Apply for Financial Aid - Phillips Exeter Academy

Phillips Exeter Academy uses the Clarity Application to securely collect your financial aid application and supporting tax documents. Clarity offers a streamlined, mobile-friendly application that takes approximately 30 minutes to complete.

Additionally, Clarity removes the need to upload your wage and tax information by transferring them directly from the IRS. This reduces the amount of information that you will need to enter manually and makes it possible to complete the application quickly and efficiently.

At the end of the application, there is a $65 fee to submit, and you can share your application with additional schools that accept the Clarity Application for no additional charge.

Clarity has established its own Fee Waiver Guidelines for financial aid applications. Clarity will automatically grant a fee waiver if the eligibility criteria are met. Exeter does not provide fee waivers for the Clarity application.

The financial aid application process begins in September each year. Families who indicate that they wish to apply for financial aid on the Candidate Profile in Gateway to Prep Schools will receive information on how to apply using Clarity.

To complete the financial aid application through Clarity, please click here.

    
            Follow these steps to apply for financial aid
Indicate that you intend to apply for financial aid in the Candidate Profile of the Gateway to Prep Schools applicaiton. Be sure to use the exact same name and date of birth on all application materials.
Complete and submit the financial aid application through Clarity by January 15.
After submitting your application, return to your Clarity dashboard to review and complete any additional documentation requests. All documents must be submitted through Clarity.

For U.S. residents
As part of the application process, Clarity will, with your authorization, retrieve your 2025 W-2(s) and federal tax return (Form 1040) from the IRS. If Clarity is unable to retrieve these documents, you will be asked to upload them manually.
You may receive additional documentation requests through Clarity, including business tax documentation, if applicable.

For Non-U.S. residents
Families living outside of the United States who do not file U.S. taxes must submit official 2025 income and tax documentation, such as foreign tax returns and/or official wage statements from employers. If any documentation is in a language other than English, please submit the original document along with an officially translated copy.

Clarity Assistance

If you need support during the process of completing your application, there is in-app support available through the “Help” button in the bottom left of the screen, as well as email and phone support at support@clarityapp.com or 206-210-3752, in both English and Spanish. The application itself is also fully translated into Spanish.

Clarity provides helpful instructions on their application process:
- Clarity Family Application Guide
- Guía de Aplicación de Clarity Para Las Familias

Clarity Quick Reference Guide
- Clarity Quick Reference Guide
- Guía de Referencia Rápida de Clarity

Supplemental Information

Exeter’s financial aid program hinges on parents financing their children’s education to the extent they are able. We assume that each parent in a family will work if there are no elementary school-age children in the household. Parents who are not working should be prepared to share why that is the case and understand that Exeter may assign an income for a non-working parent in determining a family’s financial need. Please note:

Families who anticipate needing financial aid at any time during their child’s tenure at Exeter need to apply for financial aid at the time of admission.
Exeter considers the financial resources of both legal parents, if living, before making an award. The Academy does not feel bound by the assertion, if it is made, that one parent disclaims responsibility for educational expenses. If either legal parent remarries, we consider the obligations of that parent to his or her new family, as well as the resources of the step-parent. However, we do bear in mind the obligations of the step-parent to his or her own children.
In a divorced or separated family, a separate Financial Aid application should be submitted for each household. Please include contact information for each parent on the Gateway to Prep Schools application form.

We appreciate that every family’s situation is different. If you have questions, we are here to help. Please contact the Office of Financial Aid at:

Phone: 603-777-3341

Email: financialaid@exeter.edu

If you change your mind about requesting aid, please let the Financial Aid Office know immediately.