Choosing a school for your child can be a complex process. We want to answer your questions about our program and enrollment process. Our admissions process is simple:

 First: Please take time to look through our website and social media pages. Then, let’s have a phone conversation about whether ACE Collective programs are a good match for your family. Our aim is to make placements that are a good match for the child, the family, and the program. After this, we can schedule a short tour of the facility.

 Second: Tour with your child and meet our staff.

 Third: Have a conversation with our Head of School and Programming, Chloe Clements. We find this conversation helpful in answering remaining questions parents have as well as understanding the needs and goals for your child before enrollment decisions are made.

The Short: Kind of.

When we launched ACE Academy, we promised to do school different and change the practices and structures of schooling that harm children and society. However, we knew that simply removing testing, homework, standardized curriculum, grades, age groupings, and other hierarchical practices would be insufficient alone. We must also be fully committed to diversity, equity and inclusion. Diversity of experiences open up opportunities in learning and understanding that cannot be provided through lectures or textbooks. Diversity of thought is a catalyst for creativity and innovation. Exposure to diversity amplifies empathy and inspires people to take action. But diversity is difficult to incorporate into alternative, private, or progressive schools, like ACE Academy that rely on tuition paying students to fund their operations. However, diversity and equity are core values at ACE Academy, so we have chosen to commit to socioeconomic diversity in the following ways:

1. We have scaled back enrollment goals in order to reduce operating expenses and accept more students at various income levels.

2. We have leveraged community donations to go towards offsetting the cost of attendance for families that are unable to pay the full price of tuition.

3. We have simplified the tuition process and eliminated negative connotations associated with discounted tuition. Families who wish to apply for finacial aid will receive a custom tuition amount based on their family’s ability to pay.

4. We have taken account into the actual cost of living and expanded traditional income limits to include “gap” families (families too wealthy for assistance, but not able to independently afford tuition). We want to ensure that all families who would benefit from ACE Academy’s learning environment are encouraged to apply.

We want our tuition policy to be inclusive of all families across the socioeconomic spectrum, promote the belief that every child can lead a remarkable life, and eliminate social hierarchy among families based on their cost of attendance.

Our sliding scale tuition policy eliminates the categories of “scholarships” and “financial aid,” and replaces it with an income and resources-based method of determining tuition for inquiring families. While affluent families will still be expected to pay the maximum tuition, families with fewer financial resources will pay a smaller, but equitable, percentage of their income.

ACE Academy seeks to provide an environment for learning and growth, whereby students are introduced to, welcome, embrace, and celebrate differences. Diversity is essential to that end and our new sliding scale tuition policy demonstrates our commitment to cultivating such a space.

No, you do not have to attend our schooling program to attend either our after-school or summer school programs. Our after-school and summer school programs are open to all school-aged children in the community, regardless of whether they attend our regular schooling program.