Excellent academics with low student to teacher ratioAll of these factors in a stunning coastal Maine environment contribute to the cost of a fall or spring term at Coastal Studies for Girls. While we deliver an excellent educational program, we also realize that a semester’s tuition is significant, and might be challenging for many students and their families.
Welcoming an ethnically, socioeconomically and geographically diverse group of students is an essential part of our mission. With this in mind it is our goal to continue to focus on building our scholarship endowment so that we can eventually achieve the vision of making CSG available to any qualified young woman who applies.
Even in our pioneer year as we open doors to students, we are fortunate to be able to offer a limited amount of scholarship dollars to families in need. The National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) assists us with our financial aid determinations through their School and Student Service for Financial Aid (SSS). SSS aims to make the process easy, accessible and clear, and they provide an objective, consistent methodology for calculating a family’s ability to contribute to educational expenses. They gather data from families, analyze it carefully, and deliver the reports quickly and reliably.
Deadlines and Award Determination:
Scholarship awards will be offered on a rolling basis as requests are received. Therefore, it is in your best interest to apply as early as possible in order to maximize your chance for receiving aid. Using calculations provided by SSS, we will respond with the amount of support CSG is able to provide, thus giving you the information you will need to make your final decision on attending.
How to Apply:
1) Go directly to the NAIS site online at www.sss.nais.org.
2) On the right-hand side of the screen, called "Website for Families", and click the green "Enter Now" box. In the "Apply for Financial Aid" section of the page, click on the green "Access the PFS" box. Once on the PFS (Parents Financial Statement) page, click "Start A New PFS", then follow the instructions.
3) Once you have completed the PFS, SSS will analyze the information and they will contact you if they need anything additional. The PFS Online offers on-screen help and instructions as you complete the form. Password protection also allows you to work on your statement in multiple sessions.
4) Once your PFS has been received by SSS, Coastal Studies for Girls will receive a Report of Family Contribution (RFC) directly from them. This report provides their estimate of what parents can reasonably be expected to contribute toward your child’s education. If you wish to see the results as well, you can request a family report from SSS directly.
5) Then, CSG uses this information to make a determination as to whether or not (and how much) financial support we can allocate toward your child’s tuition for the semester. Initially, all students will be considered on their merit (see student application guidelines) NOT on their ability to pay. We then present students/families with an invitation to attend, either at full tuition or at a reduced tuition supplemented with a specific amount of financial aid from CSG. Based on this information, your child’s attendance will be secured when the enrollment form and deposit have been received by our office.
If you have additional questions on completing the PFS, please contact the SSS Customer Service Center:
Customer Service Center
Monday-Friday 9:00 am - 8:00 pm, Eastern Standard Time
Saturday 9:00 am - 4:00 pm, Eastern Standard Time
Phone: (800) 344-8328
E-mail: sss@nais.org
Financing Strategies
All families are expected to make a minimum financial contribution to their daughter's Coastal Studies for Girls semester. The combined efforts of CSG’s scholarship awards, in concert with the family’s contributions, and the student’s and family’s creative fundraising – make the academic, experiential and inspirational journey at CSG more within reach. While we will provide as much aid as we can, we recognize that the amount of tuition remaining after the scholarship award might still present a financial gap for families. As always, we are available to speak with you about this or any other aspect of the program. We can be reached at 207-865-9700. We hope the following strategies will help to make the tuition more affordable:
• Coastal Studies for Girls has a relationship with Key Bank's Tuition Management Systems to provide a Tuition Payment Plan. Once you are enrolled, we will send you the details of how the payment plan works. We’re already finding this to be helpful to families who are now able to spread out the cost of a semester’s tuition over a number of months.
• Our "Support Your Semester at CSG" booklet contains suggestions on how to get started fundraising on your own. Parental approval is necessary--have a parent call or write to request the full booklet (download an excerpt and permission form here).
P.O. Box 266 308 Wolfe’s Neck Road, Freeport, Maine 04032 207.865.9700
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