Tuition and Tuition Assistance

All families (new and returning) applying for tuition assistance must create an account and apply on Clarity. There is a non-refundable $65 application fee.

Required Materials:

• Most recent pay stubs
• Most recent W-2 forms for all jobs
• Most recently filed federal tax returns
• Most recently filed business tax return
• Supplemental income documentation

Step 1 
Go to https://app.clarityapp.com/sign-up. 

Step 2 
Begin your application and add Hamlin Robinson School to your student applicant entry. You can save your application and log out at any time and return later to complete it.  The access code for HRS is 9174.

Step 3 
Complete your application and pay the $65 Clarity application fee. 

Step 4 
Complete the Clarity Enhanced Tax Verification (ETV) process to release your W2 and personal tax return transcripts from the IRS. You'll be asked to authorize the sharing of your tax transcripts and verify your identity. This is a one-time security measure required by the IRS to protect against identity theft and the compromise of personal information. Only those filing US taxes will be prompted to complete this step. Please review the step-by-step walkthrough of this process. 

Step 5 
Submit your Clarity application and follow the link to return to your dashboard to upload any additional supporting documents requested by schools. Non-U.S. tax filers may be prompted to upload income verification and other necessary documentation. Keep in mind that at a later date, you may be prompted by the school via Clarity to upload additional documentation as needed. 

If there is a situation unique to the family regarding any of the above materials, please contact the HRS Business Office at 206.763.1167.

1. Hamlin Robinson School offers need-based tuition assistance. Awards are based on need or the ability to pay for tuition. To determine need, a tuition assistance application is submitted to a third party (Clarity), including an application and supporting tax documents. The application process takes about forty-five minutes to complete.

2. The third party assesses the financial resources a family has available to contribute towards educational expenses. Some factors taken into account include: income (both taxable and nontaxable), assets (home equity, savings, bonds, etc.), expenses, indebtedness, family size, age of parents/guardians (to allow for retirement savings), and the number of students attending tuition-charging schools. The third party uses this information to determine the estimated family contribution, which the HRS tuition assistance committee uses as a starting point to determine an award.

3. The enrollment deposit is adjusted on a prorated basis based on the amount of tuition assistance awarded.

4. In the tuition assistance process, HRS does not discriminate on the basis of gender, religion, creed, national origin, race, color, ethnicity, cultural background, family structure, or sexual orientation.

5. HRS does not provide academic or merit-based scholarships.

6. Tuition assistance decisions are made independent of admissions decisions.

7. Tuition assistance is awarded based on demonstrated financial need. Tuition assistance is made in the form of a grant applied as an actual reduction in the cost of tuition. It does not need to be repaid.

All admissions applicants and current HRS families are eligible to apply for tuition assistance. Tuition assistance awards can cover up to 95% of tuition depending on demonstrated need.

1. Because tuition assistance is a partnership between a family and the school, you will need to submit a Clarity application each year as part of a school’s standard financial aid process. Clarity retains your demographic information from previous applications, so it will be even easier to reapply. 

2. It is the goal of HRS to keep awards consistent from year to year. The annual application will document increases or decreases in total income and assets which may impact the award. Current HRS families must be up to date with tuition payments or have an active payment plan with the business office in order to be eligible for a tuition assistance award for the coming year.

Admissions Applicants: Admissions decisions and tuition assistance decisions are simultaneous. If HRS is unable to provide tuition assistance due to limited resources or timing, the student will be placed in the tuition assistance wait pool. Tuition assistance awards are given on a funds available basis, so completing the assistance application within the application window is important.

Current HRS Families: Notifications of tuition assistance are provided with the reenrollment contract.

In the case of divorced and separated parents, the tuition assistance committee will consider the assets and earnings of all legal guardians before making any award.

Clarity offers a streamlined, mobile friendly application that can be completed in as short as 30 minutes. Additionally, Clarity removes the need to upload your personal tax return(s) and W2(s)by transferring them directly from the IRS. This saves you time so that you aren’t pulling out all of your tax returns and transposing numbers from the returns into the application. It is also more secure because you are not uploading copies of original documents, needing to redact the SSNs, and those copies or PDFs are not sitting on your desktop or in a folder on your computer, or in an email server, etc. 

Hamlin Robinson School takes the privacy and security of your personal information very seriously. Clarity is certified for both GDPR and SOC2 and uses enterprise-level security standards including end-to-end encryption of all personally identifiable information. For more information, please refer to Clarity’s Privacy Policy. 

Identity verification is a one-time process where families upload a picture of a government-issued photo ID and take a selfie photo to verify their identity. Families can complete this process from within the financial aid application, or have a link texted to their mobile device to complete it there. 

Just as in prior years, if your financial circumstances have not changed, you will not see significant changes to your award. If you have any questions about your individual circumstance, please reach out to us. 

Yes! Clarity’s application is fully mobile-friendly so you have access wherever you are. 

Yes, along with the student's application, all families must fill out the Clarity application to the best of their ability including the Non-US Tax Filer Verification upload.