Geographic diversity at boarding schools

friendlymom
Mon, 26 Aug 2013 20:00:56 +0000

My child goes to boarding school far from home and there are some differences in the calculations around that decision. As others have mentioned, there’s the time and cost of the travel. There’s also the issue of not having such an easy time popping in for a game or performance, so you’re missing out on more than the parents who are within a couple of hours’ drive. Also, as cameo43 mentioned, boarding school is a much more accepted part of the culture in the northeast than it is in other parts of the country.

With the distance involved, the fact that St. Paul’s has no day students was an attractive feature. The idea of a substantial proportion of students emptying out on weekends was a concern for DD. I don’t know how much that plays in for people, but it might be that schools with a sizeable day student population are less attractive to students from farther away.

SPS has a few regional scholarships in place that are something of a boost for geographic diversity, especially the one for students from Montana (which has been around for years), and ones from heavily underrepresented states like Alabama and the newest one, South Carolina.