Top Prep Schools Offering Free Rides to Moderate Income Students

Phillips Exeter Academy has announced that it will offer free tuition, room & board, books, and a laptop to students from families with an annual income of less than $75,000. Exeter is one of the top boarding schools in the U.S. and roughly 1/3 of its graduating class goes on to an Ivy League college. Another elite prep school, St. Paul's, started a similar program last year for students from families making less than $65,000/yr.

My maternal grandfather was a poor farm boy who was lucky enough to win a scholarship to attend Mt. Hermon. He went on to graduate with honors from Wesleyan and earn a PhD. from Harvard.

I hope that these new programs from Exeter and St. Paul's give other bright kids from modest backgrounds the same ticket to a better life that my grandfather received! I also hope that additional prep schools implement similar aid packages for moderate income families. No qualified student should be denied the chance for a good education simply because he or she was not born into an affluent family.