Thanks to our inclusive tuition model, every student receives everything that they need to participate fully in The Bay School experience.
Bay's Inclusive Tuition Model
Inclusive tuition ensures our families that virtually all supplemental costs (listed below) for a student’s experience at Bay are accounted for. Including these costs up-front allows families to plan effectively and avoid incurring additional fees after enrollment. This is an uncommon practice among Bay Area independent schools, at many of which families should expect to pay more than $5,000 in fees.
Bay's tuition is set each year by the Board of Trustees. Our total cost for the 2024–2025 school year has been set at $64,626, of which $3,947 is the inclusive fee. Bay provides $4.7 million per year in flexible tuition grants. Download our flexible tuition brochure.
Our inclusive fee covers:
- A MacBook for every student, including educational and office software applications, technical support, maintenance, and repair
- School-related travel and field trips, including for Immersives, clubs, and student leadership conferences
- All books and materials, including a scientific calculator
- Food service, including lunch (soup, salad bar, entree), morning and afternoon snacks, and beverages
- Any needed technology, such as tablets and graphing calculators
- Athletic uniforms and equipment
- Immersives and Senior Project costs
- College test prep
Bay provides $4.7 million in flexible tuition grants each year.
Flexible Tuition
The Bay School of San Francisco is committed to serving students of all economic backgrounds. Each family is asked to make a financial contribution toward the cost of a Bay education, but no one should hesitate to apply for admission due to financial reasons.
Application Dates
Applications for flexible tuition are managed through FACTS. To apply, please visit FACTS and submit the following by the posted deadlines:
New families must apply by January 9, 2025. You will need:
- FACTS application
- Copies of your 2023 federal tax forms, including all supporting schedules
- Copies of supporting documentation for Social Security income, government assistance, child support, workers' compensation, or TANF if applicable
Returning families must apply by December 1, 2024. You will need:
- FACTS application (apply here)
- Copies of your 2023 federal tax forms, including all supporting schedules
- Copies of supporting documentation for Social Security income, government assistance, child support, food stamps, workers' compensation, or TANF if applicable
Families who receive flexible tuition grants may be asked to submit their 2024 federal tax return and supporting tax schedules by April 15, 2025. You will log in to the FACTS application using the same credentials as for your tuition payment.
Flexible Tuition FAQs
Bay’s flexible tuition committee will review each family's financial profile, including income, major assets, special expenses, and education costs—all information provided on the FACTS application. FACTS acts as an independent third party to calculate what each family may be able to contribute toward their student’s independent school education. This recommendation guides, but does not bind, The Bay School of San Francisco in making award decisions. All flexible tuition decisions are confidential.
The Bay School of San Francisco is committed to socioeconomic diversity and has a robust budget for flexible tuition; however, the budget is finite, and as is the case with most independent schools, we are unable to provide every qualifying family an award of flexible tuition.
Parents/guardians who are divorced or separated must each submit their financial information.
Admission decisions are made independently from applications for flexible tuition.
Families are required to apply for flexible tuition each year. Flexible tuition awards are need-based and need must be evaluated annually. A change in your family's financial circumstances may cause your award amount to increase or decrease.
Award decisions will be released on Friday, March 21, at 4 p.m. Families who receive a financial award and an offer of admission must notify the admission office of their acceptance and return their signed enrollment contracts on or before Thursday, March 27.
Families declining their awards and offers of admission are asked to notify the admissions office before Thursday, March 27.