Moderated Tuition

The Cooper School offers need-based moderated tuition to qualified students on the basis of the financial need of the family and the availability of funds. Moderated tuition is open to students of any race, gender, color, national or ethnic origin. The Cooper School maintains the confidentiality of all requests for moderated tuition, and moderated tuition decisions are made independently from admissions decisions.

Grants are determined for accepted families who qualify by a Moderated Tuition Committee. Applications for moderated tuition should be submitted by January 1st for Kindergarten applicants and by February 1st for 1st-8th grade applicants to be considered for the following school year. Families must reapply for financial assistance each year. Returning students have priority over new students in the moderated tuition process and should submit their applications by December 31st.

The Cooper School subscribes to the School and Student Service for Financial Aid (SSS) in Princeton, N.J. This service requires parents to send a Parents’ Financial Statement (PFS) with a nominal fee. With this information, SSS considers total income, assets, number of dependents, age of parents, retirement provisions, and extraordinary expenses to calculate how much discretionary income a family has available.

The Cooper School Moderated Tuition Form and a current year tax return must also be submitted directly to the school.
The moderated tuition program is funded by the special contributions of parents and friends, by Annual Giving donations, and by money budgeted into the school’s operating fund.
Moderated Tuition Evaluation

SSS reports inform the decisions of The Cooper School Moderated Tuition Committee, which makes all final decisions on moderated tuition amounts. Please understand that this analysis does not necessarily indicate what amount your grant will be. The SSS provides a standardized analysis of these forms, while the school is obligated to perform a detailed analysis considering every aspect of a family’s financial situation. In addition, the school will not necessarily be able to provide moderated tuition to the level needed by an individual family or for the number of families that file a request.

Any financial support that may be available beyond the parents’ own income and assets must be reported for consideration by the school. These include resources that might be expected from grandparents or other relatives, church funds, direct scholarship grants, etc.

The SSS formula allows for maintaining all household members at a modest standard of living. If the family’s income increases beyond this level, the school considers that money to be available for discretionary purposes. The family is expected to make some of this money available for education. We consider that any responsibility for educational costs that the school may accept must come after the obligation of the student’s parents, regardless of the legal or personal relationship between them. Therefore, before making any award, the Moderated Tuition Committee will consider the resources of both natural parents. If the custodial parent has remarried, we also consider the resources of the step-parent, bearing in mind the obligations of the step-parent to his or her own natural children. A standard PFS is submitted by both the custodial parent (and step-parent, if remarried) and non-custodial parent (and spouse, if remarried).

Application Procedure

Complete the PFS, including all information and complete explanations for all circled items. For the quickest results, this should be done online at the School and Student Services website (https://www.solutionsbysss.com/). The Cooper School code is 4560.

SSS processes applications from December through July. Application deadlines are as follows: Returning Students= December 31st, Kindergarten Applicants= January 1st, and 1st-8th Grade Applicants= February 1st.

Mail photocopies of the following to The Cooper School by your deadline: Last Year’s signed Federal IRS tax form 1040 and all supporting schedules. If you file an S Corporation return (1120S) or a partnership return of income (1065), please send copies of those as well as copies of all W-2 forms for parents and children earning income within the family. If self-employed, fill out the Business/Farm form and send it with your tax form.