NEW Affording Wellington

2026-2027 Filing Year Opens: October 2, 2025

Filing Deadline for Current Wellington families: November 2, 2025

Filing Deadline for New families: February 1, 2026, or as soon as possible

Log in to Clarity

• New users should create an account with Clarity here.
• Returning users will receive a link that pre-populates information from the previous year's filing. Watch for a communication.

Gather documents

• Gathering documents before you start your application can help you complete your application even faster. 

• Helpful documents include: W-2 and monthly household budget, including average cost of housing, utilities, loan payments, etc.

Complete the application

• The application is mobile-friendly and typically takes less than 30 minutes to complete. You can save your progress and return at any time. 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. Simply use the dropdown menu in the application to select those schools.  

Upload additional documentation

• After you submit your application, return to your Clarity dashboard to see if you have been prompted by Wellington to upload additional tax documentation. Note that S-Corp business owners will be required to upload their 2024 1120S business tax forms with all schedules and K1s and Partnership business owners will be required to upload their 2024 1065 business tax forms with all schedules and K1s if applicable. 

• For those who qualify, admitted students will receive enrollment contracts with a tuition assistance award based on the information supplied in your filing.

• Notification of first-round admission decisions and tuition assistance awards is sent to applicant families by March 2, 2026. Awards offered after March 2 will be communicated as applications are approved.

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@claritytuition.com or 206-210-3752, in both English and Spanish. The application itself is also fully translated into Spanish.  

Prospective new students entering 9th grade in the 2026-2027 school year are invited to compete in the Gene and Ken Ackerman Merit Scholarship program. Ackerman Scholarships are awarded based on high academic performance and leadership potential, combined with strong character. Once awarded, students will continue to receive the partial scholarship each year provided the students maintain strong academics and are members in good standing of the Wellington community. Scholarship recipients may also apply for need-based tuition assistance aid.

How to apply 

• Prospective students must first complete an admissions application prior to participating in the Ackerman Scholarship competition.
• Grade 9 applicants who are interested in participating in the merit scholarship competition must indicate their intention on the admissions application.
• A copy of the student’s most current report card must accompany the registration and admissions application.
• The competition includes both a standardized test and a written essay, which will be administered at 9 a.m. on Saturday, January 24, 2026 at The Wellington School. The alternate test date is Friday, February 6, 2026.
• Students will also be asked to secure three teacher recommendations to be returned to the Admissions Office no later than February 15. Recommendations submitted as part of the admissions process will fulfill this requirement.
• Scholarship recipients will be selected on the basis of test results, transcripts, the writing exercise, and teacher recommendations. Recipients will be notified by March 2.

Prospective new students entering 5th, 6th, 7th, or 8th grade in the 2026-2027 school year are invited to compete in the Duke Merit Scholarship program.

Duke Scholarships are awarded based on high academic performance and leadership potential, in addition to a strong character. Once awarded, students will continue to receive the partial scholarship each year provided the students maintain strong academics and are members in good standing of the Wellington community.  The Duke Scholarship awards range from $500 to $5,000.  Scholarship recipients may also apply for need-based tuition assistance.

How to Apply

• Prospective students must first complete an admissions application prior to participating in the Duke Merit Scholarship competition.
• Applicants for grades 5 through 8 who are interested in participating in the merit scholarship competition must indicate their intention on the admissions application.
• A copy of the student’s most current report card must accompany the registration and admissions application.
• The competition includes a standardized test and a written essay, which will be administered at 9 a.m. on Saturday, January 24, 2026 at The Wellington School. The alternate test date is Friday, February 6, 2026.
• Students will also be asked to secure three teacher recommendations to be returned to the Admissions Office no later than February 15. Recommendations submitted as part of the admissions process will fulfill this requirement.
• Scholarship recipients will be selected on the basis of test results, transcripts, the writing exercise, and teacher recommendations. Recipients will be notified by March 2.

Dates and times for this year's Family Application Information Webinars are below. Click a link to register.

October 21, 7pm Pacific Time

October 22, 6pm Eastern Time

December 9, 8:30pm Eastern Time

Clarity offers a streamlined, mobile-friendly application that can be completed in as short a time as 20 minutes. Additionally, Clarity removes the need to upload your previous year's W2 and 1040 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.

Wellington 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.

Yes, you will need to submit a Clarity application each year to qualify for tuition assistance; however, Clarity retains your information from previous applications, so it will be even easier to reapply. 

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

You must submit your full completed application by November 2, 2025, for current families, and February 1, 2026, for new families. 

After May 30, 2026, please contact Dara Jackson, Director of Admissions, BEFORE applying for tuition assistance.

Yes. A family may be paying for childcare, preschool, or college for another child. The application that you are completing provides a place for you to list that information. Please include any tuition costs you are paying for another child in your family.

Yes, both parents need to file. It helps us understand the family's full financial picture.

If an ex-spouse is not a part of the child's life or does not contribute to the financial support of the student, please submit this information in writing and provide appropriate documentation.

Yes, Wellington offers a discount for families that enroll four or more children at the same time.

Yes, our merit scholarship renews annually and stays with the student as long as the student is enrolled at Wellington and remains in good standing.

Yes. Work with the business office to share student billing and payment details with a non-parent.

Yes. However, you will also pay an associated credit card convenience fee, ranging from 2.9 - 4%, depending on the credit card type.