The Brearley School: Accessibility and Affordability in Elite Education
The Brearley School, an all-girls private school on Manhattan's Upper East Side, has long been synonymous with academic rigor and exclusivity. Founded in 1884, Brearley aims to provide its students with a college-preparatory education equal in rigor to that of boys and prepare them for active responsible citizenship in a democratic society.
A Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion
In keeping with Brearley’s mission to educate students of adventurous intellect and diverse backgrounds, the school has consistently strived to make its exceptional education accessible to a wider range of families. This commitment is exemplified by the school's generous need-based financial assistance program, which has been in place for decades.
The Free Tuition Program: A New Chapter in Accessibility
Recently, The Brearley School has taken a significant step to further enhance accessibility with the launch of a Free Tuition Program. This program is designed to increase applications from families who may not otherwise consider an independent school education.
Eligibility and Scope
Starting in September 2025, families earning $100,000 or less a year and without significant assets will be eligible to qualify for free tuition. Students must go through the regular admission process, and parents must complete the same requirements for financial assistance as all other applicant families.
Once a student is accepted and qualifies for the Free Tuition Program, Brearley covers their full tuition, which is $66,800 for the 2025-2026 school year. This includes books, lunch, technology, athletics, grade-level trips, and extracurricular activities. The school also covers additional expenses generally not covered by tuition, such as afterschool and summer programs, music lessons, and, for Upper School students, participation in one of Brearley's travel study programs.
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Building on a Strong Foundation
The Free Tuition Program builds upon an already generous need-based financial assistance program in place at Brearley for decades. In the 2024-2025 school year, nearly $9.4 million was awarded in financial aid grants to families representing a wide range of incomes and across all three divisions.
Even for families that do not qualify for the Free Tuition Program, Brearley has a generous, need-based financial assistance program. The school believes that a Brearley education should be accessible to any family who would not otherwise have the means to participate fully in its program. As such, it awards significant financial assistance grants to families across various income brackets.
Addressing the Needs of Lower-Income Families
While there has been growth among upper-middle-income families applying for and receiving significant financial aid awards, there hasn’t been a commensurate increase in applications from lower-income students. With this new program, which has proven successful in highly selective boarding schools and in higher education, the hope is to make crystal clear the comprehensive financial support Brearley provides to families who may have thought an independent school education was out of reach.
The Application Process
Families interested in the Free Tuition Program must complete both Brearley’s admission application process and financial assistance application process. If a daughter is admitted to Brearley, then the financial assistance department will determine eligibility for the Free Tuition Program. When determining eligibility for the Free Tuition Program, the school will take into consideration total household income and assets.
Families applying for assistance must complete an annual application through Clarity, a third-party financial aid platform. While each school has its own criteria, Clarity equips the committee with the tools necessary to conduct an equitable and consistent review process.
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Continued Financial Assistance
Families whose incomes increase beyond $100,000 become part of the general financial aid process. Families in the general financial aid group receive financial aid grants up to 99% of the full tuition. A family’s financial aid grant is calculated using Clarity and takes into account factors such as income, assets, family size, and number of children in tuition-charging schools. Brearley funds a family’s full demonstrated need as calculated by Clarity and Brearley’s family need analysis. The School will also periodically review the income limit of the Free Tuition Program. All families that receive financial assistance from Brearley, including those in the Free Tuition Program, will need to complete the financial assistance application process each year.
The Cost of Education in New York City
The Free Tuition Program arrives at a time when the cost of private education in New York City is rapidly increasing. Tuition for the upcoming academic year at several of New York City’s top institutions is just now trickling out to new and returning parents. The prestigious Trinity School on the Upper West Side will charge $69,000. The Upper East Side’s Spence School will charge $68,480, while the nearby Nightingale-Bamford School set tuition at $68,350.
The cost has risen drastically over the past decade. In 2014-15, the median tuition in New York City was $39,900, according to the National Association of Independent Schools analysis of 48 schools. This year’s median of $61,800 represented a 55% increase, well ahead of the pace of inflation. Even in the last several years the tuition hikes have been staggering.
Admissions at New York City’s elite schools are highly sought, and the academic programs can propel students to the Ivy League. That exclusivity comes with a high price tag. And tuition isn’t the only cost for parents.
In the broader New York metro area, the median tuition at 97 private institutions was $50,662 this year, a 3.7% increase from the year before, according to NAIS. Nationally, private schools have boosted fees to blunt higher costs for teacher salaries and education materials, according to a Feb. 12 report from S&P Global Ratings.
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Higher tuition is partly tied to more pay for educators. There’s an expectation that parents have that independent schools have the best teachers with the highest level of training.
Many New York schools point to robust financial aid programs. Brearley will offer free tuition for families that earn as much as $100,000 starting this fall. Spence gave $8.2 million in financial aid this year, which went to 20% of its students, according to a school representative.
Brearley: A School for Intellectually Adventurous Girls
Brearley is a top-ranked NY school, with Grades Kindergarten-12, Enrollment: 762 students, Yearly Tuition: $66,800, Acceptance rate: 20%, Average class size: 15 students
The Brearley School fosters a love of learning, excellence in the liberal arts, and engagement in a lively and inclusive community. At Brearley, students learn to challenge assumptions, collaborate with others, and think for themselves. The rigorous curriculum, crafted by highly skilled faculty, is rooted in tradition while adapting to the changing needs of today’s world.
Beyond the classroom, students pursue their interests in theater, dance, athletics, the visual arts, music, stagecraft; they join student government, a host of clubs and interest groups, and student-run publications. Most of all, they become a part of a supportive and nurturing environment where they are provided a vast array of opportunities to learn, grow, and develop into women who will have the confidence to pursue their ambitions and a commitment to the greater good.
Brearley offers 13 interscholastic sports: Badminton, Basketball, Cross Country, Dance, Field Hockey, Lacrosse, Soccer, Softball, Squash, Swimming, Tennis, Track and Field and Volleyball.
Alumnae Voices
Brearley alumnae attest to the lasting impact of a Brearley education.
Amina Elderfield, Class of 1994, Managing Director, Financial Services, says, “The academic rigor is the hallmark of this place, but it was really about the curiosity and this wonderment the school inspired, and you felt you had with your fellow classmates.”
Megan Lui, Class of 2010, Writer, says, “It's so much more than just an excellent education. It's an education that will not only prepare you for higher education but also for your careers to come and just being a good citizen of the world.”
Modupe Akinola, Class of 1992, Business School Professor, says, “I think it is important to highlight the power of an all-girls education, with everyone who is the same gender raising their hands, being excited, knowing you have things to contribute in a very unique way.”
Sue Meng, Class of 1999, Lawyer, says, “Brearley is a place that values the quality of your mind, the nature of your character, more than any of the other things that differentiate us. Those are values I hold to this day.”
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