Tuition at the Middle School and Upper School rose to $66,900 this year from the previous year’s $63,700 (See Vol 53, Issue 8: “‘It’s a tough situation’: Tuition prices rise across ISL”). Tuition and fees made up 83.5% of the school’s income for the 2024-25 academic year, according to its financial report. Philanthropic gifts through the BB&N Fund contributed 4.8%, and an additional 5.7% of the school’s income came from endowment support.
Chief Advancement Officer Julie Gray said tuition covers around 85% of the school’s operating costs. Last year, the school fundraised $7.5 million.
“The BB&N Fund contributes to the school’s operating budget to assist with every aspect of it. With the $3.4 million, we are helping to make sure that every class, every performing art, every athletic event, every club and every student gets what they need.”
The school’s expenses are spread across three main areas: faculty salaries and benefits, general operations and financial aid. Faculty salaries and benefits accounted for 59.2% of the school’s expenses for the 2024-25 academic year.
“Our tuition continues to go up because we want to compensate our faculty,” Chief Financial Officer Tara Gohlmann P ’23 ’26 ’28 said. “The cost of living in this part of Massachusetts is really expensive, so we want them to be able to afford to live here because, if they have to drive super far away, they can’t be here in support of all of their students as easily.”
Retaining faculty is a challenge for many schools, Dr. Gohlmann said.
“It’s like an arms race because we’re trying not to increase tuition, but we have to increase the tuition. We’re keeping up with other schools, like Windsor and Milton, who are also increasing tuition. They’re using that tuition increase to pay their faculty more, but we also don’t want to lose our faculty to other schools if our pay falls behind.”
Some teachers serve as budget managers and provide input on how tuition should be allocated, Dr. Gohlmann said.
“We ask them, ‘What do you need to run your program to serve our students?’ It doesn’t mean that we’re able to allocate all the resources somebody wants, but we do our best to meet their needs so we can run the programs that we want to in service of students.”
Dr. Gohlmann and Head of School Jennifer Price work to create a campus master plan that models improvements and renovations for each upcoming academic year. General operations — including maintenance and campus upkeep — made up 24.6% of the school’s expenses during the 2024-25 academic year.
“When the boiler broke at the Lower School, we decided to buy an energy-efficient boiler that was going to save us money over time,” Dr. Gohlmann said. “We did that thoughtfully and spent a little more money because we knew we were going to keep that building. The campus master plan gives us a roadmap for how to invest our money.”
The remaining 16.2% of expenses went to need-based financial aid for 25% of students across campuses. Financial aid includes bus transportation, technology, school-sponsored trips, after-school programs, school-recommended tutoring and Summer@BB&N — the school’s summer camp.
“I am proud of BB&N’s commitment to financial aid and the comprehensive budget in terms of what we support,” Director of Financial Aid Genieve Rankel P ’26 ’28 said. “Each year, we take an audit to see what we are missing and how we can support more. We cover not just tuition, but we also cover life. We want to get kids to our school but also through our school, as well.”
Jonathan White ’27 went on an exchange trip with financial aid funding.
“It made it easier to go because I didn’t have to pay for the whole thing,” he said. “Being able to go to this school and play basketball because I got the financial aid to go here is great. Down the road, the education and the financial aid I receive will help me go to college and be able to do what I enjoy.”
