Adjusted Tuition Questions

Yes, any financial information submitted to Clarity is held in strict confidence. All decisions concerning tuition are confidential agreements between a family and members of the Adjusted Tuition Committee at Carolina Friends School. The Adjusted Tuition Committee consists of the Director of Enrollment, the Director of Finance, and the Director of Equity and Inclusion. We request that details of these agreements not be discussed publicly to preserve that confidentiality.

When we notify an applicant that we are able to offer them admission, the admission decision notification also includes all details concerning tuition and expenses.

In only very special circumstances can a family appeal for additional consideration of their application to have tuition adjusted. When there is additional financial information which would have an impact on a family’s financial profile, a formal, written appeal may be submitted to the Adjusted Tuition Committee (adjustedtuition@cfsnc.org)

No, applications for admission are evaluated by the Admission Committee for each learning unit (Early, Lower, Middle, and Upper Schools) separately and on their own merit. An applicant’s financial situation is not discussed in admission deliberations. However, should it happen that our Adjusted Tuition budget cannot support the demonstrated need of an accepted applicant, that family will become part of the Adjusted Tuition wait pool, whereby additional funds could become available to the family later in the season. Through this process, the Enrollment Team strives to provide clear and candid information.

We steward our resources carefully to make our education affordable to as many families as possible. However our capacity to provide adjusted tuition in a given year is a fixed amount. The School earmarks a generous yet limited amount of funds for supporting adjustments to tuition costs annually, but requests generally exceed available funds.

No. Every family invests in the work of the school through paying a portion of the tuition.

The School is happy to consider applications from returning families who have a significant change in their financial profile. Families who do not have an adjusted tuition rate during their initial year at Carolina Friends should not expect their tuition rate to be less in subsequent years unless they have experienced a significant change in circumstances; increased expenditures such as having an additional child in a tuition-paying school could qualify as a significant change in circumstances.

All families who wish to be considered for an adjusted tuition rate must apply each year. Given the same financial circumstances as in the prior year, a family can expect their contribution to remain proportionally the same.

We do not offer merit based scholarships. All adjustments to tuition are need-based and determined by careful review of the financial profile submitted through Clarity.

Tuition at our school, as with all independent schools in the area, does not fully cover the cost of educating a student. The actual cost of a student's education is higher than the tuition we charge.

Additional revenue comes from some of our Extended Learning opportunities, as well as from the support of our greater community through the Annual Fund and endowment support. This is a common practice among independent schools and helps us provide the high-quality education and programs our students receive.

Tuition: Our tuition includes the cost of attendance, including enrollment in classes, applicable technology services such as internet usage, participation in school athletics, as well as books and supplies and selected social activities. Tuition does not include End-of-Year Experiences, but it does include some grade-level trips and excursions. A nonrefundable Tuition Deposit is due at the time of signing a new or re-enrollment contract and is applied toward your overall tuition balance.

New Student Fee: The new student fee is a one-time charge for new students, billed in May. This fee helps us cover the costs of enrolling your child in all of our digital platforms and programs, including but not limited to Veracross, Magnus Health, FACTS, Google Suite, and other unit-specific platforms. While these costs extend beyond a student's first year, we charge this as a one-time fee for all new students to keep those costs from being rolled into annual tuition.

Tuition Insurance: For 2026-2027, we have transitioned to a universal tuition insurance model for all families participating in payment plans (including 2-payment, 10-payment, and 12-payment for Adjusted Tuition) in order to better support our families and the School's long-term fiscal health. By moving to this model, our business office was also able to negotiate the insurance rate down from 2.75% to .0.75%. This provides the greatest savings to the most people as over 60% of families opted in to Tuition Insurance in the past. This shift allows us to ensure appropriate financial stability and provide added protection to families.

Incidentals: YAY Lunch services, vending snacks, club/class t-shirts, and other daily incidental expenses are optional and not covered by either tuition or the New Student Fee. 

For families who qualify for Adjusted Tuition, support will be applied to the following activities and services, based on the percentage of Adjusted Tuition support your student receives.

• Student Success services & tutoring
• Athletic fees and equipment
• Extended Day (up to 60%)
• Camp CFS
• End-of-Year Experiences (US)
• Exploratorium (MS)
• Advisory Activities (MS/US)
   

Please contact the Adjusted Tuition committee with questions and comments (adjustedtuition@cfsnc.org).

For us the decision not to take the Opportunity Scholarship has been both a financial and a philosophical one. While the amounts offered are significant, these grants would still require additional Adjusted Tuition support to make Carolina Friends affordable, especially for those eligible for the highest awards. We have chosen instead to invest significantly in our own Adjusted Tuition program to support families.  

Philosophically, we are opposed to the drawdown of funds from public schools that these vouchers create. The per pupil tax dollars basically follow the student to their new school. In addition, we oppose the collapsing of state and church which takes place when religious schools receive these funds and then promulgate their religion as part of the student's attendance. While currently there are few requirements placed on schools who receive this grant, given the significant expansion, many believe that the state legislature will enact additional requirements and limitations on schools who take the funds. It is very unclear what these requirements might include and whether they will align with our mission and values.

While there is still uncertainty on the long term viability of this program and others like it, financial support from the state and national level will ebb and flow, meaning that schools who have come to rely on this funding may require significant rebalancing of their tuition structure to meet operational costs should the funding be reduced. 

All families are enrolled in our Tuition Insurance plan. The details of this year’s plan are viewable in the Tuition Refund Plan document from our vendor, Dewar.
Financial commitments for enrollment vary by withdrawal by date:

• Between May 1, 2026 – August 20, 2026: Families are responsible for the tuition deposit, the two-payment plan June payment, and 55% of the New Student Fee.
• After August 20, 2026: Families will be responsible for the total annual tuition and the New Student Fee.