Monteverde Friends School
Financial Aid
We aim to provide a quality and affordable education to local Costa Rican students, who comprise over 90% of our student body. Around 50% of our students receive financial aid depending on the family’s needs and upon the ability of the family to pay. In the 2019-20 school year, financial aid allocations totaled nearly $80,000. Due to the pandemic and the collapse of Monteverde’s tourist economy, over $140,000 was needed for scholarships in 2020-21 but we hope this will gradually return to normal levels over the next year or two. This is the largest ongoing need of the school, and nearly 90% of scholarship funds go to pay for teachers and staff. Donations of any size are welcomed. Our current tuition for high school students is $4,500 per year.
General Fund
General use, to be directed by our School Committee and Head of School for scholarships or for other needs.
Monteverde Friends Meeting
Meeting General Fund
This fund maintains the meeting physically, legally, economically and spiritually. In recent years the meeting has spent between $7000 and $10,000 per year. Examples of meeting expenses include: Religious Education translations, House and Grounds maintenance, bookkeeping, taxes, the meeting audit, water bills, child care for meeting for business, and donations to the organizations such as the Friends World Committee for Consultation, the Centro de Educación para la Paz, and the Centro para la Paz.
Library Fund
The Monteverde Community Library is the largest free-lending library in Costa Rica with over 20,000 books, all managed by a volunteer committee! Each year over 3500 books are checked out. Expenses include paying someone to clean the library, magazine subscriptions, new bookshelves, purchasing books in Spanish, and maintaining the building. The main source of income for this committee is an annual rummage sale.
