Financial Aid FAQs

No. Our entire financial aid budget goes to need-based financial aid grants so as many students as possible, regardless of their families’ financial situations, can consider Commonwealth.

No. Commonwealth’s financial aid is a need-based scholarship, not a loan. Families will not incur interest on it nor will they repay it at any time.

It is important to know that families with a wide range of incomes apply and are eligible for financial aid. This year, the incomes of families with financial aid grants were between $23,200 and $313,400.

If you’re not sure whether your family is eligible for financial aid, we encourage you to contact our Director of Admissions and Financial Aid, Carrie Healy (chealy@commschool.org). Using a tool through School and Student Services (SSS) and some information you provide—like parent age(s), number of children in tuition-charging schools, and income—we can give you a sense of whether your family might qualify for a grant. While this estimate will not capture your family’s complete financial picture, nor will it guarantee eligibility or the availability of financial aid, it can guide you in deciding whether to apply.

For the majority of the admissions cycle, Commonwealth’s admissions and financial aid processes are simultaneous yet separate. When applications are complete, our admissions committee reviews and evaluates them without considering a family’s ability to pay full tuition. Once they determine which applicants would be strong fits for Commonwealth, they must make difficult decisions about how to distribute available financial aid funds.

Commonwealth expects that living parents/guardians will contribute to the cost of tuition and fees. As such, we ask custodial and non-custodial parents/guardians to complete and submit Parents’ Financial Statements and all required documents. We understand that it is not always possible for families to meet this requirement; if that’s the case for your family, please contact the Director of Admissions and Financial Aid.

We are happy to support families in filling out and submitting the PFS. We can field specific questions or set up an appointment to go through the PFS together. We encourage you to contact us.

The combination of a financial aid grant and a family’s payment includes annual tuition; daily lunches and snacks; textbooks; participation in clubs, arts, and sports; and, typically, the cost of two all-school weekend trips. The costs of general school supplies and practice attire for athletics are not included in financial aid and are the family’s responsibility. (Please see below for more information about transportation, as well as this page regarding managing other costs.)

For families whose financial aid grants exceed 50% of tuition and fees and who do not reside in Boston, we include a transportation stipend as part of the grant. Depending on a family’s level of financial aid and where they live, the stipend covers some or all of the cost of transportation. Any remaining costs are the family’s responsibility.

For families whose grants are less than 50% of tuition and fees, transportation is not included in the grant.

Please note that student MBTA passes are free for Boston residents; for non-residents, student fares are significantly discounted.

We are committed to ensuring that every student has access to every opportunity at Commonwealth. As such, we partner with families in meeting the cost of students’ international foreign language exchanges and trips, summer programs, standardized testing, test preparation, and tutoring arranged through the school. Click here for more information.

Commonwealth offers three payment options: families can pay in full during the summer, pay half in the summer and half in the fall, or enroll in a ten-month payment plan. Families submit all payments through Blackbaud Tuition Management, an outside vendor that they subscribe to directly upon enrollment.

Yes. Commonwealth requires each returning family to submit a new PFS every year so the financial aid committee can recalculate grants. Reapplying allows the committee to get a real-time sense of a family’s financial picture and extend grants equitably.

Since families reapply for financial aid annually, it is unlikely that the grant and the family payment will remain exactly the same. If a family’s finances—incomes, other assets, debts, and any major expenses—stay the same, the financial aid grant will remain relatively consistent from year to year. If a family’s financial picture changes for better or for worse—a parent loses a job or gets a big bonus, there’s a death in the family, another child starts attending a tuition-charging school, someone wins the lottery, etc.—the grant and their payment will change to reflect this new information. Even if a family’s finances have not changed much, their payment will likely increase slightly each year as tuition rises. We expect a modest annual tuition increase and ask families to share the cost of that increase.