Questions to ask a private school before you apply

Price and fees

1. What is the full-year tuition for my child’s grade next year, and has it changed since you published it?
2. Which fees are required on top of tuition (registration, books, technology, uniforms, transport, activities)?
3. Do you offer financial aid, sibling discounts or payment plans, and when are those applications due?
4. When is the enrollment deposit due, and is it refundable if a scholarship or account award falls through?

Seats and deadlines

1. Is there an application deadline for my child’s grade, or do you admit on a rolling basis?
2. Are seats still open in that grade, and is there a waitlist?
3. Is there an entrance test (see our ISEE and SSAT guides), an interview or a visit day?

Paying with a state program

1. Do you take our state’s program, and for which grades? (Each program page links the state’s own list of schools where one is published.)
2. Are you registered with the program for the coming school year, not only this one?

Education savings accounts

Alabama (CHOOSE Act), Arizona (Empowerment Scholarship Account), Arkansas (Education Freedom Account), Florida (Step Up scholarships (FES and FTC)), Georgia (Promise Scholarship), Iowa (Students First ESA), Louisiana (LA GATOR scholarship), Mississippi (special needs ESA), New Hampshire (Education Freedom Account), South Carolina (Education Scholarship Trust Fund), Texas (Education Freedom Account (TEFA)), Utah (Utah Fits All), West Virginia (Hope Scholarship) and Wyoming (Steamboat Legacy Scholarship).

1. Can the account pay you directly, or do we pay you and claim the money back?
2. When do you need the first payment, and what happens if the account is funded after that date?
3. Which costs besides tuition can the account cover here: fees, books, uniforms, testing?

Refundable tax credits

Idaho (Parental Choice Tax Credit) and Oklahoma (tax credit).

1. Do families pay you first and claim the credit later, and when is each payment due?
2. Can we spread tuition over the year while we wait for the credit?

Vouchers and state scholarships

District of Columbia (Opportunity Scholarship Program), Indiana (Choice Scholarship), Maine (town tuitioning), Maryland (BOOST Scholarship), North Carolina (Opportunity Scholarship), Ohio (EdChoice), Tennessee (Education Freedom Scholarship), Vermont (town tuitioning) and Wisconsin (Private School Choice).

1. How does the award reach you, and what do families owe before it arrives?
2. If the award is less than tuition, how much is left for us to pay, and when?

Tax-credit scholarships

Kansas (tax credit scholarship), Missouri (MOScholars), Montana (tax credit scholarship), Nevada (Opportunity Scholarship), Pennsylvania (EITC and Opportunity scholarships), Rhode Island (tax credit scholarship), South Dakota (Partners in Education scholarship) and Virginia (tax credit scholarship (EISTC)).

1. Which scholarship organizations do you work with, and when do their applications close?
2. Does the scholarship go to you directly, and what do families owe before it arrives?

The school itself

1. Which grades and how many students do you have now? (Our figures come from the federal survey, which can be a few years old.)
2. How large are classes in my child’s grade, and who teaches them?
3. Which tests do students take each year, and do you share the results with families?
4. What support do you offer a child with a learning difference or a disability? (See special needs schools.)

How we collect and date each fact on a school page: about our data. To put your state’s next application window in your calendar: program deadlines and calendar.