Blog: What Does Accessibility Look Like in Private Schools? A Catholic School Perspective

Private school accessibility goes beyond tuition. It includes academic support, a mission-driven education, and financial and geographic access. This article explores how Father Ryan High School integrates Catholic values, comprehensive student support, and an inclusive school culture to ensure accessibility for families from diverse backgrounds and all faiths.

Throughout the admissions process, we receive questions about these issues from prospective parents. In this month’s blog post, we share questions and answers to help readers better understand how Father Ryan advances accessibility and empowers students to reach their spiritual, academic, and personal potential.

FINANCIAL ACCESSIBILITY

How does Father Ryan make private school affordable to families?

We understand the significant investment our families make when they send their children to Father Ryan. We honor this commitment by providing a powerful, personalized educational experience, steeped in our enduring Tradition of Faith, Knowledge, Service. Thanks to the support of our generous donors, our single-tuition model for all families, and the efforts of our business office, we are expanding financial accessibility for all who seek a high-quality Catholic education.

We offer a generous 15% multi-student tuition discount for any family with more than one child enrolled. Our discount is higher than most other private schools in Nashville and Catholic schools nationally. The discount applies to the second, third, etc., child enrolled concurrently at Father Ryan.

How does this new tuition model ensure Catholic education remains accessible for families who have prioritized Catholic education from PreK-8?

We are committed to keeping our tuition and fees at a level to allow us to be the high school choice for families who have prioritized Catholic education. In determining our new tuition model, the Board and Father Ryan’s team looked at regional and national tuition models.

Tuition and fees for 2026-2027 is $28,750. Because we do not charge the full cost of a Father Ryan education, every family’s tuition, regardless of what they pay, is subsidized, thanks to our endowment growth and generous support of our community.

We continue to strategically examine tuition accessibility and affordability, especially for our middle-income families. We are working with a national consultant to explore how we may better align our tuition accessibility with regional schools.

What percentage of Father Ryan families receive tuition assistance?

Through new endowed scholarships and gifts to tuition assistance, Father Ryan continues to increase the amount of financial assistance we contribute towards meeting the needs of our families. Father Ryan’s tuition model and accessibility approach have unanimous support from its board and the Diocese of Nashville. At the same time, enrollment is solid, and last year's student retention rate was 98%.

What are Father Ryan’s resources for need- and merit-based scholarships?

Father Ryan’s endowment, particularly for scholarships, is growing. In addition to tuition assistance, we provide need-based and merit-based scholarships to students. Many of these scholarships are primarily available to upperclassmen, with one exception being merit-based Presidential Scholarships through the Hayes Scholars Program for the top five high school placement testers annually. The best way to receive financial assistance is to apply for tuition assistance and state-sponsored scholarships. Download the Hayes Scholars Program PDF.

Are there outside scholarships?

To increase Father Ryan’s accessibility, especially for our families in the middle that may not qualify for tuition assistance, we participate in scholarship programs funded by the state of Tennessee: Tennessee Educational Savings Account (ESA) program for families in Metro Nashville Public Schools; and The Tennessee Education Freedom Scholarship (EFS) program. We encourage families to participate and apply for these programs.

View the application details.

Does Father Ryan receive subsidies from the Diocese of Nashville?

No, there is no direct financial contribution from the Diocese of Nashville to Father Ryan that subsidizes tuition. This is the same for other high schools in the Diocese of Nashville. We also do not receive direct parish subsidies. Our funding model, like our peer private and parochial high schools in the region, comes from tuition and donations from our alumni, parents, and community.

How do families qualify for tuition assistance? 

Any family may apply for need-based tuition assistance. Families must meet a certain income or debt threshold to qualify for tuition assistance. Our third-party consultant reviews each family’s individual needs, circumstances, and financial information (income/assets, expenses, debt, number of dependents, other tuition resources, including outside scholarships and other family member contributions, etc.) to determine need.

We recognize and honor each family’s investment in their child’s Father Ryan education and work closely with families on a tuition assistance package. We encourage families to participate in the Tennessee scholarship programs. In addition to full payment, we offer monthly and semi-annual payment options for family convenience and budgeting.

Does Father Ryan offer athletic scholarships?

No. In accordance with the TSSAA policy, all Tennessee private schools adhere to the same policies regarding student-athletes. All tuition assistance to student-athletes must be need-based. For a student athlete to be eligible for tuition assistance, the family must first apply for tuition assistance.  

How do parents compare costs of different private schools?

This is not an easy task, as there are no “apples to apples” comparisons. Families should review what is covered by tuition and fees. Ask what the value-adds are and what you and your student want from a high school experience and education.

Father Ryan tuition covers:

• Personalized education through our four levels of learning
• 200+ courses including 28 AP courses and 9 Dual Enrollment courses for college credit
• Customized College Counseling from 9th-12th grade
• Freshman and Transfer Seminars
• Our unique, nationally recognized House System Leadership development and mentoring from 9th-12th grade
• Campus ministry and service-learning opportunities
• Extensive athletic and club offerings, Cooperative and Academic Support Programs, and more.

By not wrapping all fees into tuition, Father Ryan families are not paying for what they do not want or need. Lunch, uniforms, books, and computers are purchased directly from third parties, enabling families to make financial choices that best suit them. There are separate fees for sports programs depending on the sport, lab fees, and other choice-based co-curricular and curricular programs. Often, these fees provide a “value-add” for our families, such as the $150 annual training fee charged to every student athlete, which provides use of our collegiate-level athletic complex with a state-of-the-art training facility, two full-time sports trainers, access to on-campus physical therapists, and nutrition program.

Read more about Father Ryan’s financial accessibility.

Download our Accessibility PDF.

ACADEMIC ACCESSIBILITY

How does Father Ryan’s unique personalized learning program support a student’s academic needs and potential?

For 100 years, Father Ryan has created opportunities for every student to achieve his or her full potential. We are the only private school in middle Tennessee offering four levels of learning: College Preparatory, Honors, High Honors, and Advanced Placement (AP). We also offer the most arts courses of any private high school in Middle Tennessee.

As a Catholic school, we are mission-bound to embrace and equip every student with the tools and skills necessary to excel spiritually, academically, and personally. We support all students throughout their academic journey. It is a highly tailored approach that is fluid across a student’s four years with us.

Our academic team and teachers work closely with each student and family to create a personalized learning path. With teacher approval, students may move up or down to complement strengths, explore passions, and address needs.

What is Father Ryan’s approach to academic accessibility?

All types of learners are successful at Father Ryan through our academic program with its four levels of learning, Cooperative and Academic Support Programs, and our Hayes Scholars Program, an academic enrichment program for high-achieving students.

Our House System creates a variety of leadership and mentorship opportunities for students. In the last couple of years, the school has added innovative programs, such as Dual Enrollment [see next question], and we are currently exploring an alumni job-shadowing program for students to experience different types of careers.

Does Father Ryan offer college credit for courses?

Yes. In fall 2024, we launched our Dual Enrollment program in partnership with Trevecca University. Dual Enrollment courses are currently open to upperclassmen who fulfill the course prerequisites. Students interested in participating in our Dual Enrollment program can complete an application for each course and apply for the Tennessee Dual Enrollment grant.

Last year, 46 students took advantage of this program and earned more than 240 college credits. For the 2025-2026 academic year, we expanded this program to include a total of nine Dual Enrollment course offerings.

What is Father Ryan’s level of rigor?

We offer 28 AP courses and 82 High Honors courses. In 2025-2026, 225 students took at least one AP course. We have many students who work through our four levels of learning to take AP courses. Last spring, 91% of our students earned a 3 or higher on their AP exam.

Last fall, ten Father Ryan seniors were recognized as National Merit Scholars, with six named Semifinalists. We are deeply proud of these scholars, who are part of Father Ryan’s 100^th graduating class. This achievement represents:

• The most National Merit Semifinalists of all Catholic schools in the state of Tennessee
• The 3rd most National Merit Semifinalists of all private schools in Nashville
• The 5th most National Merit Semifinalists of all private schools in the state of Tennessee 

Visit our Personalized Learning Program webpage for a video and book detailing our Personalized Learning approach and more.

Read parent and student perspectives on our personalized learning program.

Meet our National Merit Scholars.

GEOGRAPHIC ACCESSIBILITY

How many students does Father Ryan serve?

We are Nashville’s largest private high school, serving a diverse student body. Father Ryan’s student body currently represents:

• 65 zip codes
• 130 schools
• 10+ faith backgrounds represented, with all faiths welcome

We have multi-generation families, but most of our students are 1^st-generation Irish. To make incoming students feel welcome, we offer a required Freshman and Transfer Seminar to help students acclimate to high school. President Paul Davis ’81 teaches the Transfer Seminar. Read his blog post on Helping Students Transition to High School.

We also assign all new students and faculty to a House within our House System, which we introduced in 2020. The House System transforms a large school into an immediate, all-grades family. Each of our six Houses has seven smaller Mentor Groups with 20-25 students in them, guided by faculty advisors. Our Mentor Groups meet every day for 20 minutes for prayer, games, talks, and informal mentoring to help create a strong community and school culture.

To make Father Ryan geographically accessible, what are the options?

We offer two daily bus routes this year: a Donelson/Hermitage route; and a new Murfreesboro route. We are considering a Bellevue route for the coming school year. Seats on the buses are first come, first served and must be reserved. For the 2025-2026 school year, the annual fee is $1,350 for our bus service.

We also help families coordinate carpools by providing a carpool interest form and sending interested parents a list of families in their zip code to explore carpool options.

 

If you have additional questions about Father Ryan’s approach to accessibility, please reach out to Erin (Baltz) Riggs ’00, Director of Enrollment, at riggse@fatherryan.org.