The goal of Cate’s financial assistance program is to attract and enroll students from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds and to offer a unique educational opportunity to deserving students to make such an experience possible. We are committed to making Cate accessible to families of all income levels by offering need-based financial assistance awards ranging from several thousand dollars to the full cost of tuition. Tuition for the current academic year is $65,500 for boarders and $51,675 for day students. In order to fully utilize our financial assistance budget and to assist as many deserving families as possible, it is expected that families will make their children’s education a financial priority.
For the current school year, 28% of the student body shares $4,250,000 in financial assistance.
Our financial assistance committee administers need-based awards and follow the guidelines of the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS). Financial assistance decisions are based on a family’s ability to finance their child’s education as demonstrated by the methodology of the School and Student Service for Financial Aid (SSS) of Princeton, New Jersey. Within the limitations of our budget, and according to our own financial assistance policies, Cate uses the SSS recommendations as a guideline in determining individual awards.
Although the admission and financial assistance programs at Cate are separate processes and an applicant must first be admitted to Cate and only then be considered for financial assistance. We notify all new students and their families of our financial assistance decisions at the same time that we notify them of our admission decisions.
The PFS is a comprehensive online form that allows School and Student Services (SSS) to estimate the amount your family can contribute towards your child’s tuition. SSS reports that estimate to any school or schools you indicate on your PFS. If your child is applying to more than one school, you only need to fill out your PFS once. If you have multiple children applying, only one PFS application is needed for all schools for all of your children.
The PFS opens each year on October 1st. The PFS is due February 1 for both returning and new prospective families. To begin your financial assistance application for the coming school year, please follow these steps:
If you are not a U.S. Citizen paying U.S. taxes, you will need to fill out the International Student Financial Aid Profile (also available within the PFS website)
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