The joy of a boarding school lies in its rigorous academics, strong community that will help you feel at home, character building, extracurricular activities, small class sizes that boost personalized learning, etc. Most of them also have a 100% college acceptance rate, meaning that all their graduating students are admitted to the university.
However, what if we tell you that “affordability” and “New York boarding schools” are not synchronizing? That’s right, you won’t find any low-cost boarding schools – more on that in the next section.
The good news is that there are affordable boarding schools in New York based on the provision of robust financial aid programs which can significantly bridge the cost gap.
In this blog post, we won’t only focus on affordability, but also schools that excel in academics while offering substantial financial support.
If you insist on boarding schools in the United States that provide very low-cost fees, we would suggest your neighboring state, Pennsylvania boarding schools, they are not just moderately low, some of them are also free. If you don’t mind sending your child to a farther state, then Texas could be a good option based on its provision of some free and affordable boarding schools. Also, if you don’t mind sending your kid abroad, then the United Kingdom, Canada, or Australia could be a nice choice based on their low-cost board fees.
Anyway, before we list these boarding schools in NY, let’s first know if there are really low-cost boarding schools in the state.
Are There Low-Cost Boarding Schools In New York?
Unfortunately, there are no truly “very affordable” boarding schools in New York in the sense that the tuition and boarding fees are drastically reduced. Especially seeing the fact that the average boarding school tuition in the state is around $58,000 annually.
However, depending on your child’s need and family’s financial situation your child can qualify for financial aid or scholarships that can waive part or almost all your fees. In this blog post, we’ll focus on those schools that are generous enough to provide enormous financial assistance to help reduce your burden.
Let’s get started.
Affordable Boarding Schools In New York
Just like we mentioned earlier, we would love to re-emphasize that these schools don’t provide low-cost boarding, but they provide financial aid, especially for low-income earners.
1. Emma Willard School
Grades: Boarding and Day School for Girls Grades 9-12
Location: 285 Pawling Avenue, Troy, NY 12180
| Boarding Student | $69,970 |
| Day Student | $43,600 |
Due to the desire Emma Willard School has to make its exceptional educational experience accessible to as many families as possible, it provides tuition assistance to qualified students based on their financial need and availability of funds. In fact, for the 2022–2023 academic year, they awarded nearly $5.9 million in need-based grants to Emma students.
You can see based on their tuition assistance, it made this school indirectly among the affordable boarding schools in New York. Don’t assume you need to repay these funds, they are in the form of grants and don’t need to be repaid.
Boarding students receive an average of $48,043 whereas day students receive an average of $25,100, and 43% of students receive financial aid. Also, the amount you receive is based on your financial need and household income, meaning that the lower your household income the higher chances you have to receive more money.
Also, international students are eligible to receive financial aid.
2. The Oakwood Friends School
- Grades: 6-12
- Location: 22 Spackenkill Rd. Poughkeepsie, NY 12603
| Tuition | Middle School Tuition (6-8):($30,645) | Upper School Tuition (9-12):($37,570) |
| Boarding Fees | 5-Day Boarding:($19,450) | 7-Day Boarding:($29,225) |
The Oakwood Friends School didn’t disclose the number of financial aid it awards, but niche.com claims that it provides an average of $21,144 in assistance to 61% of its students. When deciding your financial need, the Oakwood Friends School won’t only consider your household income, but also your gross taxable and non-taxable income, assets, liabilities, family size, and the number of students in tuition-charging schools.
It is also worth noting that Oakwood Friends School doesn’t offer merit-based scholarships. All their awards are given based on demonstrated need.
Besides the fact that this school provides financial aid, they also provide quality education, which makes 100% of their students be admitted to a 4-year university. It has a very low student-to-teacher ratio of 5:1, which boosts personalized attention, and student-teacher relationships.
3. North Country School
- Grades: 4-9
- Location: 4382 Cascade Road, Lake Placid, NY 12946
| Domestic Boarding Students | $77,500 |
| Domestic 5-Day Boarding Students | $59,500 |
| International Boarding Students | $84,500 |
| Day Students | $27,000 |
North Country School is a co-educational, college preparatory boarding and day school that primarily serves boarding students in grades 7-9, it also offers a program for day students in grades 4-6. Besides the usual rigorous academic programs like English, Math, Science, Arts, and Foreign Language that they provide, students are also allowed to choose subjects like robotics, outdoor education, and entrepreneurship.
Due to North Country School’s desire to accommodate exceptional students regardless of their background, it provides a robust financial aid program. Each year, approximately 35% of their students receive aid, thanks to private endowments and generous donations from alumni, families, and friends of the school that makes this assistance possible. This has made them among the cheap boarding schools in NY.
4. The Storm King School
- Grades: 8 through 12 and post-graduates
- Location: 314 Mountain Road, Cornwall-on-Hudson, NY 12520
| Boarding Student | $74,100 |
| Day Student | $40,100 |
This is among the affordable boarding schools in New York that use financial aid to subsidize students’ fees. SKS budgets more than $2.6 million in need-based grants annually, 47% of students receive this award with an average of $26,812 per recipient.
With the use of a small class size and a student-to-teacher ratio of 5:1, SKS has been able to provide more quality education because teachers will have more time to personally interact with each student and build a strong relationship with them. Also, their excellence makes all their graduates to be accepted to college each year.
5. The Masters School
- Grades: 5 through 12
- Location: 49 Clinton Avenue, Dobbs Ferry, NY 10522
| Middle School Day | $57,500 |
|---|---|
| Upper School Day | $57,500 |
| Upper School Five-Day Boarding | $65,500 |
| Upper School Seven-Day Boarding | $74,500 |
The Masters School is on a mission to provide exceptional education, but they also know that many students will be hindered from receiving quality education due to finances. That’s why they have a robust financial aid budget where 26% of the student body receives financial aid, which totals more than $6 million. This helps make this school among the budget-friendly boarding schools in NY.
Also, international students who demonstrate need are eligible for financial aid provided they submit all required financial aid documentation. This has made the school have more than 30 countries that represent the student body.
6. Hackley School
- Grades: K-12
- Location: 293 Benedict Avenue, Tarrytown, NY 10591
| Lower School (K-Grade 4) | $49,205 |
|---|---|
| Middle School Day (Grades 5-8) | $54,210 |
| Upper School Day (Grades 9-12) | $57,591 |
| Five-Day Boarding | $17,600 |
Hackley School has a mission to enroll and support students with financial needs, who by their character, talent, backgrounds, and perspectives enrich the community and its educational environment. Hackley School provides tuition support across a wide spectrum of incomes, and their average award size is $43,000.
Also, through their installment payment plan, you can decide to pay your child’s fees in two equal installments or a ten-month payment plan. The financial help plus this plan makes it easier to send your kid to Hackley School making it among the affordable boarding schools in New York.
7. Millbrook School
- Grades: 9-12
- Location: 131 Millbrook School Road, Millbrook, NY 12545
| Boarding Student | $75,750 |
| Day Student | $57,500 |
To welcome diverse students, Millbrook School seeks to financially help any family that demonstrates financial need. The school also looks into the merits of each applicant, the availability of funds will still determine the amount that will be distributed.
For the 2024-25 academic year, 30% of Millbrook students received grants totaling $5.1 million. It’s worth noting that if a student chooses to enroll at Millbrook without financial aid, there is no guarantee that the school will be able to offer financial support in subsequent years.
Key Takeaway
Even though getting a low-cost boarding school in New York might be far-fetched, you can see that with financial aid you can reduce your child’s fees. Don’t forget that affordability shouldn’t be your only concern over your kid’s education, you should also consider a school that aligns with your academic aspirations and your child’s individual needs.
