Dear Headwaters Parents,
Thank you for your patience as we adapt to these unprecedented circumstances. We are proud of and grateful for our teaching teams on all three campuses for diving into distance learning. They will continue to provide a high-quality experience for your children through our Headwaters at Home program for as long as necessary, and will continue to adapt the experience based on feedback from families.
The Board of Trustees met this past week to discuss the financial implications of COVID-19 on our ability to maintain salaries for our faculty and staff, while creating as much flexibility for our families as possible. We have fielded many questions, comments, and concerns in the past two weeks, so we've put together this FAQ to help our families navigate these uncertain times. We will be evaluating again later in April and will communicate by April 24 about our plan for May tuition.
What is the impact on tuition and fees?
Because all teachers and staff are working full-time to deliver distance learning, we will continue to charge tuition. Our commitment to families is to maintain the robust programming that you have come to expect from Headwaters. The feedback we've received from families has been overwhelmingly positive, and we are proud of the work our faculty and staff have done to pivot so quickly. Guides on each campus will continue refining and enhancing their work in the coming weeks. Continued tuition revenue ensures that our faculty and staff can continue to do this excellent work.
Springs Campus Parents (Young Children's Community & Primary):
We understand that due to the young ages of your children, online learning cannot fully support the needs of your family. We are offering Springs Campus parents a 25% discount on your April tuition. We arrived at this percentage because it provides relief to families, while allowing us to retain all of our Springs faculty and staff members. The Business Office will add these credits to your Smart Tuition accounts before April payments are due.
Note: We will not charge for Springs or Creek Campus Early Arrival or Springs Campus Creativity Club for the time period that campuses remain closed. Our Business Office is working to remove those charges from your accounts.
What are the options for families financially impacted by the COVID-19 virus?
We understand that many families' financial situations have been significantly impacted by the COVID-19 virus, and we want to help as best we can. Here are two options to consider:
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Deferred Payments:
We can defer your payment plan in several ways. Contact
Alex Penry
to discuss the option that would best suit your family.
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Financial Aid:
We invite you to apply for
Financial Aid
so that we may consider whether some level of tuition relief is available. Though our regular financial aid budget is exhausted, we are making additional aid available both for the 2019-2020 school year and the 2020-2021 school years.
Can families withdraw from Headwaters this spring and return for the 2020-2021 school year?
Though we hope it does not become necessary for your family, you may withdraw for the remainder of the year according to our withdrawal policy:
With written notice of withdrawal, the family is responsible for 40% of the remaining tuition total.
Again, we understand that this is a difficult situation for many different reasons, and we want to be as flexible as we can. If you are considering not continuing at Headwaters for the remainder of the semester due to the COVID-19 virus but have not yet submitted an enrollment contract for 2020-2021, be aware that we may not be able to secure your spot when we are able to re-open. We will evaluate these requests on a case-by-case basis. If you have already submitted an enrollment contract for 2020-2021, that contract ensures that your child has a space reserved for the coming school year.
We continue to evaluate campus closure dates based on the information available to us from Austin Public Health along with state and local governments. Currently those orders continue through April 13, but we believe it is highly likely that schools in the area will remain closed for a more extended period of time.
Thank you again for your support and understanding. Despite the difficulties and anxiety of this situation, we remain aware of and ever-grateful for our supportive and dedicated Headwaters community.
Sincerely,
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Jerry Aubin
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Ted Graf
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Board Chair
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Head of School
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