Financial Accessibility of Forest Schools: Creating Inclusive Tuition & Scholarship Models
This meeting is intended for administrative staff of forest schools and nature-based programs who wish to shift their tuition and scholarship model to include access for all families no matter their means.
Thursday 8/4/22 @5pm (Pacific)
Since first opening our nature-based programs for young children in 2011, I have always held a “No one turned away for lack of funds” model. Although sometimes challenging, this was a non-negotiable aspect of my work— true access for all since day one.
Over the years I’ve shifted systems and models and continued to evolve our process, especially as I learned (again and again!) that I needed to meet this ideal without sacrificing my own humble compensation, or else it’s not actually working. Although our process improved and got smoother over the years, I was still not satisfied with it.. until 2020.
In 2020 I decided to abandon the scholarship model entirely, going back to our values of community care and reciprocity. It never quite sat right with me that especially in an area of such a wide income disparity that families are made to feel like they need to *earn* their entry into a place that is not meant for them. — As “a scholarship kid” myself, this is one of the many cycles of harm I’m ending in my ways of engaging with the world.
In this past school year at @berkeleyforestschool, we worked with 50+ families who reported income between $12k/year and $1.4million/year and everything in between. Every single child from each family all deserve access to a beautiful and enriching learning community, with love and care from highly skilled mentors and teachers. In our school, no one is “on scholarship”. Everyone contributes equitably to their means and circumstance, which benefits all families.
We’re now starting our third school year utilizing an “equitable tuition model” which I am excited to share with any programs seeking such an alternative.
This workshop is an invitation for those of you interested in making your programs more accessible to all members of your community. Please register & share with anyone you know who may be interested. There is a recommended donation of $10-20. No one will be turned away for lack of funds.
A $10-20 suggested donation can be made below.
Register for this event here.
This event will be recorded and sent to all registrants.