Does Day Student Population Matter at Boarding Schools?

Families who are evaluating junior boarding schools often wonder about the mix of day students and boarding students. They are curious as to what impact day students at boarding schools will have on their sons’ experiences.

The ratio of boarding to day students is different for every junior boarding school. Some are predominantly boarding with just a few day students, others have mostly day students and a small number of boarders, and some, like The Fessenden School, have almost equal numbers of boarding and day students – in our Upper School 55 percent are boarding students and 45 percent are day students. Across schools, the day student experience at boarding schools varies widely.

A common concern in boarding school admissions is whether day students affect the boarding experience. Some boarding school parents are concerned their sons won’t feel connected or engaged when their day classmates go home. They worry about sending their sons to so-called “suitcase schools,” where students who live nearby go home for the weekend, leaving the boarders who remain lonely and unoccupied. This is not what happens at Fessenden.

The Size of the Boarding Population Doesn’t Matter as Much as the Quality of Their Experience for Day and Boarding Students

We explain to parents that it’s not so much the ratio of boarders to day students that matters as it is the quality of life for boarders. The day student presence at a boarding school contributes uniquely to community culture.

For example, the boarding population at Fessenden has numerous advantages:

• The boys get a lot more individual attention than they would in a larger boarding setting.
• Our dormitories are more appropriately sized for middle school boys – our largest houses 18 boys, the smallest, 11. At some of the larger boarding schools dormitories are similar in size to what you would find on a college campus.
• Over 70 percent of our Upper School faculty members and staff live and work on campus, giving our boarding students the opportunity to build strong relationships and mentor them in meaningful ways.
• We were founded as a boarding school, so even though we have a large day student population, the boarding school is a key part of our identity. Day students are attracted to Fessenden because we are a boarding school which makes us one the most diverse school in the Boston area. Their educational experience is a global one, enriched by students from 13 foreign countries and 12 US states. No other day school in the Boston area can offer that type of learning environment.

Weekend Programs

On the weekends, when day students are off campus, what is there for boarding students to do? This is another important question to ask about the quality of life for boarding students.

At the Fessenden School, we plan over 800 weekend trips per year. That means there are 20 to 25 options per weekend! This level of programming ensures boarding students don’t rely on day students being on campus to stay engaged. Being so close to the major city of Boston provides us plenty of places to take our boarding students on weekends. Here’s a list of some of our recent trips.

Weekend trip options could include the JFK Library, a corn maze adventure, a New England Revolution game, bowling, a visit to historic Walden Pond, fun and games at an arcade, a whale watch, fly fishing, dim sum in Chinatown, deep sea fishing, mountain biking, flag football, a soccer game under the lights on our new turf fields, or an overnight ski trip.

The Advantages of a Mixed Day-Boarder Population

At a school like Fessenden, the boarding students and the day students benefit from each other’s presence.

The day students infuse an amazing amount of energy every single day. The boarding students and day students befriend each other because they’re in classes together,  they play sports, and they participate in campus activities together. These relationships are a major advantage for a day student at boarding schools and for boarders alike. These friendships also give our boarding students the opportunity to get off campus and get home-cooked meals, go to a birthday party, or go to a Red Sox or Patriots game with their day student friends’ families.

Having the day students around gives the boarding students even more options beyond the weekend programming.

See the dynamic in real time when you visit Fessenden in person!