Tuition & Tuition Assistance
Vail Mountain School aims to make our independent school education available to all great-fit students, regardless of their financial resources. We offer flexible payment plans and a commitment to work with families and their demonstrated financial needs throughout their years at VMS.
2023 - 2024 Tuition
LOWER SCHOOL (Grades K-5)
$32,000
MIDDLE SCHOOL (Grades 6-8)
$34,000
UPPER SCHOOL (Grades 9-12)
$36,000
Tuition includes:
All Orientation Trips, Hut Trips, In-state Intraterm, and any other in-state overnight travel and field trips
Catered lunch by Sage Dining
Featured speakers and author visits
Technology devices (grades K-7)
Yearbooks
Throughout our sixty year history, we’ve been committed to serving the local community by providing need-based tuition assistance, which currently amounts to more than $1,500,000 per year and is granted to approximately 26% of our families. Applications for tuition assistance must be submitted each year a child is enrolled at VMS. Grants are awarded on the basis of a family’s demonstrated need. To help evaluate need, the VMS Tuition Assistance Committee employs the nationally standardized system, FACTS Management. After reviewing a family’s application, FACTS computes a figure for the family’s expected contribution towards tuition.
Tuition Assistance Next Steps
It is expected that all families applying for VMS Tuition Assistance, whether new or current, will carefully read the Tuition Assistance Handbook.
Tuition Assistance FAQs (these questions and more are also answered in the Tuition Assistance handbooks)
- VMS tuition is beyond our family’s means. Should we still apply?
- Will an application for tuition assistance affect an applicant’s chances of acceptance?
- How is the need for tuition assistance determined?
- What is the deadline to apply for tuition assistance?
- Can the need for tuition assistance affect enrollment?
- What if an applicant is offered enrollment, but the school cannot offer adequate tuition assistance to meet the family’s needs?
- If we receive tuition assistance for my child’s first year, will we receive the same award in subsequent years?
VMS tuition is beyond our family’s means. Should we still apply?
Will an application for tuition assistance affect an applicant’s chances of acceptance?
How is the need for tuition assistance determined?
What is the deadline to apply for tuition assistance?
Can the need for tuition assistance affect enrollment?
What if an applicant is offered enrollment, but the school cannot offer adequate tuition assistance to meet the family’s needs?
If we receive tuition assistance for my child’s first year, will we receive the same award in subsequent years?
Affording VMS
Developing the ability to think critically was central to my experience at VMS. Whether the topic was art, geometry, literature, or even soccer, we honed our ability to think critically about the subject at hand, and more often than not, its broader implications.
Alumnus
Lower School Admission (Grades K-5)
Jennifer Bill
Director of Admission, Lower School
Tel: 970-477-7175
jbill@vms.edu
Middle & Upper School Admission (Grades 6-12)
Jeremy Thelen
Director of Admission, Middle and Upper Schools
Tel: 970-477-7164
jthelen@vms.edu