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Financial Assistance

The Lab School recognizes the effort and financial commitment involved in enrolling a child at Lab. In addition to traditional financial assistance, several additional resources may be available to parents.

Financial Opportunities at Lab

The Lab School of Washington provides special-education services and therefore, payments to The Lab School of Washington may be considered deductible medical-care expenses under the Internal Revenue Code. The regulations under Section 213 of the Internal Revenue Code provide that:

"While ordinary education is not medical care, the cost of medical care includes the cost of attending a special school for a handicapped individual, if his or her condition is such that the resources of the institution for alleviating such handicap are a principal reason for his or her presence there."

Whether expenses of The Lab School of Washington will be deductible in a particular case, however, will depend upon the facts and circumstances of each individual student’s situation. There are also percentage limitations applicable to otherwise deductible medical expenses, depending on the parents’ income. Before taking a tax deduction for expenses relating to the special education of a student, parents should confer with their tax lawyer or accountant about the rulings and regulations under Section 213 of the Internal Revenue Code and other applicable laws.

You should also be aware that under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act there is a process in every public school jurisdiction for determining a child's eligibility for special education services. If it is determined that an appropriate education cannot be provided within the public school system, a child may be entitled to placement by that system.

Account owners of 529 College Savings Plans can now make withdrawals to pay for qualified K-12 tuition expenses up to $10,000 per year per student.

Families apply for financial assistance using Independent School Management’s Financial Aid for School Tuition program. ISM’s FAST does not decide whether financial assistance will be given or how much to give; rather FAST provides a need-based financial assistance analysis service. Based on this analysis, FAST will recommend a financial assistance grant and a family contribution amount. Lab may make a financial assistance grant to a family which may be more or less than the FAST recommendation based upon the needs of The Lab School.

The process of applying for financial assistance is kept separate from the admissions process.

All information from FAST is kept confidential. Applications are reviewed and grants are made by the Financial Assistance Committee. See below for a link to FAST.

The Lab School offers limited financial assistance and while it is not possible to meet all requests, the School makes every effort to assist as many families as possible.

The FAST application is available only electronically and must be completed online. Deadline for returning Lab families to submit a complete application is January 19, 2024. The application deadline for families who are applying to Lab is February 6, 2024. There is a $53.00 fee to process this application (payable to FAST).

Families who are applying for financial assistance and admissions for the 2024-25 school year must have a completed admissions application file by January 15, 2024 to receive a financial aid decision with your admissions decision on the first Friday in March 2024. Typically, all of Lab's financial assistance grants are allocated in March for the following school year.

For questions about required information on the application or with any technical difficulties, please visit their help desk, contact help@ismfast.com or call 877-326-FAST.

While all families can apply for financial assistance for the 2024-2025 school year, priority is given to returning students.

December 1, 2023 Financial assistance applications can begin to be submitted for 2024-2025
January 15, 2024 New families who are applying for financial assistance and admissions for the 2024-25 school year must have a completed admissions application file by January 15, 2024
February 6, 2024 Deadline for applicant families to submit a complete financial assistance application to FAST
March 1, 2024 Families receive notification from the Financial Assistance Committee (conditional grants only until 2023 taxes have been received and verified by FAST.)
March 31, 2024 Deadline for submitting complete 2023 tax information to FAST. Please note that any grant will not be finalized until a family’s 2023 taxes have been received and verified by FAST.