If you’re a parent considering private education for your children–or if you have already made that decision–you are likely driven by a desire to provide your kids with the best educational journey your family can achieve. Though you are concerned about the future employability of your kids, you are even more invested in the kinds of people they are going to become. Will they hold fast to the gospel? Will they be virtuous? Through pursuing Christian, classical education, you are prioritizing the pursuit of wisdom for them to flourish holistically throughout their lives.
The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight. Prize her highly, and she will exalt you; she will honor you if you embrace her.
Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding, for the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold. She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her.
Financial Aid vs. Discounts
The truth is, all education–homeschool, private, or public–comes at a price. Curriculum, qualified teachers, and facilities entail cost. Christian private schools, driven by a biblical anthropology regarding the dignity of all people, face a difficult decision when it comes to assigning tuition value. Do we shoot for affordability and aim to keep prices below the true cost to educate in order to reach the widest array of families, or do we intentionally offer accessibility to mission-fit families? Schools in the affordability camp offer a discounted tuition up front, choosing to subsidize all families across the economic spectrum. The result, generally, is an inadvertent undermining of long-term sustainability for the school because this model is unable to support programming and staffing needs financially. Schools that deploy need-based financial aid with strategic intentionality, on the other hand, are able to provide targeted tuition assistance, allowing them to scale for growth, plan for the future, and foster wide-scale economic diversity.
Matt Skinner, CFO at the Society for Classical Learning (SCL), argues for the latter approach:
“[A]ccessibility is tied to intentionality, not discounting. Aid is expected to support mission fit, enrollment stability, and long-term health, not to mask an unsustainable tuition model. When schools are clear about accessibility, conversations with families change. Leaders can speak honestly about cost and confidently about aid. Families understand both the value of the program and the purpose of financial support. Accessibility does not mean lowering standards or hiding cost. It means aligning generosity with mission and capacity.”
This is why Clapham follows an accessibility model of tuition and financial support for families at our school, rather than affordability. The tuition value on our website reflects the true cost of a Clapham education, from curricular supplies to facilities expenses to the hiring and training of qualified and dedicated faculty.
Our pricing model allows us to be able to offer financial aid with celebratory generosity, enabling us to allow a wide diversity of socioeconomic backgrounds to be a part of our community. It gives us the freedom to be honest about the cost of our program, while ensuring this price is not a hindrance to enrollment. Ultimately, it supports the longevity of our mission to equip students to pursue wisdom, grow in virtue, and stand firm in biblical truth.
Are you curious about the financial aid available for your family? We invite you to learn more about the process here and to connect with our Admissions team with further questions.