School tuition is the most common, and most obvious, source of recurring funding. As your student body grows, so will the pool of money coming in from tuition, allowing you to fund many of the items you’ll need to keep your school operating from year to year.

Once you’ve worked on your business plan and budget you’ll probably have a decent idea of the operating costs involved in running your school and can start to think about what you might need to charge for tuition in order to pay the bills.

That said, you’ll also want to research and consider competitive tuition rates for other schools in your area. You’ll probably encounter some resistance if you try to charge 2 or 3 times what other similar schools are charging, so having an idea of the market can help you have reasonable expectations. Just researching your potential competitors by calling or visiting their website is a great place to start. Additionally, data is available on average tuition by state and by large towns and counties. This should get you into the right ballpark and you can fine tune your budget and projected expenses from there.

Involving the community in your school can also help with recurring funding. Many local businesses are happy to sponsor schools and their various programs and activities. This happens frequently with school sports teams but could also apply to general school sponsorship, and programs for arts, STEM, leadership development, etc. In exchange for sponsorship many schools provide visibility for sponsors on assembly programs, t-shirts, banners, or on the sign in front of the school. Simple arrangements can help secure income throughout the year.

The US Department of Education has a several options for private schools looking for additional funding support:

• Title I funds - One option is for your school to become a supplemental educational services provider. Basically, if your school offers after school tutoring or other enrichment services, you can open these services up to public school students, and the federal government will provide support. Your school can apply to be a part of this program through your individual state department of education, for which you can find contact information on our state-specific resource pages. You can also read more about Title I from the US Department of Education.

• NCLB - There are also funds available through various sections of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), depending on the services your school offers, and the eligibility of the students enrolled in your school. The Department of Education has a guide to NCLB for private schools that can help you determine what you might qualify for once you know what your student body looks like.

• Grants – The US Department of Education provides this list of organization and agencies that offer grants to schools that can come in handy if you meet specific criteria. There is a little bit of legwork behind researching these grants, but they’re good ways to find funding if you’ve got the time to invest.

• Vouchers & tax credits - Many states provide tuition support through voucher programs and state subsidies. Check out our state-specific pages for information specific to your state.

It is critical that as the owner of your school you keep separate accounts for business and personal use. Mixing of personal and business expenses or revenue can pose not just ethical concerns, but can get you into trouble legally and even void the legal protections provided by formation of a corporation.

Many business owners choose to open business accounts at a different institution than the one where their personal accounts are located. This is a great safeguard to ensure that your bank doesn’t incorrectly link personal and business accounts together, which can sometimes happen for services such as overdraft protection without full transparency for bank customers.

It is always advisable to consult with an accountant when opening and operating your school. Depending on how you are structured, there are likely tax or other implications for how you receive and distribute funds, for how certain expenses are categorized, for payroll, and much more.

Be sure you find an accountant with experience working with businesses. Some accountants do provide services for both personal and business accounting. If you have a personal accountant that can do both, that’s great. But if your personal accountant doesn’t work regularly with businesses, it is important to find somebody who specializes.

Finally, requirements for non-for-profit corporations can be materially different than traditional for-profit businesses. If you are operating as a non-profit entity, be sure to find an accountant that focuses on non-profit clients.

Just as you need different bank accounts for personal and business use, you also need different accounting software. While it may seem easy to just add an additional checking account to your personal finance package, business accounting software will help you keep track of vendors, payments to employees and contractors, provide financial reports, and a range of other details that are critical when it comes time to paying taxes, applying for credit, and assessing the financial health of your school.

Three of the most popular packages for business accounting include:

Quickbooks Online - https://quickbooks.intuit.com/

Probably the best-known name in accounting software, Quickbooks by Intuit has evolved from desktop software to an online platform, with multiple subscription options depending on your specific needs.

Xero - https://www.xero.com

This New Zealand-based company is newer to the market, and has earned numerous industry accolades as they built their platform from the ground-up as a modern, cloud-based platform with all the bells & whistles you might want.

Freshbooks - https://www.freshbooks.com/

Freshbooks is another cloud-based offering that has earned high praise. With their focus on small business and an emphasis on simplicity and ease-of-use, this is another good choice for new schools.