It's Going Up Up Up: It's Our Tuition

In the 2024-2025 school year, non-aided tuition was $53,150 and this year the tuition was upped to $54,800, which is approximately a 3.1% increase. In the next school year, the tuition will be $55,896. For the 2026-27 school year, the Hopkins Board of Trustees devised an operating budget that increased tuition by 1.9%, “lower than the rate of inflation and nearly our lowest change in about 20 years,” according to Head of School Matt Glendinning. According to Finaid, a respected resource for student tuition costs, “A good rule of thumb is that tuition rates will increase at about twice the general inflation rate. On average, tuition tends to increase about 8% per year.” With the economy in the state that it is, the increase in tuition being below the inflation rate is something to take note of.

When compared to other independent schools, Hopkins’s tuition raise is par for the course. At Choate, the average increase is higher than the one seen at Hopkins; “by keeping tuition increases at 2.9% in recent years, ensures that we will continue to separate ourselves and remain an accessible choice for families.” Additionally Hopkins matches Choate in terms of financial aid state with 27% of Hopkins students being on financial aid according to the official website. When asked about how the tuition raise would impact financial aid, Head of school Matt said, “Generally speaking, financial aid awards do increase at the same pace as tuition.” 

When asked if they knew about the changes to tuition, Katherine Cella ‘28 said, “No, I had no clue. I would have liked to find out in a very open and honest way, such as a school wide email explaining the decision with an explanation of the current budget and why it was necessary.” This information is conveyed to parents but not students. Glendinning explained that “each year in January, the President of the Committee of Trustees and the Head of School send a letter to all enrolled families, explaining the tuition rate for the following year. The letter highlights new benefits or programs that will be made possible by the increase in tuition.”

Related to this lack of student budgeting transparency, students wanted to better see what the tuition money is spent on. While Hopkins does not have this information easily accessible for students, Glendinning offered, “If students are interested in learning more about the fiscal management of Hopkins, or nonprofits in general, I'd be happy to speak to people individually or in a group setting.” Alternatively students can look to online resources offered by the National Association of Independent Schools to see what a standard private school budget looks like.

Some students wondered if the Hopkins experience was scaling to match the changes to tuition. When asked if she expected the raised tuition to better the student experience at Hopkins, Lina Elwood ’28 stated, “I hope it will but given that we have an amazing education, secure facilities, and a well-maintained campus, I feel that the raise in tuition could help better our experience.” 

The official letter to families announcing the change pointed to improvements such as “Next year’s budget will advance Hopkins’ strategic plan by augmenting staffing and programming in several key areas, including computer science, counseling, and community service.” In addition the letter announced changes to the Hopkins pool. The letter specified additional projects such as,“A complete renovation of the Bud Erich Pool.” In addition, students can look forward to Hopkins’ biggest project in the Gibbs Center for Innovation that will soon begin construction.

The Hopkins budget will be increasing by 1.9% next year, and students can expect new construction projects and improvements to match. Whether it is the newly renovated pool or the Gibbs institute, the Hopkins budget has expanded.