Tuition & Financial Aid

All applicants' materials, records and award amounts are confidential. Financial Aid applications are reviewed only by Clarity, 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 Educational Improvement Tax Credit and Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit 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.

• 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. GFS also offers a Non-Tuition Financial Aid (NTFA) program that supports students' full experience inside and outside the classroom, which includes expenses like lunch, transportation, books, after-school programs, music lessons, tutoring, counseling, trips abroad, and more. Once enrolled at GFS, families apply by completing the NTFA application form as non-tuition expenses arise. To apply, please contact Chris Breña, the Director of Financial Aid: at cbrena@germantownfriends.org.

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. Clarity 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 Clarity 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 regarded as an expense to the payer and income to the payee.

There are three potential Financial Aid outcomes:

• If you are deemed eligible through our needs-based review, you will qualify for Financial Aid, and the award will be posted in the portal.
• You may receive a notice that you do not qualify for Financial Aid.
• Or, you could be placed on our Financial Aid waitlist.

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 Committee may decide that the Financial Aid budget cannot meet the demonstrated of a family, and an application may be placed on the Financial Aid waitlist. GFS will extend offers of aid to the first-round applicants and some families decline our offer of enrollment and financial aid. This frees up aid money for possible offers to those on the Waitlist.