How Much Do Microschools Cost? Do the Math¶
The short answer: there is no single price. Every microschool sets its own tuition, and it usually comes from dividing the year's rent, teacher pay and supplies across the families who enroll. So the useful question is "what does it cost to run this school, and how many families share that?"
This post walks through that division with a made-up school, so you can do it with your own numbers. It is for a teacher with eleven kids writing tuition down for the first time, and it is just as useful for a parent trying to understand why two schools down the road charge different amounts. It applies to microschools, co-ops, hybrid schools, university-model schools and small private academies alike.
We are not giving you a typical price for your area. We do not have a number we could stand behind, and a borrowed number is how a school ends up charging too little to stay open.
Do microschools cost money?¶
Most do. Some charge nothing, because the families split costs among themselves and nobody takes a salary. Some run on tuition. Some are partly paid for by a state education savings account or a scholarship, which changes who writes the check but not what the school costs to run.
If you are a parent, the number on the page is a share of the school's real costs. A teacher is paid, a room is rented, and supplies are bought. The share is bigger when there are fewer families.
If you are starting a school, you are the one deciding that share. That is what the rest of this post is for.
Step one: add up the year¶
Write down everything the school pays for in one school year. Here is a pretend school: one teacher, eleven kids, a rented room. Every number below is invented for the example. Replace each one with a real quote or a real receipt.
| What it pays for | For the year |
|---|---|
| Rent (12 months at $600) | $7,200 |
| Teacher pay | $30,000 |
| Curriculum and supplies | $2,200 |
| Insurance | $1,500 |
| Software and bank fees | $600 |
| Subtotal | $41,500 |
| Cushion (10 percent) | $4,150 |
| Total to cover | $45,650 |
A few notes on the lines people skip:
- Teacher pay. If the teacher is you, write down a number anyway. A school that only works when the teacher is unpaid works until the teacher is tired. NavEd's mission says it plainly: nobody teaches for free unless they want to. If you do want to, that is your call, but make it a choice you can see on the page.
- Rent. A church hall that charges by the day is a different line from a lease. Count what you really pay, including the months school is not in session if the lease runs all year.
- The cushion. Something will cost more than you planned. The cushion is how that does not become a bad month.
If you want the longer version of this budget, with ranges for each line, see how to price tuition and keep a microschool solvent.
Step two: divide by the families¶
Take the total and divide it by the number of kids who will actually pay.
$45,650 divided by 11 kids is $4,150 per child for the year. Spread over ten monthly payments, that is $415 a month.
Now run it again with fewer kids, because the school you plan is rarely the school you get.
| Kids enrolled | Per child, per year | Per month (10 payments) |
|---|---|---|
| 11 | $4,150 | $415 |
| 10 | $4,565 | $457 |
| 9 | $5,072 | $507 |
Each missing child adds about $400 to everyone else's share, because the rent and the teacher cost the same either way. That is the reason tuition feels high in a small school. It is a few families carrying fixed costs.
Pick your number knowing which row you are betting on. If the budget only works at eleven kids and you have enrolled seven, you have found out early, which is the cheaper time to find out.
Step three: look at who can pay it¶
The math tells you what the school costs. It does not tell you what every family can pay, and the two can disagree. Some schools handle that with a sliding scale, a work trade where a parent helps in exchange for a lower share, or a scholarship fund. Some use state education funds where the state offers them. Each one has to be paid for by something, so work it back into step one rather than hoping it nets out.
Decide the policy before you meet the family who needs it. A rule written in advance treats every family the same. A rule made up on the spot feels like a favor, and it is hard to be fair about favors.
If families in your state use education savings account money, there is a practical wrinkle about when the money lands. We cover that in ESA copays and tuition billing.
Step four: write down how families pay¶
A number is not a plan. Families also need to know how many payments there are, what day they are due, what happens to a family who starts in January, and what happens when a payment is late. Settling those before the first invoice saves you the awkward conversations later. Small private school tuition plans walks through each decision.
A printable worksheet¶
Copy this onto paper and fill it in.
School name: ______________________ School year: __________
COSTS FOR THE YEAR
Rent or room fees ............................ $________
Teacher pay (including yours, if you teach) .. $________
Curriculum and supplies ...................... $________
Insurance .................................... $________
Software, bank and other fees ................ $________
Subtotal ..................................... $________
Cushion (try 10 percent of subtotal) ......... $________
TOTAL TO COVER ............................... $________
DIVIDE
Kids I expect to enroll ...................... ________
Kids I could still run the school with ....... ________
Total divided by expected kids ............... $________ per child
Total divided by lowest kids ................. $________ per child
DECIDE
Number of payments ........................... ________
Due date each month .......................... ________
Rule for a family who starts mid-year ........ ________
Rule for a late payment ...................... ________
Help for a family who cannot pay in full ..... ________
Where NavEd fits¶
Once you have the number, NavEd's tuition plans screen records each family's plan and payments. You write a plan as one sentence, such as "Families pay $415 on the 15th, 10 times," record each payment as it comes in, and parents see what they have paid and what is left on their own Payments page. Recording tuition and payments is free, and the first five students are free on every plan, with no end date.
NavEd does not set your tuition. That number comes from your costs and your families, and you are the one who knows both.
Questions people ask¶
Is a microschool the same as homeschool?
No. A microschool is a small school with a teacher and a group of kids, usually meeting at a set place and time. Some families in microschools also homeschool, and many do not. We cover the difference in microschool vs homeschool.
Can I start my own microschool?
Yes. The rules vary by state, and your costs depend on your space and your teacher. Start with the arithmetic above, then check your state's requirements. Our guide to starting a microschool covers the steps.
Why does the same kind of school cost so much more in one town than another?
Rent and teacher pay are the two biggest lines, and both vary by town. The school with the higher number is not necessarily the better one, and the cheaper one is not necessarily cutting corners. Ask each school what its number includes.