There seems to be a thread for every class prior, but I haven’t seen one yet for 2029 so thought I would start one.
My daughter is currently finishing her applications to 6 schools for fall 2025 admissions. My S27 is at a “hidden gem” school which has been great for him, but my daughter is applying to a few of the HADES/GLADCHEMMS/TSAO/insert other acronyms here schools.
Good luck to everyone finishing up apps in the next 10 days!
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Hi. Did anyone submit the Character Skills Snapshot to schools that aren’t requiring it?
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I chose not to submit the CSS. Schools that don’t require the CSS typically use it for onboarding purposes not for admissions. But it doesn’t hurt.
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What are some expenses outside of tuition, room & board that we should factor into our budget? I don’t mean things like clothes and room decor, more official expenses.
Yes - we’re trying to figure out our budget too. I assume travel cost to and from during breaks need to be factored in. Does anyone know if we need health insurance specific to the school or it depends on the state the school is in?
I think there is a nominal health related fee but it’s about 10x less than if you are an international student. I’m going to look into it and will post back what I find.
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Thanks! Are you doing revisit? I’m hoping the school will explain all the added expenses we should factor in before we decide (we’re weighting between BS and our local private day school).
Ahh good point. Yes doing revisit and yes you are right. I think they do illuminate a typical budget! I guess I’m just Type A and want to pre-plan 
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I’d recommend asking a current parent during the period between now and when a decision is due. Parents may have a better idea of certain added expenses than the school itself. For us, travel has been the most significant expense. Getting our child from school to our home in the midwest and back has been costly. We like to visit once every sports season, so factor in airfare, car rental, and lodging each time. Some students like to frequently order food through Door Dash or other delivery services. That can add up quickly. Again, checking with parents from that school could be helpful.
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How much do you think you spend annually on books?
Definitely ask the schools you are considering. Kent actually had a nice PDF attached to the contract outlining other expenses - it includes computer/tech repairs, books (some but not all are included), testing fees for SAT and APs, individual music lessons outside of class/orchestra, health insurance if you don’t already have in the US, laundry, some afternoon activities and sports have additional fees (skiing, spring break training trips, etc), travel including shuttle service to and from airports.
laundry is a good one that I wouldn’t have thought of until my child is asking for money for laundry 
A good question to ask is what classes and activities have supplemental fees or require students to purchase equipment or supplies. Sometimes, those cool classes that involve foreign travel also have a price tag. Does the school pay for everyone to go to the winter dance or do kids have to buy tickets? Are all weekend activity costs covered?
I’d also factor in travel home at breaks.
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Haha! That’s also me frantically using google map to figure out how my young 14 year old going to go from a school in Vermont back and forth to the Midwest by himself! Also, laundry yes! Not just money for it but he has to do it lol. I’m making him help do laundry rn to prepare for sure.
It depends on the classes your student will be taking. For my son, two semesters of Spanish cost around $500, but for biology there are no textbooks so $0. In general it’s under or around $1000 for books every school year.
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Agreed. It largely depends on the specific course.
Struggling with Local Day vs BS options. As a parent of only one child (class of 2029), I really appreciate having this thread to calm my nervous energy throughout this HS decisions. This whole process is so foreign to my own experience millions of years ago going to high school. We came into BS options kinda late due to getting an unexpected local scholarship so it will be possible to consider. I been reading through past threads to try to figure out our out of pocket costs after aids etc for 4 years and it seemed like travel costs (we live in the Midwest) is one of the major expenses.
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Is the entire family welcome to revisit day or just the student and parents?
I think it depends on the school. From reading about prior revisits on here - some schools allow younger siblings to tag along. You should ask your AO. The revisit days are designed with a one day of events split up into sections (accepted students doing their things and parents/guardians a different set of events) meeting up for some (maybe during welcome, lunch, tour, etc)? My DS and I are excited but this will be our first time doing this as well. I’m kinda glad we only have to decide between one boarding and one local day options. I can see it being a lot going all over multiple days in a roll — but you know also exciting right? I did ask Grandma if she wants to come too but she said it might be a distraction because in the end it’s up to DS with me as a parent to decide.
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I think this really depends on what you mean by “entire family.”
A three year old? No, get a babysitter.
A 7th grader, sure could be informative for them if they are thinking about boarding school applications for next year.