The fund marks more that the school’s 65th anniversary, it also honors Timothy Phelps- long-time faculty member, brother of president Norman, and son of school founder Norman, Sr.

“(Timothy was) a passionate Civil War historian, world traveler, lover of animals and devoted family member and teacher…This scholarship celebrates Tim’s life by sharing his principles through the nurturing of future young men dedicated to continued excellence across all platform,” Phelps told Daily Local News writer, Sara Mosqueda-Fernandez.(DLN)

Fernandez describes the Phelps Paragon this way:

“The boys considered for this scholarship must exhibit a variety of talents, personal interest, and a strong desire to learn. According to the administration, he must have also demonstrated compassion toward family, community and others. Qualified recipients have endeavored to broaden their cultural awareness and exposure to global issues while pursuing personal and academic enrichment.” (DLN)

On a personal note, I started my career at Phelps when Norm was head and T. Phelps was on the faculty. T. Phelps was one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet- anywhere. He was also one the great people who make boarding schools work- self sacrificing and always willing to take on a job, or challenge, that other faculty didn’t want to touch. I’m saddened to learn of his passing.

An example of a crumbling public system would be when this past September I accepted a boy as a senior into our school (Brentwood College School).  He loved his local high school.  He was a star on their basketball team and a member of the student council.  He was excited about his last year in his school and pursuing his ultimate goal of heading off to medicine.  The problem was, budget cuts forced his local high school to cancel the 12^th grade Biology class.  He was desperate.  Without it, he could not think of medicine as a post-secondary option.  This is unfortunately a common theme: local secondary schools dropping programs, eliminating opportunities, sabotaging futures.  It is a sad state of affairs for our youth and one of the reasons schools like ours are in high demand.

With proper budgeting, scholarships and financial aid, affording an independent education may not be out of your reach.  You might be surprised at some of the creative financing options schools can create for families.  In many ways, can you afford not to consider it?

We expanded to feature new voices and perspectives during 2010 and we’re pleased that many new contributors made this top-ten list. Enjoy any that you might have missed.

1. Kiski Basketball Features 7 foot brothers Sim and Tanveer Bhullar

“…one seven footer on a team- rare; two seven footers on a team- almost never; two seven foot brothers on a team?”

Sim and Tanveer Bhullar arrive at The Kiski School as the school makes a push into more competitive basketball. Lead by new coach Daryn Freedman, Sim and Tanveer are part of a new wave of athletes on the team.

2. 5 Reasons to Consider Boarding Schools!

Why consider a boarding school? We give you five quick, great reasons.

3. The Athletic Post-Graduate (PG) Year

Athletic PG programs help students build successful academic routines, improve grades and test scores and provide an extra year of athletic maturation.

4. Milton Hershey School: A Boarding School with a Distinct Mission

One of the boarding school world’s great places, Milton Hershey School dedicates itself to providing first class opportunities to students whose background and family finances would normally keep boarding school beyond their educational opportunities. Milton Hershey’s fortune allows the school to serves as the consistent environment for students needing a healthy living and academic environment.

5. New York Military Academy Announces Closing

New York Military Academy alumni and supports rally to save the school from a threatened closing.

6. Pingree School Goalie Trevor Leahy’s Invention Featured in the New York Times

Pingree ice hockey goalie Trevor Leahy invents Goalie Flage, camoflage for goalie pads.

7. Boarding school essays – a bit of advice

Quick, simple advice as applicants work on their admission essays, “An essay is not good because of the topic but because of the voice. … Students need only to recall the difference between two simple concepts — showing and telling…”

8. Boarding School Rankings: Ignore Them!

Just as there is a college for everyone, there is a boarding school for everyone. We don’t have a boarding school ranking list because every school appeals to and works best with a different kind of student.

9. 5 Tips To A Better Private School Admission Interview

The admission interview carries a different amount of weight in the admission process at each school to which you will apply, but make no mistake, the interview is an important part of determining if you will be accepted to boarding school. Follow these 5 tips from Brendan Schneider, Director of Admission & Financial Aid at Sewickley Academy, and you’ll be guaranteed to have a great interview: Research, Connect, Reverse, Complete, Breathe.

10. A School Answers Four Common Boarding School Admission Questions

Baylor School answers the four most common questions their admission office receives from families.

Many readers are familiar with SSS through their work in determining family financial status and their management of the Parent’s Financial Statement (PFS).

Onink and Mitchell’s conversation works to shed some light on the process for families considering boarding school and financial aid. Mitchell explains that recent changes in SSS’ calculation methods may increase eligibility for some families

“…The SSS program has recently changed how it calculates parents’ ability to pay for tuition acknowledging the greater pressures on family’s discretionary income and increased costs of maintaining even basic living expenses. This could lead to increased financial aid eligibility for some families, depending on a school’s final analysis of the family’s application and its available funding…”(Forbes)

The most interesting part of the conversation comes through Mitchell’s presentation of the challenges that schools face as they work to provide as much aid as possible while keeping their books balanced. Mitchell provides a nice, short, primer on how schools use their endowments year-to-year and in times of crisis. Making the case for NAIS member schools, Mitchell explains:

“…Schools’ number one priority in times like these is to extend as much support as possible to families in order to keep the independent school option a reality for new and current students. Many schools are investing more in financial aid spending to ensure that, particularly, the needs of families already a part of the school community are met. They are actively engaged in reassessing their budgets to be sure they’re operating as leanly as possible, so as to keep changes to their tuitions as low as possible without decreasing the quality of the education they provide…” (Forbes)

For Families, of course, there’s no magic bullet to the financial aid process; financial aid is exactly as described- a multivariable process with no certain outcome. With schools doing their part to manage the process responsibly, families must start early; be open, honest, and transparent; and willing to accept that the process rests on a series of compromises that work to yield a ‘best,” not perfect solution.

Brentwood College School

I am delighted to be the latest contributing member of the AdmissionsQuest Blog team.  I have been working in a boarding school for almost 2 decades and hopefully I can offer some unique perspectives.

My boarding school (www.brentwood.bc.ca) is in British Columbia, Canada.  It is located right on the Pacific Ocean (view from our school above) and it is part of the Western Boarding Schools Association (www.wbsa.net) that represents all the boarding schools in North America west of the Mississippi River!

Western boarding schools have their own unique approach to boarding and hopefully I will be able to shed some light on Canada as a boarding destination, on boarding specifically in western North America and, most importantly, on boarding school life itself.

I posted this article recently on my blog.  It is my take on the top 10 list of things you should look for when exploring boarding school options.

Hopefully you will find this list helpful: www.bcsadmissions.wordpress.com

SPSG trustees have lowered tuition and included the price of textbooks in the new lower tuition for all SPSG families. SPSG upper school tuition will decrease by 3.2%; middle school tuition will decrease by 7.4%. Both lower figures provide textbooks at no additional cost.

Writing for the trustees, board chair J. Michael Sloneker acknowledged economic realities buffeting families and the role of school tutition in family equations.

“…While prompted by the economic downturn, the decision is grounded in the knowledge that independent school tuitions have reached an all-time high that forces many families out of the private-education marketplace.

Over the past three decades, tuition at independent schools, like private colleges, has grown well beyond the growth in income for the vast majority of families. For some time, the National Association of Independent Schools has urged its members to find strategies to keep independent schools accessible and affordable.

We, at SPSG, by lowering tuition and providing textbooks for students at no additional cost to families, are helping to do just that.

…These changes demonstrate our commitment to you, our families, and our determination not to increase tuition…”

Sloneker noted, “This opportunity is available to us because our trustees have been conservative and proactive in financial matters.”

A courageous decision growing out of strong, long term management – you can’t say anything better about ones trustees.

Easily, in light of the fact that traditional boarding school tuition runs about $42,500. Easily, in light of the lasting affects that a sound boarding school education can have on a student.

A student’s growth and development combined with the permanent, lasting effects, of an education from any one of these schools possibly makes 23k a bargain.

Affordability is an issue.

Here at AdmissionsQuest, questions regarding affordability, and financing a boarding school education, come in at a rate higher than all others save- school inquiries. Some colleges have been addressing ‘affordability’ for roughly 25 years. I’m proud to see the serious conversation beginning in the boarding school community.

Higher priced schools work to defray their tuition sticker price through financial aid- mostly in the forms of tuition remission grants and or loans.

However, with each school administering its own aid and relying on its own internal monies to finance its financial aid pool, the limits are obvious. Tuition income, endowment income, minus operating expenses, leaves only so much money for financial aid grants and awards. Schools do the best they can.

For many families, expensive schools remain expensive, even with a financial aid award.

Three Schools Committed To Affordability

I share this look at Subiaco, St. Bernard and Houghton because I’ve learned over the last couple of years that, through their philosophical and practical commitments, these schools provide a traditional boarding education at a lower cost than most all of their peers.

This group features two coeducational schools and one all boys school.

I came to know each school independently, but, as I visited campuses and spoke with their admission directors, I found a host of common philosophies and operational approaches that these schools share in their work with students and families.

How do they do it?

1. Clear mission. These schools are very comfortable with who they are and who they are not.
2. The first, most obvious, perspective to acknowledge- all three schools operate from a service-based religious commitment.
3. They focus on serving regional families and students. All three schools are located outside of traditional boarding school concentrations (New England, Mid-Atlantic, Western Schools). All three schools love their international students and students from all over the United States. Their primary constituents are, however, regional.
4. You will find relationships at the core of these schools. If you’re seeking fancy facilities and physical plants that rival, or dwarf, the facilities of some small colleges. You’ll need to look elsewhere.
5. None are located in regions of concentrated affluence.
6. Faculty at these schools live and embody a ‘life of service’ world view. Teaching is a labor of love and faculty members at these schools sacrifice personal gain in their commitment to teaching their students.
7. Students, their learning and lessons, come first. The focus stays on school and personal growth of each student.

A Boys School

Subiaco Academy (Subiaco,AR) www.subiacoacademy.us
Subiaco Academy is an all-boys (grades 7-12) college preparatory residential and day school founded in 1887. The school is an educational apostolate of the Benedictine monks at Subiaco Abbey located against the foothills of the Ouachita Mountains in the Arkansas River Valley.

“The Academy strives to instill in its students the spirit of St. Benedict expressed in his Rule: a respect for the value of work, development of personal talents to serve others, a sense of peace and fraternity, self-discipline, trust, and an appreciation of the Christ-centered nature of monastic communities. Subiaco provides an engaging and supportive environment that is academically well-rounded, structured, and challenging.”

Two Coeducational Schools

St. Bernard Preparatory School (Cullman, AL), www.stbernardprep.com
St. Bernard Prep is a co-ed Catholic boarding and day school for grades 7-12 operated by the Benedictine monks of St. Bernard Abbey.

I’m most fond of St. Bernard’s Prep’s stated Goals that move beyond a classroom setting. Here’s a paraphrased sampling:

The  instillation of “a solid background in Christian teaching and practice and in the rights and responsibilities of being members of Christ’s Body the Church, of American society, and of the global community.

To exemplify the Benedictine tradition of daily prayer and work.

To provide experiences by which students may explore, understand, appreciate, and develop tolerance for racial, cultural, and socioeconomic differences.

To help students establish patterns of lifelong spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical health.

To present in a positive and healthy way, life-coping skills which address realistic questions, challenges, and problems that young people must encounter in our rapidly changing society.

To encourage students to investigate career possibilities that a higher education may offer them.

To expose students to aesthetic qualities through music, art, literature and other contemplative and creative media.

Houghton Academy (Houghton, NY) www.houghtonacademy.org
Houghton Academy is a Christian, college-prep boarding and day school enrolling students in grades 6 – 12.

Headmaster Stockin is fond of describing our program as having a three-fold emphasis on head, heart and hands. We seek to supply core knowledge, allow knowledge to be informed by faith, and then encourage students to put their knowledge and faith into action. To that end, we offer more than academic coursework. We encourage our students to get involved in sports or music or drama or art or publishing as we believe that good education should encompass more than just books and information.

…When all is said and done, students should not learn merely for the sake of learning. Education should, inevitably, result in action…

…We seek to help our students recognize that day-to-day living offers many opportunities to serve and assist others. From the simple act of picking up a piece of paper off the floor to the intense moments spent volunteering in a nursing home, we strive to teach and model a lifestyle that is enthusiastically others-centered.

Two of our member schools recently announced scholarship programs for talented IB students (IB Scholarships for Boarding Schools).

At Annie Wright School (Tacoma, WA), where all students take IB courses:

“…Extremely bright students can take part in the Scholar Search Weekend in February of each year, during which applicants participate in activities with current students, sleepovers, and subject tests. Selection depends on the outcome of their performance during this weekend.”

St. Timothy’s School (Stevenson, MD):

“…provides Merit Scholarship Awards to three successful students entering in the 9th, 10th or 11th grades.” Through a competitive process, students can receive either the $5000 Carter or R.L.Ireland Merit Scholarship Award or the Cindi Greene ’68 Scholarship. The first two support the first year of education at St. Timothy’s, while the latter provides financial aid for needy students of demonstrated intellectual merit. The Cindi Greene ’68 Scholarship has no fixed value and the amount awarded is determined by the student’s financial need.”

We recommend contacting the admission offices at either school for more information.

“The TEAK Fellowship helps talented New York City students from low-income families gain admission to and succeed at top high schools and colleges.”

More than academics, Teak provides support and learning exposure opportunities to promote student growth and achievement.

“…TEAK provides leadership training, exposure to the arts and outdoors, mentoring, career experience, and assistance with the high school and college application processes.”

TEAK Founder Justine Stamen Arrillaga found the motivation and impetus for Teak in the lives of a students and friends, Teak Dyer (1970-1988) and DeWitt White (1980-1997).

“…Teak was an outstanding student, upstanding citizen, and friend of Justine’s. DeWitt, a former student of Justine’s, was a profoundly gifted musician.

Both were casualties of complicated urban problems, murdered at young ages – Teak in Los Angeles, DeWitt in New York. This program aims to draw on their spirits and to change the lives of talented young people who come after them.”

TEAK has placed students in more than 25 boarding schools and currently serves 150 Fellows and 100 Alumni.

Below are 5 reasons why parents should consider boarding school for their child.

5. Exceptional Resources

Boarding schools typically have resources that most public schools cannot match.  These include superb facilities such as media centers, dorms, and athletic venues just to name a few.  Other resources students can take advantage of are the people.  Teachers at boarding schools usually have a first degree in their subject and a high percentage (70%-80%) will also have a masters or terminal degree.  The hiring of teachers at boarding schools involves not only a thorough review of the prospective teacher, but references from previous teaching jobs and a desire and passion for their teaching subject.

4.  Class Size

Parents want the best education for their children and many times this comes down to individual attention.  Boarding school class sizes are generally 10-15 students.  A low student to teacher ratio is important because your child can get the individual attention needed that many public schools can’t give.

3.  Being Smart is in Style

Often times, boarding schools provide academic scholarships for students that excel in the classroom.  And because boarding schools are typically comprised of students that do well academically, it is more acceptable to be labeled “smart” than it is in a public school setting.  “Smart” kids in public schools are often labeled nerds and are open to ridicule.  This negative stereotype is avoided in a boarding school setting due to everyone’s desire to get the most out of their academic opportunities.

2.  Athletic Scholarship Opportunities

Because boarding schools have some of the best resources available, student-athletes have every opportunity and advantage to excel at their sport.  Top of the line facilities and experienced coaches are ingredients that often go into boosting a student’s athletic abilities.

1.  Personal Growth

Boarding schools provide an environment for students to develop while reaching their full potential.  The preparation they receive while at boarding school allows them to excel in life beyond their boarding school experience.