What criteria does High Meadow School (HMS) use to allocate financial aid grants?

After gathering feedback from people who complete work exchanges, our staff, the New York State Association of Independent Schools (NYSAIS), and our school’s financial audit, it is clear that this program is imperfect on a number of levels. It is a difficult program to manage for the school’s administration, it poses a number of financial risks for the organization, and it can task some of our most financially constrained families to do more work in exchange for tuition.

With these points being noted, on the other side, the work exchange program has kept the school afloat in many ways, providing vital support in areas that the school would not otherwise be able to garner through tuition dollars. Work exchange has aided the school in facilities management, communications and marketing, curriculum development, DEIJ work and support, events coordination, and more, often for far less than the market rate. It also has provided families with an additional venue to receive tuition discounts, exceeding what we can offer with our financial aid packages and allowing families who would not otherwise be able to afford tuition a way to lessen their costs.