Funding & Finance
How to Get Capital & Access Grants
For most new schools, the biggest challenge is finding access to financing. This page outlines ideas and techniques to get your school access to funding.
Contents
Finding Investors, Grants, Incentives, & More
While income and expenses are both important for budgeting (and we’ll address these in the next section on business plans & budget), it is the income side of the balance sheet that generally causes the most stress as school owners prepare to open.
In this section we provide guidelines for what funding will be required and why, ideas for where initial and ongoing funding can come from, and reminders on some basic finance resources you’ll need to have in place.
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Common School Startup Expenses
While your overall budget will provide a plan for full-year spending (and is discussed in detail in the business plan section), common up-front costs for new schools include:
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Down payment or deposit for your facility
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Furniture and classroom supplies
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Technology
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Staff recruitment
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Marketing
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First month(s) salaries
How Much Startup Funding is Needed?
A general rule of thumb for determining how much money you need when starting a school is to think about the frequency and quantity of tuition payments you're going to be expecting.
For example, if you're expecting to collect $50,000 in tuition twice per year, you should have about $50,000 in start-up funds to keep your school running until the tuition money comes in. If you plan to collect the $100,000 all at once, experts recommend having $100,000 in start-up money to tide you over until all the tuition has been collected.
Finding Startup Funding for Your School
Sources of Recurring Funding
Helping Families Find Funding
While we’re on the subject of funding, there’s a chance you’ll find families who are interested in attending your school but can’t afford tuition or need financial assistance to do so. While your school may be able to offer discounts or scholarships for families, you may not be able to afford to do so in all cases – after all, you are trying to cover your expenses and tuition dollars help with that.
There are some private foundations that offer scholarships to students who would like to attend private school. Amazon has lots of books that can help parents find financial aid for their students, too. Additionally, you’ll find more resources on our state specific pages.
Finance Fundamentals
Helping Educators Do the Work That Matters

Guide Quick-Nav

Introduction
We’ve developed these 10 topics to help you along the way. Take them all in at once, or start with the areas most relevant right now.

School Identity
There’s plenty you can do to develop your own brand, starting right from your personal ideals and goals for your school.

Curriculum
Our curriculum pages include ideas on where to go to find materials, and different associations and educational models you may want to consider.

Legal & Operating Requirements
You need to know the requirements at both the federal level and for your state. Here are the basic details for every state.

Funding & Finance
Here we share ideas for possible funding sources, and ways you might be able to start with less than you thought necessary.

Business Plan & Budget
Having a plan for how you’ll operate and a budget to predict and allocate funds is critical for all businesses, schools included. We’ve pulled together resources here to help with both.

Facilities
What facilities are right for your school? We encourage new schools to get creative, and have compiled some considerations to take into account.

Staffing
How can you find and recruit the right talent for your school? What qualifications or certifications are required?

Policies & Procedures
Thinking about more than just a student handbook and conduct code, we've included recommendations & templates to help you develop your school policies & procedures

Marketing & Online Presence
Having a plan for how you’ll operate and a budget to predict and allocate funds is critical for all businesses, schools included. We’ve pulled together resources here to help with both.

Associations
What facilities are right for your school? We encourage new schools to get creative, and have compiled some considerations to take into account.