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February 5, 2026
What is Your Gap?
What is your school's gap between gross and net tuition and what does it mean?
Boards often focus on the annual tuition increase—how it compares to peer schools and how families will respond. But the more important governance question is what happens after tuition is set.
The gap between gross tuition (the published price) and net tuition (what the school actually collects after financial aid and discounts) offers a clearer picture of how pricing, policy, and market realities are working together in practice. The chart below, which compares changes in gross and net tuition across NAIS schools, provides helpful context for boards to consider where their own school falls within the broader landscape. The chart indicates that the gap between gross and net tuition growth narrows in 2025–26, inviting boards to examine whether this reflects intentional policy choices or changing market conditions.
The 'gap' is shaped largely by tuition discounting. While discounting can reflect intentional commitments to access and affordability, it can also expand incrementally—one enrollment decision at a time—until it becomes structural rather than strategic. When this happens, net revenue may weaken even as published tuition continues to rise.
For boards, the key issue is not the size of the gap itself, but whether it reflects clear, intentional policy. The gap between gross and net tuition is a policy outcome, not just a financial metric. Understanding it helps boards assess alignment between mission, enrollment strategy, and long-term financial sustainability.
Ask your board:
Are we using tuition discounting as a strategic lever—or has it become a default response?
Do we understand how discounting affects net revenue by division?
And are our tuition and financial aid policies producing the outcomes we intend?
Using the peer data below as context—not as a target—you can ground your board conversations in reality while keeping governance focused where it belongs: on strategy, sustainability, and mission alignment.
Downloadable chart
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