Financial aid on the rise for private school aspirants
Lewis Cirne is a believer in paying it forward. The Canadian entrepreneur and founder/chief executive officer of New Relic, Inc., has met with considerable success in Silicon Valley, Calif., which he now calls his home base. But he’s happy to share that success with the school that helped get him on his chosen career path.
Cirne was a grateful bursary recipient at Trinity College School in Port Hope. “Private school was definitely out of reach financially for us. When I applied to Trinity in Grade 9, I got a bursary that provided enough assistance to get me through. That transformed my life. TCS prepared me well for my success; any good school can.”
When he founded his first company, he and his wife set aside a significant amount of stock to support financial aid at TCS. It turned out to be a substantial amount when that business was sold. They repeated that commitment with his second company, with even more impressive results. His most recent endowment in 2016 was two full- tuition scholarships for students entering Grades 9 to 11.
He says his time at TCS allowed him to grow personally and build relationships he holds dear to this day. “It helped form who I am and create a life for myself, my family and the people I work with. Not everyone can have that benefit. I would love to do my part to remove the barriers in a small way so those who are passionate about school can benefit from a place like TCS.”
Cirne’s story is illustrative of why more schools are offering bursaries today, says Glen Herbert, writer with OurKids, an organization that interfaces between schools and parents. “The reason schools are creating more bursaries and scholarships is that they are intentionally trying to develop their student bodies. They want to encourage economic diversity, in addition to social and cultural (diversity).”
The fact is many parents are not aware that financial aid may be available to them. But schools are actually very keen to work with parents, Herbert says. “If you approach the right one and they see their school is right for that child, they are willing to work with you and see what your options are. Appleby, for example, has an extremely robust financial aid program, and UCC has the largest financial aid program i n Canada. The spectrum of options is much vaster than people realize.”
Often, graduates are among the many supporters doing their part to help those who follow in their f ootsteps, s ays Maggie Houston- White, executive director of enrolment management at Havergal College girls’ school in Toronto. “The philanthropy here is outstanding. We keep growing our endowment thanks to the people who are helping to fund our bursaries.”
One important thing parents may not know is that financial support is managed separately from the application process through Apple Financial Services, which acts as a third party to process funding requests. “We don’t know who is or is not needing financial assistance when we consider applications,” Houston- White explains. Once admissions are received, offers are sent to a financial aid committee, which goes through the reports generated by Apple Financial that determine how much the families can afford.
Acceptance decisions are made independently of need, confirms Tom Stevens, director of admissions and marketing for Royal St. George’s College boys’ school in Toronto. “Often, with admission you will get a bursary or scholarship letter. The two are independent but parents are typically notified at the same time.”
Most deadlines for financial aid applications are toward the end of the year. While they don’t have to be filled out at the same time as the application for admission, Stevens says, “It is helpful to keep the two in pace.”
Parents have to reapply for aid each year, he explains. “Sometimes, their circumstances can be more dire. In other cases, they may no longer require the assistance.”
Stevens agrees that the financial aid landscape has changed dramatically in recent years. “There are a number of schools making a much larger commitment to their endowments so they can support students with financial needs. The number of students on bursaries has gone up because we all believe that having the ability to create a more diverse community — including economic — benefits everybody.”
Houston-White also stresses the importance of broadening access to private education. “We are lucky to live in a city with such diversity. We don’t want our girls to be here in a bubble.”
For parents in doubt, the first step is to call the school’s office to find out if they have a financial assistance program, she says.
“We all want to make it as easy as possible, and for the students to thrive no matter where they come from or what their financial situation may be. We want to do what we can to help.”