At Brearley, we believe tuition shouldn’t get in the way of a great education. See how we can make it affordable for your family.
We believe that girls deserve a world-class education that inspires them and supports them in reaching their full potential, regardless of their family's ability to pay.
In keeping with Brearley's mission to educate students of adventurous intellect and diverse backgrounds, our financial assistance program helps families offset the cost of tuition, with support based on each family's circumstances rather than a single income cutoff.
How It Works
One of the Country’s Best Private Schools is Within Reach
Students must go through the regular admission process, and parents must complete a financial aid application. Once a student is accepted and qualifies for this program, Brearley covers their entire tuition, including books, lunch, technology, athletics, grade-level trips, and extracurricular activities.
In addition, the school pays for after-school and summer programs, music lessons, and even travel study for Upper School students.
The message is clear: Brearley is the place for a girl who loves to learn and wants to be challenged, regardless of her family’s ability to pay the tuition.
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Cost Breakdown
What is your total annual household income?
Based on Brearley’s 2025–2026 financial aid awards. Every family’s situation is unique — each application is reviewed individually, considering income, assets, expenses, family size, and children attending tuition-charging schools.
Your Questions, Answered
Brearley wants to make its education more accessible to more families that desire a world-class education for their girls.
Families interested applying for tuition assistance must complete both Brearley’s admission application process and financial assistance application process. If your daughter is admitted to Brearley, then the financial assistance department will determine how much your family will contribute toward tuition.
When determining eligibility for financial aid, we consider total household income, assets and the number of children you have at tuition-charging schools.
Families applying for assistance must complete an annual application through Clarity, a third-party financial aid platform. While each school has its own criteria, Clarity equips the committee with the tools necessary to conduct an equitable and consistent review process.
Any financial assistance package includes lunch and snacks, technological devices, athletics, extracurricular activities, and books in addition to the main tuition costs.
A family may want their child to participate in optional add-on activities such as private music lessons, school-sponsored extracurricular activities, a Travel Study program, and much more. Families receiving aid pay the same pro-rated percentage of the cost of these additional activities.
For questions about how your family can afford Brearley, you can email the Office of Financial Assistance at financialaid@brearley.org.
Ready to Learn More?
Submit the form below and we’ll reach out to you with next steps.
The School
Get to Know Brearley
Located on New York City's Upper East Side, The Brearley School fosters a love of learning, excellence in the liberal arts, and engagement in a lively and inclusive community. At Brearley, our students learn to challenge assumptions, collaborate with others, and think for themselves.
Our rigorous curriculum, crafted by our highly skilled faculty, is rooted in tradition while adapting to the changing needs of today's world. Students engage across disciplines — from electrical currents and game theory to Mandarin, Shakespeare's King Lear, and the history of the Muslim world.
Beyond academics, students pursue their interests in theater, dance, athletics, the visual arts, music, and stagecraft, and join student government, a host of clubs and interest groups, and student-run publications.
20%FAMILIES ON FINANCIAL AID
$8.2MILLION IN FINANCIAL AID
100%STUDENT NEEDS MET WITH AID
Alumnae Voices
Listen as they share their experiences of attending Brearley.
Sue Meng
Class of 1999
Lawyer
Lawyer
Brearley is a place that values the quality of your mind, the nature of your character, more than any of the other things that differentiate us. Those are values I hold to this day.
Modupe Akinola
Class of 1992
Business School Professor
Business School Professor
I think it is important to highlight the power of an all-girls education, with everyone who is the same gender raising their hands, being excited, knowing you have things to contribute in a very unique way.
Megan Lui
Class of 2010
Writer
Writer
It's so much more than just an excellent education. It's an education that will not only prepare you for higher education but also for your careers to come and just being a good citizen of the world.
Amina Elderfield
Class of 1994
Managing Director, Financial Services
Managing Director, Financial Services
The academic rigor is the hallmark of this place, but it was really about the curiosity and this wonderment the school inspired, and you felt you had with your fellow classmates.