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I pay 13k/per year for private Middle School and that figure will double next year when my second son starts at the same school.

I know this site is dedicated to college entrance, but I'm wondering if anyone knows of Scholarships available for students attending private Middle Schools and High Schools?

By Texas137 (Texas137) on Thursday, September 18, 2003 - 03:03 pm: Edit

Do you realize what a high-class complaint is inherent in this question? It's sort of like someone complaining that they can "only" afford a $300,000 house in a forum which includes people who cannot afford to own any house at all.

If you cannot afford the tuition at your children's private school with whatever help the school is offering, there are not likely to be outside scholarships to help you. You can always send them to public school.

By Emeraldkity4 (Emeraldkity4) on Thursday, September 18, 2003 - 04:14 pm: Edit

If the private school values diversity in it's students, fundraising efforts are usually earmarked with the majority of funds going to scholarships.
My eldest daughter attended private school K-12, and we recieved over half of tuition ( high school was upward of $15,000 without scholarship) as a need based grant. The school will have info on how to apply for aid, there are also education based loans available, some schools even underwrite the loans themselves.
As far as I know, aid for K-12 is always need based, admissions is academically even more competitive than post high school, all students considered are quite capable, at least in our area. IF a school is having trouble finding enough students however, they may also offer merit aid, it is worth investigating.
Smaller schools, may also be flexible in "bartering" for tuition.

By Texas137 (Texas137) on Thursday, September 18, 2003 - 04:40 pm: Edit

Emerald, those are all good points. But you are talking about scholarships specific to a particular school. The original poster can only find out about those sorts of opportunities through her children's particular school, or other schools in her area she would be willing to switch to. Presumably she is posting here in the hopes that there are independent scholarships available that can be applied to whatever school one wishes.

There are scholarships that middle and high school students can win through competitions. But those are generally for college, not for private middle/high school. And the ones involving real money (as opposed to the odd $100 prize for an essay or art piece) are astronomically difficult to get. The winners of the Nat'l Geog and Spelling Bees, Mathcounts, Intel etc all get significant "portable" scholarships which can be used at any college. But only a rare few get those out of hundreds of thousands who enter. As a money-raising plan, it's probably below buying lottery tickets.

By Easydoesitmom (Easydoesitmom) on Friday, September 19, 2003 - 09:27 am: Edit

UpToMyYears - Take heart , I am not sure where you live but many families in cities with rundown public school systems are sometimes forced to either move out to the suburbs and pay the increase in taxes , mortgage ,another car to commute ect to send their kid to a decent public school or they stay in the city & send their children to Catholic or private schools which does involve paying tuition . In our city , it seems to cost more to move to the better suburbs than to send your city kid to private school .However when there is more than one child , it can get unwieldy.

In my city , there is a scholarship program for people in a certain income range so their kids can go to schools other than public . They are scholarship programs that pay half the tuition .Most of them are on a lottery basis . You apply early and hope your child's name is drawn .

ASK the school if they know of any Corperate , Federal , State or City scholarship programs . Wal - Mart has one . Surely not every child in this school has the parents paying full tuition? Catholic schools offer family discounts when more than one child attends.

There is another program that helps with funding but the school have to participate in it . My daughter's school did not have it so she has work - study which takes $1000 off her tuition . Her reduced lunch programs entitles her to be excluded from AP course fees . Her younger siblings were lucky to be in public magnet - otherwise , we would be swamped ! One year my husband lost his job & we paid her tuition with a zero percent balance transfer .

Take a look at www.nais.org in the aid section and see if there are answers to your questions there.

At our old Catholic school , they used to have a work - parent program for parents to work off the remainder of unpaid tuition .

If your school cooperates with the SSS financial aid program in Princeton , New Jersey , you may be able to apply for this program -{http://www.nais.org/financialaid/schools/sss.cfm. My daughter's school didn't ; they pushed the tuition plan programs which usually charge a monthly fee but they have some other benefits ( for instance , at my daughters' school , the tuition payment program http://www.FACTSmgt.com has insurance in case a parent dies ~ and believe it or not , I have seen this tragedy happen to two families in my daughter's class year ) .

Good Luck !