For schools that talk about a gap (many do not), the gap is basically the difference between the full tuition amount and the “true cost” of a student’s education at the school. So every student’s gap is the same, it’s not a personalized calculation that would be impacted by whether a student is receiving aid.

HHI $150K, I give $20 a month to our K-8 as a recurring contribution and $50 to $100 a couple times a year. I plan to keep the $20/monthly contribution going long after my kid leaves next year -- the school's been good for us.

Anonymous wrote:We used to donate 1K to 2K at our first school which claimed $2500 was the 'gap' amount between the actual cost of educating a child and the tuition. That was in another city. Now we are at a different private school that is more established (with an endowment). No pressure to give a certain 'gap' amount. We gave only $500 because of an unexpected financial situation.

Heard of this a lot, but never understand. Is the $2500 gap for a full pay student? Is the gap also $2500 for a financial aid student? or ($2500+amount of aid) for a financial aid student?

For example, if the tuition is $45,000, then for a full pay student, the actual cost of education should be $47,500 based on the claim of the $2500 gap. A FA student gets $20,000 on aid and pays $25,000 tuition. What the gap for the FA student? $2500 or $22,500? Sounds like $22,500 because the actual cost of education is $47,500 and the student pays $25,000 in tuition.

Can anyone explain this to me?

Anonymous wrote:These numbers are high, OP. The schools publish a book of annual fund donations and the vast majority are smaller donations. We used to give $5-10k and eventually aligned our philanthropy to organizations we connected more with. Now we give $100 to the school so they have their participation numbers. If you’re budgeting, budget $100 and be done with it. Nobody will care either way!

Wait, what? Is this all schools? They don’t list by name of donor, right?!
New private parent, who has now found one more thing to worry about.

These numbers are high, OP. The schools publish a book of annual fund donations and the vast majority are smaller donations. We used to give $5-10k and eventually aligned our philanthropy to organizations we connected more with. Now we give $100 to the school so they have their participation numbers. If you’re budgeting, budget $100 and be done with it. Nobody will care either way!

$250

$100 a kid. I would never pay a penny more.

HHI $1m

Full pay three kids

Donate $15k per year

$20K one kid.

2 kids, $5k.

HHI $700k.

We donate $7500/year. One kid.

HHI at about the same as yours OP. Consistently we've given $1500 a year, one kid.

$10k two kids one school

We used to donate 1K to 2K at our first school which claimed $2500 was the 'gap' amount between the actual cost of educating a child and the tuition. That was in another city. Now we are at a different private school that is more established (with an endowment). No pressure to give a certain 'gap' amount. We gave only $500 because of an unexpected financial situation.

One kid - $2500