools will reach out to the community to find students that value the education being offered by the private high school and who need assistance to pay for that education. These schools will often employ tuition adjustments programs to underwrite the cost of the education. The end result, for you the parent, is that the total cost of your child going to a private school might get lowered enough to fit your budget.

Here is how a tuition adjustment program works:

A private high school will typically have access to a pool of funds that have been set aside to specifically help children from lower-income families attend the school. These funds are usually given by alumni and parents of students who want to help students attend the school regardless of their ability to pay for it. These funds are often administered by a committee that will ask you to produce information on your private financial condition for them to review.

You should expect to supply them with copies of your W-2 forms to show how much you earn annually, banking account and investment statements, and information on the types and values of property you own. The committee will assess your current and potential income and, if the information shows you would struggle financially to send your child to their high school, will release funds from the pool of money set aside to help financially-strapped families on your child's behalf to help cover the costs of attending the school.

If the school doesn't cover all the tuition, or if the school doesn't have a tuition adjustment program, you should check into loan programs.

Loan Programs

Some lending institutions offer loans to parents specifically to help them spread out the cost of paying for a private school education over many months. You shouldn't have any problems as long you can meet the lending institutions credit and income requirements, and you make your monthly payments in full and on time.

If need be, you can also tap into the value of your home and take out a home equity loan to pay the costs of the school. Equity is the difference between what you owe on any mortgages (the primary mortgage amount and the amount of any home equity loans and lines of credits are added together) and the amount of money you would expect to get if you sold the home at the time you applied for the loan.

A private high school education can be costly, but there options out there to help you pay for it if you are on a tight budget. Contact a school like International School of MN or another location to get more info.

Share