Grade 6 Aid, Offers, and Wait-Pools

Where February meets April

Grade 6's awkward arithmetic: a private school may want your answer well before the city gives its own. February wants a signature; April brings the news.

That doesn't mean guessing. It means knowing each school's date, asking the money questions early, and keeping one affordable September in your pocket.

This page picks up where the Grade 6 admissions guide leaves off: when offers, aid letters and contracts arrive. The full dated calendar is in the Grade 6 timeline.

The shared ISAAGNY dates apply to ISAAGNY schools, so ask which calendar yours follows; a school's own published date controls.

ISAAGNY schools that mainly serve students with learning differences or disabilities may admit on a rolling basis, so their timing may differ.

Avenues is worth a flag before you plan around February: its First Choice Round is binding. Admitted families agree to enroll and withdraw other applications, with decisions on December 11, 2026.

The public application, briefly

If public school remains an option, NYC residents apply October 14–December 11, 2026, usually in fifth grade—or sixth if their elementary school ends there. An offer is guaranteed; a ranked program is not.

For a child needing special education, confirm the admissions seat group with NYCPS, including when moving from private school.

Aid keeps its own calendar

If aid decides whether you can say yes, treat it as its own application with its own deadline, often on a platform such as Clarity. ISAAGNY says aid answers generally arrive during or soon after admissions notification, so ask each school exactly when. Our financial aid guide covers the documents and tax mechanics.

Fieldston Middle's application is due November 13 at noon, and the Clarity aid application, supplemental documents included, December 1 (both 2026). Because aid is considered after admission and funding is limited, Fieldston encourages applying early; a family that enrolls without aid typically can't get an award later except after a significant change. Ask whether your aid answer will arrive before the February 25 confirmation.

Horace Mann's Clarity application is due November 15, 2026. Use the weeks before then to work out what you could comfortably pay, and ask its aid office whatever is unclear.

At Avenues, new families complete the Clarity aid application by November 18, 2026 for First Choice or January 8, 2027 for Regular Notification. It won't take an aid application after an offer, and generally asks families who enroll without aid to wait three years before applying, unless a sibling is joining.

Keep one September you can afford

Before February, name a September you could manage on the aid you actually have in hand. Don't assume it's your child's current school, which has its own re-enrollment terms to ask about, or a particular public program. Judge the plan on the years ahead, not just year one: ask each school how renewal works.

Talking with your child

Children often sense when a decision is pending, so give yours the real picture: which schools are actual options, when you'll hear, and what happens next. Invite their views on the school, the commute, and what they hope for, but keep tuition, aid, and deposits with the adults. Naming one realistic September, rather than a menu of maybes, lets them look forward to something without carrying a budget.

Before you sign

Before you accept any seat, put these questions to the school in writing.

• Is the deposit refundable, and until when? What happens to it if a later offer elsewhere changes your plans?
• If we withdraw after accepting, is the deposit all we could owe, or does the contract make us responsible for more, this year or later?
• Is any aid award written into the contract, and how does renewal work?
• Is there an appeal process, who decides, and does my reply deadline hold while it's reviewed?

Avenues allows an aid appeal only on new information it didn't have before. Don't assume other schools' rules match, or that an appeal pauses your reply deadline.

If your child's school and the school you're applying to are both ISAAGNY members, the current school can't require re-enrollment before the regular notification date and must preserve any re-enrollment aid offer in whole. After that date it sets its own deadline. This is member-to-member and doesn't cover public schools.

Three deadlines that sound alike

Wait-pool language blurs three separate clocks, so read each offer for its own date.

• Private wait-pool offers: the offering school sets the deadline, so ask what it is when you join the pool.
• ISAAGNY postseason offers: an applicant who applies after the reply deadline must get at least a week to decide. That's about latecomers, not every wait-pool.
• NYC public waitlists: a waitlist spot isn't an offer, and not every program makes waitlist offers. If one comes, you have seven calendar days, and accepting replaces your current public offer.