Charlottesville Waldorf School Tuition Assistance Program
Information for the 2013-2014 School Year

Purpose
The Charlottesville Waldorf School (CWS) strives to develop a diverse student population and to serve every family enrolled in the school that values a Waldorf education as a family priority. However, not all families are able to afford tuition for their children. The school’s Tuition Assistance (TA) program addresses families’ needs for help with tuition while being mindful of the financial health of the school.

What is Tuition Assistance?
Rudolf Steiner wrote in Towards Social Renewal that, “What each individual really needs can only be known by himself; what he should contribute he can determine through his insight into the situation as a whole.” We try to realize this vision by providing each family with insight into the school’s overall financial situation and the share of the costs of running the school that must be borne by that family.
Concretely we do this by applying a principle of “pooling of financial responsibility.” Each year, the Board of Trustees determines the total pool of tuition money that must be raised to ensure the vitality of the school and success in fulfilling its mission. After subtracting the portion that will be contributed by families paying tuition in full, a portion is left that is then divided among all those families who apply for tuition assistance, according to the relative amount of financial resources available to each family in comparison to the other families. The adjusted tuition is not a determination of how much a family can “afford” based on their means. Instead it is a determination of how much the school needs from every family, taking into account its ability to contribute financially relative to the other school families.
The basic idea behind this “pooling” system is the interdependence of all families within the school community. The school as a whole needs to raise a certain target amount to pay teachers and staff, maintain the facilities, purchase supplies, and fulfill the other budgetary commitments that are required by the school’s mission of providing a Waldorf education for all of its children. Although this target amount is fixed, families differ in their ability to pay. Under the pooling principle, the target amount is divided among all families, using family financial data (income, assets, expenses, etc.) to determine the share that each family is responsible for (how much each family needs to contribute for the pool to be filled). In effect, the tuition assistance that any one family receives represents a contribution that is made by all other school families as they share the burden of supporting the school.
The pooling process is facilitated by use of a third party service which collects and analyzes parent financial information and helps assess each family’s financial resources relative to other families—in a way that ensures fairness and confidentiality. For applications for the school year 2011-2012, the outside service we are using is TADS (tads.com).

Financial Resources Available to Each Family Relative to Other Families
Based on the financial figures that families submit to the third party service using, CWS is able to evaluate the financial resources available to each family relative to the other families in the tuition assistance pool. The calculation takes into account household income, assets, family-specific expenses, and the basic costs necessary for a family of a given size to live moderately in Charlottesville. We are not using the third party service to estimate what each family can “afford.” Instead the service provides a way of evaluating each family’s ability to contribute financially relative to all the other families that apply for TA. This allows the total pool of tuition that must be raised to be divided among all families on an equitable basis, so that each family can be asked to contribute an amount that is in proportion to its financial resources. The result is a determination of how much the school needs from every family, taking into account its ability to contribute financially as compared to the other school families.
                                                                                                                 

 

2013-14 Enrollment Important Dates and Procedures

CURRENT FAMILIES

 
MONDAY, January 14
A Parent Financial Statement (PFS) must be completed online at www.tads.com.  Use tax information from 2011.
 
MONDAY, February 25
Provided there are no delays from TADS, re-enrollment packets, including Annual Tuition Contracts and/or notification of Financial Aid award letters will be mailed to parents.
 
MONDAY, March 11
Annual Tuition Contract/acceptance of aid, plus half of deposit must be received by CWS, Attn: Business Office.
 
MONDAY, April 29
Second half of non-refundable deposit due.
 
 

NEW FAMILIES
 
MONDAY, January 14
A Parent Financial Statement (PFS) must be completed online at www.tads.com.  Use tax information from 2011.
 
MONDAY, March 11
Provided there are no delays from TADS, Annual Tuition Contracts/notification of Financial Aid award, or letter of student acceptance will be mailed to parents.
 
MONDAY, March 25
Families must accept financial awards by submitting an Annual Tuition Contract and half the non-refundable deposit, Attn: Business Office.
 
MONDAY, May 6
Second half of non-refundable deposit due.
 

If two parents of a child live in different households, please complete two separate applications: one application for each household.

External Resources

Any financial support, educational or otherwise that may be available beyond the parent’s own income and assets must be reported on the TADS application for consideration by the school. These include resources from the parent and any other adults who live in the household and/or share in the household finances such as a step-parent, grandparent, or partner.

Late Applications and Emergency Funds

Funds sometimes remain or become available after the initial Tuition Assistance Awards have been offered.
Families whose admissions applications have been initiated after the tuition assistance application deadline, or families who require emergency assistance due to loss of employment or other life events, are encouraged to apply for tuition assistance. Resources cannot be guaranteed and amounts awarded at this time will likely be reduced.

Appeals Process

We expect all families to pay their adjusted tuition amount as given in the Notification of Tuition Assistance letters they receive. However, the school has set aside a limited allowance to cover further assistance in cases of extreme hardship. If you find you need to request additional assistance, please put your request in writing and send it to the Business Manager. A meeting will be set up for you with two Re-enrollment Committee members to discuss the TA pooling process and your special circumstances. For this meeting, please bring any additional documents that may be needed to support claims of undeclared expenses, income, and net worth. Your request can then be brought to an Appeals Subcommittee of the CWS Budget and Finance Committee which will allocate additional hardship assistance fund dollars as available and appropriate.