Fall 2027 control sheet

The aid deadline is not automatically the admissions deadline.

School or routeCurrent published timingParent action
Holy NamesDec. 31 aid deadlineFile before the Jan. 5 admission deadline; the school says late aid files will not receive HNA aid.
Bush, SAAS, NorthwestJan. 14 with the main applicationDo not let a submitted admissions form conceal an incomplete Clarity file.
Annie WrightJan. 23 for new-family aidIdentify day, five-day, or seven-day status and check scholarship requirements separately.
EvergreenFeb. 1 for prospective familiesUse the requested 2025 return and household materials for Fall 2027 entry.
Lakeside and OverlakeFeb. 4Confirm every tax and business item shows complete, not merely uploaded.
Eastside PrepFeb. 4 / Feb. 5 conflict across current pagesUse Feb. 4 and ask EPS to confirm in writing.
UPrepFeb. 4 Upper · March 4 Middle on the current tuition pageThe division split is unusual; confirm the date assigned to the applicant.
Seattle PrepApplication opens Oct. 1; requested documents by Feb. 1Ask whether school and Fulcrum materials are both complete.

These are aid-file dates, not promises of an award. The family should save the school checklist, the aid-platform completion page, and any written exception. Current official pages control.

The platform changed

FAST is closed, SSS has a new name, and the school still makes the decision.

FAST permanently closed Aug. 31, 2026. SSS became Ravenna Financial Aid in May 2026, while preserving its underlying workflow.Several Seattle schools use Clarity. Ravenna Hub or Aryval may handle admissions while a different platform handles aid.

Clarity does not issue one universal expected contribution. Each school applies its policy, budget, and professional judgment. A complete file at one school can still be incomplete at another. Track fee, household forms, tax years, business documents, and school supplements separately.

Build the real number

The worksheet needs more than tuition.

LineAskCommon mistake
Required school chargesTuition, registration, activity fee, device, books, meals, trips, and required suppliesCalling tuition the total
Family operationsBus, toll, ferry, aftercare, late pickup, sports travel, and summer coverageIgnoring time or free parent labor
Learning accessOutside therapy, tutoring, testing, executive-function support, and fee-based school programsAssuming “support available” means included
Contract exposureDeposit, tuition-liability date, refund plan, covered events, and withdrawal noticeTreating the deposit as the maximum risk
Four-year pathLikely tuition increases, changing aid, sibling overlap, and one-time versus annual chargesBudgeting only the first year

Current school examples

Similar sticker prices can produce very different net bills.

School2026–27 baselineWhat changes the comparison
Lakeside$52,000 tuitionBooks, upper laptop, and $3,750 bus; aid can cover broader related expenses. Clarity due Feb. 4.
Bush$41,835 K–5; $48,545 middle; $50,800 upperAwards range from $5,000 to $50,300. Bush says it offers admission only when it can meet the applicant’s assistance need; published contract guidance puts full liability at June 1.
UPrep$49,610 middle; $51,120 upperTechnology, books, lunch, bus, and Global Link can add roughly $8,000–12,000; the aid percentage can extend to extras.
SAAS$52,940 tuitionAid may include transport, lunch, laptop, travel, learning support, and social costs; Study Skills is a separate substantial charge.
Northwest$49,645 middle; $51,030 upperLunch plus five-day or seven-day boarding. Aid recipients can receive the Experience Fund for additional costs.
Eastside Prep$50,300 tuitionLaptop, trips, books, lunch, and bus create a much higher first-year baseline. Tuition liability becomes 100% June 1.
Seattle Prep$30,175 tuition$650 registration, $675 activity fee, and about $2,100 freshman device precede books, lunch, and transport.
Annie Wright$31,265 lower; $35,725 middle; $37,520 upper dayFive-day boarding totals $57,225; seven-day $81,085. Embedded services and weekend travel differ.

Verify every number before contracting.

Tell the whole financial story

Two homes, a business, or an unusual year need explanation—not concealment.

Many schools consider both parents, stepparents, or domestic partners even when a decree assigns tuition to one adult. Clarity supports separate household submissions.Ask about waiver criteria before assuming estrangement qualifies. Provide a short factual note for job loss, disability, eldercare, business volatility, unusual medical cost, or a one-time capital gain.

Do not turn the explanation into advocacy without evidence. Show what changed, when it changed, the recurring effect, and the documents that support it. Schools are balancing confidentiality, fairness, and a finite aid budget across many hardworking families.

Need-blind, need-aware, and no-gap are different claims

A school can review admission independently and still lack funds for every admissible aid applicant. Bush says it offers admission only when it can meet an applicant’s assistance need; UPrep, Northwest, and Annie Wright describe different aid constraints or wait outcomes. Ask whether admission is offered without adequate aid or withheld pending aid availability.

Renewal, change, and appeal

The first award is not a four-year price guarantee.

Need-based grants generally require a new application every year. Ask how the school treats a tuition increase, a stable income, a sibling entering or leaving tuition-charging school, a capital gain, a home purchase, and an expected contribution that rises faster than earnings. Lakeside says aid recipients reapply annually and that it meets 100 percent of the need it calculates. UPrep says its grant percentage can extend to books, technology, lunch, transport, trips, and other fees. Evergreen applies the family’s aid percentage to additional programs and has a supplementary fund for families at 95 percent aid or more.

The policy can also distinguish involuntary hardship from a choice. UPrep says a previously full-pay returning family is ordinarily considered only after a significant involuntary financial change. Evergreen’s formula may assign employment income to a nonworking parent when children are school-age and counts some retirement contributions and home equity. Those policies are not moral judgments about a family; they are school budgeting rules that need to be known before enrollment.

An appeal should explain a decision-changing fact.

Compare the school’s calculated contribution with the documents you supplied. If the difference comes from an error, changed employment, extraordinary medical or caregiving cost, business volatility, or another documented obligation, send a short explanation with the new evidence and the amount needed to make enrollment possible. “Another school gave more” can be relevant context, but it does not establish that two schools use the same formula or budget.

Ask whether the appeal pauses the reply deadline, deposit, or wait status; assume it does not until the school says so. A family can admire the school and still decline a package that requires unstable debt, hidden grandparent support, or an unsustainable second job.

When the bill includes a place to live

Five-day and seven-day boarding solve different family problems.

Northwest’s 2026–27 baseline is $49,645 in Middle School and $51,030 in Upper School, plus $24,650 for five-day boarding or $27,380 for seven-day boarding. It separately lists lunch for day students and says its Experience Fund covers additional school expenses for aid families. Northwest also says its aid budget cannot fund every qualified applicant. Model the written package, not the published sticker alone.

Annie Wright publishes $57,225 total for five-day Upper School boarding and $81,085 for seven-day boarding, compared with $37,520 for Upper School day tuition. Five-day students normally go home Friday and return Sunday and may be invited to one residential weekend each month. The school reports 132 boarding beds—33 five-day, 99 seven-day—and eight dorm parents. Those are school-wide counts, not a staffing ratio for every shift or a promise about a particular dorm.

Add weekend transport, flights or ferry, guardian needs, health insurance, uniforms, textbooks, device, personal spending, school breaks, and the value of family pickup time. Annie Wright says F-1 students and permanent residents use seven-day boarding. Its Jenkins merit route automatically considers eligible domestic boarding applicants in Grades 9–11, but the number of awards is not promised. Merit should be treated as a written award, never an application assumption.

Five-day boarding can be the most expensive option if every weekend requires a long adult drive. Seven-day boarding can be the better operating fit and the wrong emotional fit. Use the Annie Wright day-and-boarding guide to compare supervision, weekends, health handoffs, and family separation before using boarding as a commute fix.

The decision is contractual

Deposit day can create much more than deposit-sized risk.

Read tuition liability, withdrawal, refund insurance, payment-plan fees, and aid-renewal language before signing. Bush publishes full tuition liability from June 1. EPS also publishes a June 1 full-liability point for current-family enrollment. Ask whether the new-family contract differs.

Public results can arrive before or after private replies. SPS has not published Fall 2027 school-choice dates; prior-cycle results are only a planning proxy. Do not assume a public waitlist releases a private contract. Request an extension honestly, and understand the financial consequence if the answer is no.

Washington does not currently offer a universal private-school ESA or voucher. Fulcrum provides separate aid for participating Archdiocese of Seattle Catholic schools. A 529 can cover up to $10,000 per beneficiary per year of K–12 tuition under federal rules, not transport, meals, fees, or boarding.

Transportation can move in both directions. Regional public transit is free for riders 18 and under, but the last mile, darkness, missed connection, and late activity may still require paid adult labor or a school bus. A youth ferry passenger may ride free while an adult or vehicle fare remains. Put the family’s actual recurring fare and backup trip in the ledger.

The signed 2027–28 contract controls

Published June 1 examples are useful warnings, not substitutes for the family’s enrollment agreement. Ask what happens after deposit, at the liability date, after a move, after a public placement, and after the school determines it can no longer serve the student.

When the numbers do not line up

Recovery means preserving choices without disguising the problem.

The file missed a tax document

Upload it immediately, name the missing item, and ask whether review can continue. Save the completion response; do not assume the platform’s green upload icon means the school accepted the file.

A parent will not participate

Ask about the school’s waiver standard before the deadline and provide the requested third-party evidence. A divorce allocation of tuition does not automatically remove a parent or stepparent from the aid calculation.

The award is close, but not usable

Calculate the exact annual gap after every covered and uncovered charge. Appeal with new or misunderstood evidence and a specific number. Keep the public or lower-cost option active while the appeal is pending.

Admission came without enough aid

Ask whether the student is on an aid wait pool, whether a deposit is required, and whether that deposit is refundable if aid never appears. A place the family cannot finance is not yet an actionable offer.

A job changed after contract

Notify the school promptly with date, severance, unemployment, new income, and revised budget. Ask about emergency aid and contract relief separately; one does not automatically produce the other.

A public result arrives late

Before signing privately, ask for the exact withdrawal exposure by date. A district waitlist or choice result does not cancel a private contract, even when the family disclosed it.

The family is relocating

Request an all-in written estimate before paying for travel or testing. Late admission can be genuine while aid is exhausted; ask about both in the same message.

The only workable route is boarding

Recalculate from zero. Include residential tuition, weekends, travel, health coverage, breaks, and local support. Compare the child’s willingness to board with a Tacoma, Seattle, Eastside, or public day option.

Our read

Our read: affordability is a four-year relationship, not an award-day feeling.

The best package is the one the family can sustain without making the child feel responsible for every expense. Ask how aid renews, what change must be reported, and which extras receive the same grant percentage. A smaller award at an inclusive-cost school can beat a larger award surrounded by uncovered charges. A public option can be the financially liberating choice, not a consolation prize.

Pair this worksheet with the fit and commute guide and the Fall 2027 calendar before making the final comparison.

Continue your research

More for your Seattle school search

Sources and further research

Where to verify and keep reading

We favor direct links to the exact page or document a family may need next. Access dates matter because admissions, tuition, leadership, and programs change.