Understanding Hawken School Tuition and Flexible Tuition Program

Hawken School, located in Gates Mills, Ohio, is a secular, coeducational private school. Founded in 1915 by James A. Hawken, the school currently operates on multiple campuses, including the Lower and Middle Schools in Lyndhurst, the Upper School in Chester Township, and an urban campus in University Circle called The Sally & Bob Gries Center for Experiential and Service Learning. Hawken's motto, taken from John Lancaster Spalding's Education and the Higher Life, is "That the better self shall prevail, and each generation introduce its successor to a higher plane of life."

Hawken's Commitment to Socio-Economic Diversity

Hawken School strongly believes that a diverse student body, representative of all socio-economic backgrounds, is essential for preparing students for the real world. To achieve this goal, Hawken seeks to enroll the most qualified and compelling students, regardless of their socio-economic background. The school aims to attract families who understand and embrace Hawken's Purpose, Promise, and Principles.

Flexible Tuition Program: Making Hawken Accessible

To ensure accessibility for students from various financial backgrounds, Hawken offers a need-based Flexible Tuition Program for students entering grades K-12. This program represents a significant investment by the school in its commitment to diversity and inclusion.

Hawken boasts the largest financial assistance or Flexible Tuition budget of any private school in Ohio. Through this program, the school provides substantial financial aid to a significant portion of its student body. Specifically, Hawken allocates $15.3 million in assistance to 51% of its students.

Application Deadlines and Considerations

Families interested in the Flexible Tuition Program should be aware of the application deadlines. Current families seeking consideration for Flexible Tuition must reapply each year and meet the specified deadline. Applications completed outside the stated timeline are considered on a rolling admission basis, but may be subject to limited space and/or Flexible Tuition availability.

External Scholarship Opportunities: Cleveland Scholarship Program

In addition to Hawken's Flexible Tuition Program, families residing within the boundaries of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District have another avenue for financial assistance: The Cleveland Scholarship Program (CSP).

The Cleveland Scholarship Program (CSP) offers educational choice for students in kindergarten through 12th grade residing within the boundaries of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District to attend private schools. The value of the Cleveland Scholarship for grades 9-12 is currently $8,407 per year, which can be applied toward the cost of tuition.

Hawken's Educational Philosophy: A Child-Centered Approach

Hawken's commitment to its students extends beyond financial aid. The school prioritizes a child-centered approach to learning, focusing on individual needs and fostering a supportive and engaging environment.

At Hawken, the student is placed at the center of learning, and through developmentally appropriate activities, students learn to manage time and to think both critically and creatively. The school's caring and dedicated teachers create a supportive atmosphere where children feel comfortable making choices and taking intellectual risks.

Foundational Skills and Enrichment

Establishing a solid academic infrastructure at an early age is essential to intellectual development. In addition to a focus on foundational skills, Hawken's schedule provides time for enrichment activities and collaborative work. Students are encouraged to explore, ask questions, investigate, and share knowledge. Varied teaching methodologies ensure that all learning styles are addressed.

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Tailored Learning Experiences

Hawken's approach to learning is tailored to the needs and readiness of students in each grade level. For students in grades 1 and 2, the learning experience focuses on five domains of learning: social emotional, approaches to learning, language and literacy, cognitive, and physical. These domains encompass the core academic discipline, addressing each subject area from a developmental perspective, because each child progresses at varying rates within each discipline.

Developing Independent Learners

The exemplary program for students in grades 3-5 challenges students to develop self-awareness as independent learners, assume personal responsibility for academic learning and social behavior, and balance self-interest with active membership in the larger community.

Developmental Continuum: A Unique Assessment Tool

Hawken’s nationally recognized Developmental Continuum is the school's primary student assessment tool. This meaningful method of assessment represents the school's child-centered approach by honoring and celebrating the fact that children learn in different ways and at different rates. As teachers share what a child looks like as a learner through a sequence of benchmarks designating specific progression of development and anecdotal observations, parents are equipped with the knowledge and tools they need to support academic and social growth.

Fostering a Supportive Community

From greeting each classmate by name each day to a hug or handshake from the teacher at the end of the day, students understand that they are members of a warm and accepting community. In a supportive atmosphere that emphasizes responsibility and engagement, students learn how to use respectful language and to appreciate differences.

Hawken's Campuses and Facilities

Hawken currently has two main campuses, the Lower and Middle Schools in Lyndhurst and the Upper School in Chester Township, plus a third, an urban campus in University Circle, The Sally & Bob Gries Center for Experiential and Service Learning, which is utilized by all grade levels. A new middle school complex at the Lyndhurst campus was built for the 2006-07 school year. Construction on the Gates Mills campus finished in 2016, marking the opening of Stirn Hall.

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The school's founder and namesake, James A. Hawken, opened his school for boys in Cleveland's Hough neighborhood in 1915. First housed at 1572 Ansel Road, the school later moved to 1588 Ansel Road, shortly before relocating to its current Lyndhurst campus in 1922. Because James Hawken believed in one-on-one education for the boys at his school, the original building on the Lyndhurst campus, now containing part of the middle school, has many rooms designed to seat between eight and ten boys. Later, in 1961, the school added a 325-acre high school campus in Chester Township, housing formerly grades 10 through 12, and now also grade 9.

In the fall of 2006, Lincoln Hall was added on to the Middle School, adding much-needed classroom space. In the fall of 2009, Hawken commenced a tablet computer program for grade 6 which later spread throughout the middle and high schools. The Sally & Bob Gries Center for Experiential and Service Learning (also called The Gries Center), located in University Circle, opened on August 29, 2010. Additionally, due to increased enrollment, the school has renovated the lower school building, adding 5,540 square feet of space into the 2nd and 3rd grade area, as well renovating 8,125 square feet of space. Changes included the addition of a new classroom to the kindergarten and 1st grades; renovations to the performing arts classrooms as well as the addition of a fourth classroom; relocation and remodeling of a science classroom; and restoration of the main lobby and exterior remodeling. The new Hurwitz Hall's construction finished in August 2013. In late 2013, Hawken announced plans for a $24.5m renovation of the Gates Mills campus, Stirn Hall. Designed by architectural firm Westlake, Reed, Leskosky, the project would bring the academic complex to 106,000 square feet.

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