For families earning $100k or less, a world‑class, all‑girls, NYC private school education is now FREE.
How It Works
One of the Country’s Best Private Schools is Within Reach
Brearley’s Free Tuition Program is for families with earnings up to $100,000 a year and without significant assets.
In keeping with Brearley’s mission to educate students of adventurous intellect and diverse backgrounds, this program is designed to increase applications from families who may not otherwise consider an independent school education. 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.
The Free Tuition Program builds upon an already generous need-based financial assistance program in place at Brearley for decades; in the 2023-2024 school year, nearly $8.2 million was awarded in financial aid grants to families representing a wide range of incomes and across all three divisions.
Once a student is accepted and qualifies for the Free Tuition Program, Brearley covers their full tuition, which includes books, lunch, technology, athletics, grade-level trips and extracurricular activities; the school also covers additional expenses generally not covered by tuition, such as our afterschool and summer programs, music lessons and, for Upper School students, participation in one of Brearley's travel study programs.
The message is clear: If you know a girl who loves to learn and wants to be challenged, Brearley is the place for her—regardless of her family’s ability to pay the tuition.
Ready to Learn More?
Submit the form below and we'll reach out to you with next steps.
I'm Interested
The School
Get to Know Brearley
Located on New York City’s Upper East Side, The Brearley School fosters a love of learning, excellence in the liberal arts and engagement in a lively and inclusive community.
At Brearley, our students learn to challenge assumptions, collaborate with others and think for themselves. Our rigorous curriculum, crafted by our highly skilled faculty, is rooted in tradition while adapting to the changing needs of today’s world. Classrooms, laboratories and studios brim with vigor and purpose as students strive for discoveries and reach for insights that will enhance their understanding of everything from electrical currents and game theory to Mandarin, Shakespeare’s King Lear and the history of the Muslim world. Here, you are part of a warm and welcoming environment for girls who love to learn. 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.
We look forward to getting to know you.
20%Families on Financial Aid
$8.2Million in Financial Aid
100%Student Needs Met with Aid
Alumnae Voices
Listen as they share their experiences of attending Brearley.
Amina Elderfield
Class of 1994
Managing Director, Financial Services
Managing Director, Financial Services
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
Writer
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
Business School Professor
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
Lawyer
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
The Brearley School has begun the Free Tuition Program to eliminate cost as a factor for NYC families earning an income of $100,000 or less. We hope that this program will make Brearley affordable to even more families with “girls of adventurous intellect” that desire a world-class education.
Families interested in the Free Tuition Program must complete both Brearley’s admission application process and financial assistance application process. If your daughter is admitted to Brearley, then the financial assistance department will determine your eligibility for the Free Tuition Program.
When determining eligibility for the Free Tuition Program, we will take into consideration total household income and assets.
Brearley uses a financial assistance platform called School and Student Services (SSS). Families must create an account in SSS and complete the form the Parents’ Financial Statement (PFS). In addition, Brearley requires families to submit various financial documents to get a comprehensive sense of income and assets. You can begin your financial assistance application here. SSS does require a fee to submit your application. Brearley’s Office of Financial Assistance can provide you with a fee waiver; please contact us at financialaid@brearley.org to request one.
The Free Tuition Program will cover 100% of your daughter’s Brearley School tuition, which is $64,100 for the 2024-2025 school year. This tuition includes lunch and snacks, technological devices, athletics, extracurricular activities and books.
A family may want their child to participate in optional add-on activities such as private music lessons, school-sponsored extracurricular activities, a Travel Study program, and much more. The Free Tuition Program will cover 100% of the cost of these additional activities.
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 the School and Student Services (SSS) platform 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 SSS and Brearley’s family need analysis.
The School will also revisit from time to time 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.
Yes. For the 2023-2024 school year, 75% percent of Brearley’s financial assistance recipients had total household incomes of over $100,000. The percentage of financial assistance given to these families ranged from 99% to 40% of tuition depending on several factors such as income, assets, family size, and number of children attending a tuition charging school (ex. an independent school, parochial school, or college/university).
For more information on completing the financial assistance process for families earning more than $100,000 in income, please visit our Tuition & Financial Assistance page.
During the fall, the Director of Financial Assistance will host virtual webinars to explain how to apply for financial assistance at Brearley.
The webinars are scheduled for October 2, October 30 and November 19 from 6:00–7:00 pm. Please register here.
For immediate questions about the Free Tuition Program, you can email the Office of Financial Assistance at financialaid@brearley.org.