About

CHALLENGE – Admissible inner city eighth graders requiring full financial aid are often not considered for boarding school entrance unless they are at the very, very top of their class.  Financial aid dollars are limited.  Applications which read ‘full need’ are often not given a ‘second look’ even when the candidate is in the top percentile.  Whether intentional or not, applicants which read ‘full pay’ are evaluated under a different lens.  This holds true even in need-blind schools.  However, it is these high-potential students who could benefit most from a boarding school education.
APPROACH – In order to give admissible, but full-need students a ‘second look’, we offer a scholarship of about 20% of the tuition package.  We enter into the application process early and work with the student’s current school to let the boarding school know that the candidate is a NYC Success Scholar and comes with some financial support.
HISTORY -The program began as a pilot program at Storefront Academy – Harlem.  The first student graduated in 2012 and enrolled at Milton.  She graduated from Milton in 2016 and went on to George Washington University.   The second two students graduated in 2014. One enrolled at Berkshire Academy and the other at Emma Willard.  These two students went on to NYU and American University.  Please see “our scholars” for a full listing of our Scholars
TODAY – We currently have 18 high school graduates and six students in the program.  In 2016, we extended the program to work with Harlem Academy and began by supporting one student at Westover and another at Miss Porter.  As of the fall of 2025, we have contributed over $900,000 to support our Scholars.
TOMORROW –  Our goal is to extend this program first to other schools in greater New York City, and later to inner city children nationwide.  
At the same time, we look to expand our mission to build our network of current and past Scholars to offer peer support for prospective Scholars from their middle schools, new Scholars in their new schools as well as when they graduate from high school and college.