Financial Aid

At MSN, over 25% of our families receive some kind of financial assistance. This total includes those who receive grants from our in-house program, and through the voucher program.

Voucher Program

The Montessori School of Northampton accepts vouchers for all three years of the Children’s House program.  Vouchers are issued by community agencies such as Community Action! and New England Farm Workers’ Council. Your eligibility for these programs is determined by the agency that supplies the funding. If you are eligible for funding, the agency will establish a daily parent fee that represents your portion of the tuition. The voucher program will subsidize an additional tuition amount, for which we will bill them directly. These two together do not add up to full tuition, so MSN underwrites the rest of the tuition for students receiving these subsidies.  Because the subsidy provided by MSN comes out of the financial aid budget, we limit the number of vouchers we accept in any given year.

If you are applying for admission and expect to pay your tuition with funding from the voucher program, please notify us immediately so we can determine the availability of matching funds from our Financial Aid budget.

In-House Financial Aid Program

The school administers an in-house financial aid program.  To apply, families should submit an application to School and Student Service (SSS). The applications should be completed by February 15 for first-round consideration. It is most efficient to apply online at the School and Student Services website, but paper copies are available through the Business Manager kathymurri@northamptonmontessori.org.  SSS analyzes your financial information, develops a recommendation of how much you can afford to contribute toward tuition, and sends this to the school (remember to designate MSN as a report recipient.) To complete your application, send a copy of your most recent tax return to the Business Manager by March 1,

Around the middle of March, the Financial Aid Committee meets to consider the applications we have received by that date, (The Financial Aid Committee is comprised of the Head of School, Business Manager, a board member and a staff member. The board member and staff member do not know the identities of the applicants.) Awards are based on the overall need that year and the resources available. For optimal consideration, please submit your application to SSS by February 15 so we can consider it in the first round. We do accept applications after that date, but our pool of remaining funds may be limited. Although awards are made at all program levels, priority is given to Elementary applicants. Once awards are made, parents are notified and new contracts are issued reflecting the financial aid awards.