The school set Annual Giving records for the most amount of money raised by an independent day school, raised teacher salaries at a higher rate than tuition for the sixth consecutive time and amassed a 13% increase in total net assets in the 2022-2023 fiscal year. The school also provided $13.2 million in financial aid, funding about 20% of students’ tuition.
The 990 nonprofit tax form showing financial records for the 2022-2023 school year has been submitted to the Internal Revenue Service but has not been finalized, according to Chief Financial Officer David Weil ’93. Weil said the school has surpassed their initial goals for the financial aid budget in recent years.
“When [President Rick Commons] first became president, there was a target internally that 15% of our students would be receiving some form of [financial] assistance from the school,” Weil said. “Under his leadership, we have increased that target with the Board of Trustees’ support to where we’re now targeting something closer to 20%. We’re actually in excess of that right now.”
Despite the increase in aid given to students, the school’s tuition remains below the median for independent day schools, according to Commons. Commons said the money from Annual Giving enables the school to maintain a lower tuition than other private schools.
“We had wonderful participation from our parents and alumni in the Annual Giving campaign, and that supports our operating budget,” Commons said. “Without Annual Giving, we would lose over 10% of our operating budget. We count on it every year, and it enables us to keep our tuition below the median of schools in this area. I know our tuition is high, but it’s below the median. That’s because we are able to count on the gifts from parents and alumni [to] enable all the special things that happen.”
The total growth in net assets is partially due to contributions to the school’s River Park project. Commons said the unique nature and benefits of the project inspire community donations.
“When you talk about growth in our assets, we have been, of course, raising money for our River Park project,” Commons said. “People recognize that it is a once in an institutional-lifetime opportunity for us to have a third campus that will enable all the things that you’ve heard me write and talk about. Students will have more opportunities. We will be able to offer sports like girls lacrosse that we don’t currently offer [and create] extra boys soccer teams so that we don’t have to cut boys who want to play soccer. [We will] get kids home earlier, because right now, we have kids who are playing sports and are often getting home very late because we have to stack the practices.”