The deadline for submitting the FAST financial aid application, as well as supporting documents, is December 5, 2023, for current families (including those with a newly applying sibling); and December 19, 2023, for new families.

• Before starting the FAST application, we recommend that you review the Downloadable Worksheet and User Guide provided by FAST in order to familiarize yourself with the program. A helpline is available 24 hours a day by calling 1-877-326-FAST (3278).
   
• Click on the FAST button icon above or click here to begin your application. The application process itself is self-guided. You may navigate in and out of the program, which allows you to partially complete an application and return to it later.
• Preliminary financial aid awards will be based on 2023 earnings along with 2022 tax documents. 2023 tax documents should be uploaded as soon as they are finalized.
   
• In the Letter to School section, please include any information that may assist the Financial Aid Committee in better evaluating your application. This may include a description of the financial trajectory of your family and why. Is it improving, decreasing, or remains relatively stable year to year. Also any circumstances that may impact your ability to pay tuition.
   
• Please upload your most recent final 2023 paycheck(s) and W-2s from each employer that show the total income for every financially responsible parent or guardian by the deadline above. 
   
• All awards offered are contingent upon receipt of final 2023 tax and income information.

All GFS families who receive aid must re-apply for financial aid and provide tax/income documentation each year to verify their financial need.

All adults who play a significant parenting role in a student’s life (including parents, stepparents, guardians, and others who pay tuition) are required to provide their tax information to FAST.

Financial aid applications submitted after the December deadline will be considered on a rolling basis as funds allow.

Newly-accepted families: Financial aid applications for newly-accepted families are reviewed after the Admissions Committee has extended an accept decision to the child.

• Lower School: In general, materials for classroom use are provided by the school or are included in the activity fee. Teachers will inform parents if and when extra supplies may be needed, such as gym clothes and school supplies.
   
• Middle and Upper School: Students are responsible for the purchase of books, athletic equipment, non-grade-wide field trips, and optional private music lessons. Juniors and seniors have an additional fee for Senior Prom (optional). Spring Break and January Term trips are an additional cost per family; the total cost may be offset by student fundraising. Depending upon an Upper School student’s course selection, there may be small fees.

Tuition and activity fees cover the costs of tuition and most grade-wide, annual activities. They do not cover the cost of lunch, transportation, non-grade-wide field trips and activities, books and reading materials, and some other small program fees that are particular to certain classes.

Optional programs, including after-school programming (ASPire), after-school clubs, private instrumental music lessons, tutoring, Crew/Rowing, summer camps, and Middle/Upper School trips abroad, are also not included in the cost of tuition and activity.

GFS is fortunate to have the Joseph Rubenstone ’40 Fund, founded in the 1960’s, to provide Non-Tuition Financial Aid (NTFA) for non-tuition expenses for students currently in the Community Scholars Program (CSP). GFS is also fortunate to have the Stokes Memorial Fund, founded in 2018, to provide additional NTFS support for students not in the CSP program, but currently receiving financial aid. GFS also provides NTFA from our general funds in order to accommodate as many families as is reasonable based on our total annual budget. 

Families must apply for NTFA by submitting the Non-Tuition Financial Aid Application form. The Financial Aid Committee will review all applications submitted and attempt to provide financial assistance within the capabilities of the limited financial aid budget. All awards are at the discretion of the Financial Aid Committee and GFS can not ensure funding all requests for assistance.

The intention of the NTFA review and awarding process is to allow students “to develop their capacities to the fullest extent possible” and generate the greatest opportunity for student involvement at GFS inside and outside the classroom. Families who apply for NTFA and have not completed the online FAST financial aid application for tuition have to complete this to determine demonstrated need and aid eligibility. The Financial Aid Committee strives to award NTFA at a similar percentage a family was awarded financial aid towards their tuition costs. Awards are offered per child, per activity, and therefore an award cannot be transferred within a family to other children, or for other activities.

Newly enrolled students may apply for NTFA in the Fall of their first year once they have begun attending classes, with the exception of ASPire after school care.

ASPire, after school clubs and activities
If you are applying for assistance for ASPire, after school clubs, and activities, the NTFA application has to be submitted two weeks prior to the required sign-up deadline. Each application is reviewed on a case by case basis, with awarding priority going to ASPire over clubs and activities. Middle school-aged children will not be considered for ASPire after school care funding.

Student Services
If the school recommends tutoring, counseling, or additional assistance for a student outside of school, these will be considered for NTFA assistance.

School Trips and International School Trips
Submission deadlines for School Trip Forms must be met in order to qualify for NTFA. NTFA is available for international school trips limited to the fee charged by GFS for the trip. Priority in awarding for international trips will be given to students that have not participated in an international trip during that school year.

If you are a member of a school team or club that qualifies for an event requiring travel (Head of the Charles, ACDA National Honors Choir, etc.), these will be considered for NTFA assistance.

Music Lessons
Music lessons that are required by a GFS program are eligible for NTFA assistance. Awards will be limited to one instrument per semester.

School-sponsored events
For school-sponsored events (dances, etc.), NTFA may apply solely to the fee charged by GFS for the event for the GFS student.

Please contact Chris Breña, Director of Financial Aid (cbrena@germantownfriends.org) with any questions that may arise.

All applicants' materials, records and award amounts are confidential. Financial Aid applications are reviewed only by FAST, the members of the Financial Aid Committee, and the Director of Financial Aid. Occasionally, financial aid award information (not aid application information) is shared with the Advancement Office, which reports to the State of Pennsylvania to gain additional scholarship monies through the EITC and OSTC programs; with school division heads if additional program support is requested through the Rubenstone Fund; or with the Director of College Counseling, for college scholarship opportunities.

Families are expected to keep the amount of their aid award confidential.

The Financial Aid Committee determines financial aid grants for current and newly accepted families who have applied for financial aid. Financial aid grants are determined equitably and consistently according to demonstrated need as there are no merit-based scholarships at GFS. The Financial Aid for School Tuition (FAST) program provides a need-based financial analysis for the Financial Aid Committee in addition to a recommended award amount that further informs the Committee’s review. All information received from FAST is kept confidential.

Award decisions are based on family income, all family assets, including residence(s), retirement savings, other real estate holdings, stocks, bonds, equities, children’s savings, 529s, etc., and family liabilities. Home equity and retirement savings are considered as assets, and capital gains are considered as income. Child support is considered an expense to the payer and income to the payee. If able, all parents of school-aged children are expected to work towards the cost of tuition. An income of $25,000 may be imputed to a non-working, fully able adult with school aged children. 

Tuition costs increase at an average of four percent each year. If a family’s income does not change significantly from one year to the next, we attempt to maintain grant amounts for students as they move through the school, striving to award the same percentage of aid to tuition from one year to the next.

The Financial Aid budget cannot meet all of the demands for aid, therefore some aid requests will be put into a Financial Aid Waitlist. In this case, do not submit the non refundable enrollment deposit and Enrollment Contract. Offers of admission will be extended until your status on the waitlist has been resolved. This could occur as late as the spring or early summer, when a current aid recipient declines an aid award or decides to withdraw from GFS, thus freeing those aid dollars for reallocation to someone on the Financial Aid Waitlist. We do not rank the Waitlist for aid, as reallocation of declined aid funds is dependent upon the specific grades where space is available or already offered for enrollment, and the specific amount of aid needed by those on the Financial Aid Waitlist.