Tuition Equity & Accessibility
Our philosophy of embracing the whole child, meeting them where they are at, and supporting them according to their needs, encompasses all of our policies and protocols including our tuition and how we handle operating costs and financial accessibility for families.
All families who seek compassion-based community education models should have equal access to it.
Berkeley Forest School is for everyone.
Our sliding-scale tuition policy is just one facet in our efforts to increase access to our programming for all. Families at Berkeley Forest School pay according to their means. Some families have a tuition rate of $100 or $500 per month while other families pay $1,800 or $2,000 per month.
In addition to individual donations, fundraisers, and community partnerships, some Berkeley Forest School families also opt-in to pay more than the cost of their own child's tuition. This "overpayment" is added to our equity fund to support fellow Berkeley Forest School families. For example, a family might choose to pay $40, or $400 additionally per month on top of their tuition amount, with awareness and understanding that access to income is inequitable in our society.
Operating costs at bfs
Like many schools and educational programs, Berkeley Forest School took a financial hit during the pandemic, and now we are continuing to recover.
Our tuition model allows Berkeley Forest School to hire and retain incredibly skilled teachers with a deep practice in community-minded anti-bias teaching and cooperative learning as a path for radical social change.
We also live our values by investing in our community in many ways, one practice being paying our annual Shuumi Land Tax.
Cost & Benefits
For the 2023-2024 school year tuition is between $500 - $24,000 per year, depending on a family’s finances and circumstance.
We work with School & Student Services to help determine an equitable tuition contribution based on your family’s finances. Our School Code is 200168 — Just enter this code when prompted. The $51 cost is automatically waived for low-income families (as determined by SSS). Families new to Berkeley Forest School will have this $51 amount credited to their first month’s tuition.
Most Berkeley Forest School families pay LESS than the full rate.
This earth is for everyone. We are all home here. Together.
Since 2013, we've made it our goal to ensure that no one is prevented from enrollment due to financial inaccessibility by offering sliding scale tuition equity for families.
Contact us to find out more about how you can help us grow our equity fund and increase our ability to offer more public programs to schools, health-minded organizations, and local communities.