How can we ask for financial help to continue with our existing prep school?

Question

We hold the mission of giving our students the best standard, whether poor or middle class, with a minimal tuition fee, how can we be subsidized so we can continue with this mission?

Answer 1

Hopefully you can't! Private schools are not mandated and do not follow all public ed regs. Children that go to public school get funding because the state regulates the standards and their parents pay taxes. Public funds should not be used for schools that make exclusions in their entrance requirements.Private schools basically exist to serve speciall interests. If you want state funding you should apply for a charter and then be regulated by your state. Once a school accepts funding it can no longer keep its discriminatory rules against ANY group.
It basically loses most of its private ways. It still can maintain some but not as many as it did when totally run by private funds. If this is not for you then get private businesses to fund you.

Answer 2

There are lots of grants available from philanthropic organizations. Basically you propose a program or an existing need and estimate its costs, and the Rockefeller Foundation or Ford Foundation or Gates Foundation or one of many smaller foundations decides whether or not to fund it. From what I understand, these grants are handed out based more on merit of the program than financial need (that is, they determine that your provide an important service in your community and fund you because of that, not just because you need more money.) I attended a prominent prep school for girls with a very large endowment that still won lots of such grants ever year. They may have hired a professional grant-writer for the applications.

You should check out the websites for some of the philanthropic organizations I mention. You should also contact whatever educational association you are accredited by, such as the NAIS, to see if they have recommendations. If you are not accredited, you will need to become accredited to attract grant money.

Good luck on your search! I am a kid from a poor family who got to attend Chatham Hall, one of the best girls' schools in the country, on scholarship, and I am quite grateful. I believe in public schools, but they are so mediocre in many places now that there need to be alternatives, particularly alternatives for kids who aren't able to afford expensive tutitions.