Financial Aid Guidelines 2023-2024

FINANCIAL AID GUIDELINES 2023-2024

PHILOSOPHY

Newark Academy recognizes that the cost of an independent school education represents a significant investment for any family. NA is committed to ensuring that the school remains accessible and affordable to families across northern New Jersey. NA contributes more than $4 million towards need-based financial aid each year. Roughly 17% of our student body receives financial aid annually.

The Financial Aid Program at Newark Academy (NA) supports the mission of the school by attracting and supporting an engaged student body instilled with a passion for learning, a standard of excellence, and a generosity of spirit. To achieve that end, NA is committed to providing financial aid to admissible students whose families demonstrate some level of financial need.

FINANCIAL AID AT NA

Need-Based Financial Aid

All financial aid at Newark Academy is need-based. NA does not offer merit-based scholarships. Need is defined as the difference between the cost of attendance and the family’s ability to pay, which is calculated through Clarity, a third-party provider. All completed applications submitted to Clarity are reviewed by Newark Academy’s Financial Aid Committee. Decisions are communicated to families in the spring of each year for the coming school year.

https://auth.clarityapp.com/en/signup/

Clarity takes into account a number of criteria in determining a family’s ability to pay including income, assets, debt, living expenses, the number of dependents, the age of the parents, and the number of children in tuition-charging schools. For this reason, there is no stated maximum income above which a family does not qualify for financial aid, and awards may change from year to year if or as a family’s financial situation changes as well.

The admission process is separate from the financial aid process; however, there are times when “need aware” admission decisions must be made as the Admission Committee’s decisions are weighed against available financial aid funds.

Families who do not apply for financial aid during their child’s admission process will not be considered for financial aid in future years unless they demonstrate a significant change in financial circumstances.

Annual Financial Aid Application Process

Newark Academy requires that the Clarity financial aid application is submitted annually for all families requesting consideration for need-based financial aid. All applicants must provide all supporting documents directly to Clarity by the stated deadlines. Financial aid applications received after the deadline may not be considered. Completed applications are reviewed by the Financial Aid Committee. Awards are granted in the spring and are for one year only.

Reconsideration Process

Once financial aid awards have been distributed, a family has the right to ask the committee to reconsider the amount awarded if they have new or additional information that they believe would have a significant impact on the Financial Aid Committee’s decision.

Reconsideration requests should be initiated by sending an email to financialaid@newarka.edu within two weeks of the financial aid decisions being communicated, unless there are extenuating circumstances throughout the course of the school year. Families will be required to complete a reconsideration form and provide additional supporting documentation as necessary. The Financial Aid Committee will complete a second review once materials have been received and decisions will be communicated to families by the committee within approximately two weeks.

FAMILY CIRCUMSTANCES

Divorced Families, Separated Families, Unmarried Parents

Unless a parent is deceased, the Financial Aid Committee expects that both biological parents contribute to a student’s educational expenses. Therefore, financial information is requested from both biological parents. An award may not be granted if data from only one biological parent is provided. If one parent is not in contact with the student and has no role in the student’s life, NA will request the custodial parent complete a waiver as part of the financial aid application and awarding process. If a biological parent does not complete the financial aid process, they will not be given access to or receive any information from Newark Academy about their child.

Remarried Parents

The income and assets of stepparents will be taken into consideration when determining a student’s financial aid grant. The Financial Aid Committee will also take into consideration the stepparent’s financial obligation to his, her, or their own biological children.

Non-Working Parent

The Financial Aid Committee will impute wages of $30,000 annually for any non-working parent who has a child over the age of five. Consideration is made in the case of extenuating circumstances, for example, if the non-working spouse is responsible for a special needs child and/or elderly parent(s). All extenuating circumstances must be documented, in writing, at the time of application.

Privacy and Security

Information provided to the Financial Aid Committee either through the Clarity application or other communication methods is kept secure. Access to Clarity data is only available to the Financial Aid Committee. Details of a family’s financial picture are only shared with other Newark Academy employees if they are relevant and necessary to providing the best possible support for a student.

COSTS TO ATTEND

Ensuring that Newark Academy remains accessible and affordable to families remains an institutional priority, and we recognize that the cost to attend NA goes beyond just tuition. As such, NA provides proportional aid on all required items, including lunch and technology fees, books, Immersion and Capstone experiences. Newark Academy has also made the monitoring and limiting of costs for non-required items an important institutional priority. The school’s budget has been expanded in order to absorb incidental costs traditionally borne by families, such as entrance fees at school-wide events, and has reduced the number of fundraising efforts done by school groups. In our ongoing effort to increase transparency about costs to attend, please find an overview of potential annual incidental costs within the chart on page 9.

SCHOOL YEAR ABROAD

All Upper Schools students at Newark Academy interested in School Year Abroad (SYA) should apply through the Upper School Office. The Upper School Office will oversee the internal selection process for applying to SYA. Students who are approved to apply for a SYA program (semester or full year) and are seeking financial aid should apply for financial aid through SYA as well as complete NA’s financial aid application process.

If the student qualifies for need-based financial aid from Newark Academy, as determined by Clarity, the amount of financial aid awarded will be prorated to reflect the student’s enrollment at NA for the given school year. For example, if the student is attending a SYA semester program, the financial aid award will be halved to reflect the half year/one semester enrollment at NA.

FINANCIAL AID ALLOWANCE

While Newark Academy strives to minimize incidental costs, NA has set aside funds to help families receiving financial aid with incidental expenses. Each student receiving financial aid is provided an allowance from NA’s discretionary budget.

Allowances are calculated individually based on the student’s financial aid grant for the current academic year and relative to all other recipients and the total Financial Aid discretionary budget. The Office of Financial Aid will communicate the amount of the student’s discretionary aid allowance at the start of each school year.

The Office of Financial Aid will work directly with the Business Office to apply financial aid to incidental charges through FACTS, Newark Academy’s electronic billing system.

PROCEDURES FOR INCIDENTAL COSTS MANAGED OUTSIDE OF FACTS

Summer Programs

Parents are asked to email The Office of Financial Aid at financialaid@newarka.edu when in the process of enrolling in Summer Programs. The Office of Financial Aid will confirm a student’s financial aid grant towards Summer Programs, which will be proportional to the percentage of financial aid that the student is receiving towards tuition, up to $1,000. The Office of Financial Aid will communicate the award amount to Summer Programs staff, who will apply the grant amount on the student’s account. The balance of tuition and other required forms are the responsibility of the family.

Parents who send their child to NA may be eligible to receive a partial reimbursement of up to $1,022 from their resident school district to

cover part of the cost of providing their own transportation to school.

is provided without cost for NA students living in Newark, Irvington, Orange, East Orange, and Hillside, subject to change based on student population.