Average Cost of Private School in Arkansas

Do you want to send your child to a private school to get a better educational experience, but are worried about the cost? Private schools can be expensive since you are paying for everything that your child receives in their education. I have done research on the cost of a private school in Arkansas.

The average private school tuition in Arkansas is $6,172 per year. The average tuition of a private elementary school is $6,158 per year and the private high school average is $7,163 per year. Most private schools in Arkansas offer scholarships to their students to help with the cost.

Private schools are definitely not cheap in Arkansas, but it is not the most expensive area in the United States to get a private education. I have compiled a list of scholarships and factors that go into your child’s education to help you gain a better understanding of what expenses you are going to have to pay. Read on to gain a more informed decision on private schools in Arkansas.

Cost of Private Elementary and High School

The average cost of a private school in Arkansas is $6,172 per year. This is a large expense. What does your money go into when you pay that much?

When you pay tuition it goes into every overhead expense. You are paying for the rent of the school, the teacher’s salary, the cleaning supplies, and the in-school materials like paper. All of these expenses come out of your tuition, which is why tuition is higher. Having more students at a school will help split the overhead costs a little more. Still, though, with more students, there are more expenses and so it will still cost a great deal to go to a private university.

The cost of private school does differ depending on the age of your child. The average cost of a private elementary school is $6,158. This is slightly cheaper than the state average.

On the other hand, going to a private high school will cost you around $7,163. This is because high schoolers are involved in more extracurricular activities to help them develop skills. This results in a need for more faculty.

In Arkansas middle schoolers often go to school with elementary and high school students. Therefore, there are no good numbers for the average cost of tuition for middle schoolers.

Other School Costs

When you go to school either public or private there are out-of-pocket expenses. There are many of these expenses that can change your school budget.

Most schools will make you buy your own laptop for your child to use so they can learn to type and write their papers on it. This is a technological age so most schools require a laptop for their child. The average cost of a school laptop is $1,200.

Another out-of-pocket expense is extracurricular. Most extracurricular cost the parents money. The average cost for a child to play sports is $302 a year. To participate in the arts will cost you $218. For other regular clubs, it will cost you $124. Still in the age of extracurriculars, it is necessary to let your child participate so they could have a better chance of getting into a good college.

The average school backpack cost is $30 and the average lunch box is $20. If you pay for your child to be fed at the school the average cost of that is $2.18.

It is estimated that the average parent spends around $117 on school supplies like paper, pens, folders, and art supplies. Overall when you are creating your school budget you need to calculate these extra expenses.

Scholarships for Private School in Arkansas

You might be looking at all of these numbers now and getting ready to start selling organs. You can calm down because there are other options.

There are a few really good scholarships in Arkansas that will be able to help you to pay for your child’s education.

The first one is the ACE scholarship. This scholarship will help pay for up to 50% of your child’s education or a maximum of $3,000 a year for your K-8 children or $4,000 a year for your high schoolers. This can be really helpful with making bills.

This scholarship is decided based solely on family income levels. Therefore, you do not need to pressure your child into getting all A’s to be able to attend school.

Some schools do not use the ACE scholarship, though. You need to check and see if your school is one of the qualifying schools on the ACE website.

Another option in Arkansas is something the government does called School Choice, which means that the tax dollars set aside for your child can follow you to your private school. You can apply online to see if they would be willing to set some money aside for your child and their education.

You should also check your private school and see if they have any individual scholarships. Most private schools do have their own scholarships and that can help you pay for school.

Is it Worth the Money?

It really depends on where you send your child and how much money in scholarships you can get. Private schools can help your child a lot to get into a better college. They have personalized programs that focus on college admissions.

Private schools can also focus on religious expression if that is important to you. You can send your child to a Christian school that will teach your children secular knowledge and scripture knowledge.

Another perk of private schools is that they can use different teaching styles than public schools. There are schools like the Montessori schools that use teaching techniques that cater to individuality and independence that will help your child in the professional world.

If you have a child with special needs private schools can be a great environment for them. There are private schools that have teachers that are trained to help children with learning, behavioral, physical, and intellectual disorders. This extra bit of support can give your child so many more opportunities.

Still, it will cost you a lot of money to send your child to these places. Therefore, you need to consider what your child needs. Does your child need a special program to help them to grow? Do they need to cater to their learning style? If they do then I say it is worth the extra cost.