The Foreign Service Journal, June 2016

86 JUNE 2016 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL EDUCATION SUPPLEMENT tuition, room and board. That can be a lot of money. Like colleges, most boarding schools use a third-party service (School & Stu- dent Services by the National Association of Independent Schools, or SSS by NAIS) that calculates what a family can afford. The school uses this information to deter- mine what, if any, financial aid to offer. Although only admitted to one school, our daughter was offered grants that amounted to a large percentage of tuition, room, board and books. It was a lot more than I thought she would get, and was more generous than the financial aid service calculation of our need. I think this was the only nice surprise we had in the process! Grade (and Grades) Matter Of course grades matter. But in the case of boarding school, the grade you enter also matters. A lot! Many boarding schools only have grades nine through 12; and, in addi- tion to not accepting any new seniors, their available spots for admission drop substantially after freshman year. In other words, it is easier to be admitted as a freshman than as a sophomore, and is much easier to be admitted as a freshman or sophomore than as a junior. To give you an idea of what this looks like, I asked an admissions counselor at my daughter’s school about the number of students admitted by grade each spring. Roughly speaking, this is the breakdown: • 100 freshmen • 30 sophomores • 12 juniors The counselor added that these proportions are representative of most Of course grades matter. But in the case of boarding school, the grade you enter also matters. A lot!