education to in-state residents. Eligibility requirements and costs vary from school to school and state to state. In general, in-state residency is required for tax supported tuition. Room and board is typically an extra cost, but scholarships can provide funding for such costs. Admissions are typically very competitive and focused on the student’s academic record and emotional maturity. Some schools use a lottery system for applicants. In the main, public boarding schools differ from their private counterparts in two aspects – less resources and a less diverse student body. Because they are so few in number, public boarding schools will not be discussed as a group in this book. Families considering a public boarding option are advised to track many common issues in this book and contact the public boarding schools directly through TABS: The Association of Boarding Schools. See “Resources” in the Appendix.
COMPARATIVE STATISTICS
Percent of students who report that their school is academically challenging:
Boarding 91% Day 70% Public 50%
Percent of graduates who report being very well prepared for university academics:
Boarding 87% Day 71% Public 39%
Percent of graduates who report being very well prepared for university non-academic life:
Boarding 78% Day 36% Public 23%
Percent of students who say their schools provide leadership opportunities:
Boarding 77% Day 60% Public 52%
Percent of students who report being motivated by their peers:
Boarding 75% Day 71% Public 49%
Percent of graduates who achieve top management positions by mid-career:
Boarding 44% Day 33% Public 27%
Hours per week spent on homework:
Boarding 17hrs Day 9hrs Public 8hrs
Hours per week spent watching TV:
(a pattern that continues throughout life)
Boarding 3hrs Day 7hrs Public 7hrs
(source: TABS/Art & Science Group, 2003)
PERCEPTIONS AND MISPERCEPTIONS
Over its history, the boarding school world has had a disproportionate presence in popular culture. Tom Brown’s School Days, an 1856 novel set at England’s Rugby School, was wildly popular in the mid to late 19th century and has been credited for initiating American interest in English style schools. Owen Johnson’s boarding school novellas, now known collectively as The Lawrenceville Stories, and a collegiate sequel, Stover at Yale, further intrigued the reading public in the early twentieth century. Later novels included James Hilton’s Goodbye, Mr. Chips and John Knowles’ A Separate Peace. Roald Dahl brought a contrarian view with Boy, a series of stories about his unhappy days at British boarding schools. Hollywood has brought the boarding world to the general public with a string of films. The Harry Potter films, based on the novels of J. K. Rowling, are the best known boarding school stories of all time, with worldwide distribution in scores of languages.
The modern fascination with celebrity is another source of information about boarding schools which are known for their alumni, many of whom have gone on to fame as politicians, movie stars, and titans of business. News media also bring public awareness, often of a negative sort, since they tend to report on boarding schools on occasions when bad news occurs.
This aggregate cultural history has given rise to a number of myths, often contradictory:
“Boarding schools are only for rich kids.”
Due to their very high tuitions, boarding schools enroll numerous full pay students from wealthy families. Nevertheless, these schools include students of all economic backgrounds due to the schools’ huge amounts of financial aid. Many schools have over 70% of their students on financial aid. Some are “need blind” and provide significant financial aid, sometimes including 100% tuition plus funding for computers, books, and travel, to families who demonstrate need. This largesse supports tuition grants to students across the economic spectrum, including students from middle class families who often qualify for much more financial aid at boarding schools than they can get from universities.
“Boarding schools are only for delinquents and troublemakers.”
Some boarding schools focus on teens with major emotional and psychological issues. The “therapeutic” schools are only one category of boarding school; the large majority are college preparatory schools with a wide variety of specialties, including single sex schools, coed schools, schools focused on learning challenges, church schools, military schools, and equestrian schools. The list is long.
“Boarding schools are not diverse and exclude minorities.”
This was certainly true in the two hundred and fifty year past history of American prep schools, but now the trend is strongly in the opposite direction. Enrollment of students of color reaches 40-45% in many schools. Schools also promote instructional programs in diversity, hold on-campus religious services from many faiths, and promote social tolerance.
“All boarding schools are harsh, cold, and cruel, like a Dickens novel.”
Many nineteenth century American boarding schools sought to model themselves after British schools, where hazing, bullying, and corporal punishment were accepted customs until only recently. A current community of British ex-boarding school students, Boarding School Survivors, claiming permanent emotional and psychological damage from their school experiences, campaigns against British boarding schools and boarding schools in general, tarring all with the brush of their own experience.
Modern American boarding schools are a far cry from the antique British model, or indeed from what American schools once were. Today, student well-being is a top priority, with professional support from advisors, tutors, trainers, and health, dietary, psychological, and time management specialists. With extensive recreational and sports facilities, executive chefs for the dining halls, and school organic farms raising meat, dairy and produce for the dining halls, many schools are so fully equipped they are described as “country clubs with classrooms”.
“You have to be an A+ student to attend boarding schools.”
Another falsehood – the wide range of schools and academic programs means there’s a place for every student who seeks a boarding experience, regardless of classroom success.
“A boarding school education is a sure fire route to getting into Ivy League colleges”
At one time in the 19th and 20th centuries, there was correlative data that would support this false conclusion, as certain boarding schools served as “feeder schools” to elite colleges and universities. The truth was that the admission rates from certain schools and elite colleges had much more to do with family connections than it did with the schools themselves. Now that diversity is the watchword for college admissions officers, boarding school success in college admissions, though stronger on a percentage basis than any other school category, is much lower than in decades past. Mere attendance at a boarding school
