Financial Aid
Sycamore School offers need-based financial assistance toward tuition.
Parents choose Sycamore because they want the best possible education for their intellectually gifted child. We recognize that choosing an independent school means making a significant financial decision. As an independent school, though, we must charge tuition in order to provide what makes Sycamore so special—an outstanding curriculum; differentiated academic programs; dedicated and caring teachers; vibrant arts and athletics programs; and more.
Since giftedness is not confined to children of a particular socioeconomic status, we offer need-based financial assistance, which is based on an assessment of a family’s financial situation and determination of the family’s demonstrated ability to pay.
Grants of financial aid are not intended to cover all of the cost of attending Sycamore, but we make every effort to provide assistance where financial need has been clearly identified. In fact, Sycamore awards approximately $1 million in assistance to approximately 20% of our students. As such, we encourage all interested families to apply for need-based financial assistance.
Sycamore is proud to use the Clarity Application to determine a family’s level of financial need based on the information that families share in the application, which includes assets, income, expenses, and debts.
ELIGIBILITY & REQUIREMENTS
Financial Aid Timetable
August – Financial aid application available for submission by Interested families
February 1 – Deadline for applying for financial aid
Early March – Award notices sent to families
How to Apply
To get started, go to the Clarity Application and create an account. The application typically takes less than 30 minutes to complete. It is also mobile-friendly, so you can complete it from anywhere, and you are also able to save your progress and return at any time. At the end of the application, there is a $60 fee to submit, and you can share your application with additional schools that accept the Clarity Application for no additional charge. Simply use the dropdown menu in the application to select those schools.
If you need support during the process of completing your application, there is in-app support available through the “Help” button in the bottom left of the screen, as well as email and phone support at support@claritytuition.com or 206-210-3752, in both English and Spanish. The application itself is also fully translated into Spanish.
For additional information about financial aid and/or for answers to questions you have about financial aid, contact Patrick Juday, Chief Financial Officer.
Awards
Your child must have been offered admission to Sycamore School before financial aid is considered. Award notices usually are sent to families in early March. If documents are missing from the application, a contingent award will be sent to the family. No award will be finalized until all documents required by the school have been received and verified satisfactorily. Families must return a signed acceptance of the award by the deadline indicated on the award notice (usually within about 7 days).
Family Disclosure Responsibility
If the Financial Aid Committee becomes aware that a family or applicant knowingly failed to disclose significant income or assets, or otherwise knowingly provided inaccurate information on a financial aid application, Sycamore School reserves the right to rescind some or all of the financial aid award.
Confidentiality Statement
Sycamore School will treat all financial information provided by families in the strictest of confidence. Only the Financial Aid Committee and appropriate administrative personnel will have access to this information.
WHY CLARITY?
We have chosen to partner with Clarity as our financial aid application provider in order to better serve both our current and prospective families. We are confident that this change is going to make the process of applying for financial aid easier for families. In fact, we collaborated with other area independent schools, several of whom have also chosen Clarity.
Clarity offers a streamlined, mobile-friendly application that can be completed in as few as 20 minutes. Additionally, Clarity removes the need to upload your 2022 W2 and 1040 by transferring them directly from the IRS. This reduces the amount of information that you will need to enter manually and makes it possible to complete the application quickly and efficiently.
Sycamore School takes the privacy and security of your personal information very seriously. Clarity is certified for both GDPR and SOC2 and uses enterprise-level security standards including end-to-end encryption of all personally identifiable information. For more information, please refer to Clarity’s Privacy Policy.
Just as in prior years, if your financial circumstances have not changed, you will not see significant changes to your award. If you have any questions about your individual circumstance, please reach out to us.
Yes, you will need to submit a Clarity application each year in order to qualify for financial aid; however, Clarity retains your information from previous applications, so it will be even easier to reapply.
Yes! Clarity’s application is fully mobile-friendly so you have access wherever you are.
You must submit your full completed application by February 1.
FINANCIAL AID FAQ
Sycamore School partners with Clarity to help us determine your family’s contribution to educational expenses. This system considers the family’s income, net assets, family size, special circumstances, and other criteria in determining the amount a family can afford to contribute toward the cost of tuition. The Financial Aid Committee uses the standardized calculation provided by Clarity as well as the overall budget as guides in determining the award amount to each family.
Few families find it easy to pay tuition at independent schools, and many families view the nominal application fee as an acceptable cost to find out if they qualify for financial aid. Each family’s combination of circumstances is unique. The best determining factor comes from your own personal knowledge of your family’s finances.
To get started, go to the Clarity Application and create an account. The application typically takes less than 30 minutes to complete. It is also mobile-friendly, so you can complete it from anywhere, and you are also able to save your progress and return at any time. At the end of the application, there is a $60 fee to submit, and you can share your application with additional schools that accept the Clarity Application for no additional charge. Simply use the dropdown menu in the application to select those schools.
No. The admissions process is financial needs-blind, so applying for financial aid will in no manner affect your child’s chances of being offered admission to Sycamore School.
Clarity removes the need to upload your federal tax return and supporting documents (e.g. W-2 and 1099 forms) by transferring your previous year's tax information and documents directly from the IRS. This reduces the amount of information that you will need to enter manually and makes it possible to complete the application quickly and efficiently, well before the deadline for filing your federal tax forms.
While the school understands that some families place a value on having a stay-at-home parent, Sycamore School views the choice of a family to maintain a one-income household as limiting the family’s ability to fund an independent school education. Based on this philosophy, the school considers both the actual and potential income that can be earned in each household by calculating a minimal imputed income for the non-working parent. The actual and imputed incomes of both parents are considered in arriving at the award amount. Additionally, the school does not give special consideration for parents attending school in determining financial aid.
Sycamore School requires that the households of both parents complete the financial aid application to provide a complete picture of the family’s resources. If a biological parent has no role both personally and financially in the child’s life, a letter from a disinterested and acceptable third party is needed (minister, attorney, social worker, etc.). We are also aware that circumstances differ among divorced families and encourage you to contact the school to discuss the specifics of your circumstances should this present a hardship. The addition of another adult into a household, either through marriage or a relationship that becomes established, may change the family’s financial situation to a considerable extent. In the school’s view, the combined resources of the new family unit must be considered in arriving at a financial aid award decision. It will therefore be necessary for the financial aid application to include the financial information of both adults in the new family unit as well. An established relationship includes, but is not limited to, any or all of the following: adult cohabitation, financial support, involvement in student’s life, involvement in Sycamore activities, cosigning of the enrollment agreement, etc.
You may pay the balance of the tuition through one of the school’s payment plans, which includes paying in two equal payments or through ten equal monthly paymens.
Each year a family must reapply for financial aid. While the school cannot guarantee the same level of aid from year to year, every effort will be made to make award offers that are fair and comparable.
Sycamore School will allow a family about a week to consider the financial aid award. If the family declines the offer within that time, the School will release the family from the enrollment contract and will refund any advance deposit that was paid, provided the family applied for financial aid before the February deadline.
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