At Portland Forest School, students go outside every day. From kindergarten to eighth grade, kids travel between forest sites in the Pacific Northwest, learn earth skills alongside Oregon state academic standards, and graduate with both literacy in the woods and the curriculum they need to move on.

Founded as part of a larger for-profit organization, Portland Forest School split off to become a 501(c)(3 ) nonprofit, and earned Cognia accreditation. That transition gave the school its independence, but it also meant rebuilding the operational backbone of an independent school from scratch, on a small budget, with parent volunteers doing much of the work.

Choosing a Platform in a Hurry, and Paying for It

When the school separated from its parent organization, Kate Mitchell, Director of Enrollment at Portland Forest School, and her colleagues had a few weeks to put a new system in place.

"We basically chose it based on price, and then it ended up being much more expensive than we thought," Mitchell explained. 

The day-to-day reality was worse than the price. "It was supposed to be a plug-and-play solution, but any kind of change was difficult to make, like edits to due dates or payment frequencies or tuition amounts,” shared Mitchell. 

"We got a lot of feedback from families that things were unclear, and there was a lot of me trying to figure out workarounds. It was miserable."

Streamlining Operations With the Right Partner

When Mitchell went looking for a new financial aid solution, she found Clarity’s platform that also included contract and billing products. 

The shift away from manual follow-up was immediate. 

"If somebody has a late payment, I know Clarity is going to prompt them to pay it. As a school, we don't want to be the bill collector. Clarity makes that possible for us."

The same dynamic carries into the new-family enrollment cycle. "I’ve done very minimal follow-up this enrollment season for new families. I can look in Clarity and see if they've started to work on their contract and if they've selected a payment plan. It’s helpful to have real-time signals of their interest level."

A Right Price for Every Student

Portland Forest School intentionally frames their financial aid program as tailed tuition. 

"We look at it as the right price for every student rather than us providing support so your child can attend PFS,'" Mitchell explained.

For a school small enough that every award materially affects the budget, that framing only works if the data behind each decision is solid.

"Clarity gives us a comprehensive look at a family’s financial picture so we’re able to tell who's coming from the place of greatest need, and we can equitably distribute as much resources as we have."

Growing With a Small Team of Volunteers

Portland Forest School is on track to grow from 55 students this year to roughly 74 the next. For a school with one enrollment director and a financial aid committee made up of parent volunteers, that kind of growth would be daunting without operational support.

"Our enrollment has really grown. If I didn't have Clarity helping with that growth, managing the whole process on my own would feel much scarier."

The financial aid side of the work was particularly new territory. "Myself and the two other parents on the tailored tuition team are just volunteers, and we don't have any financial aid experience. My Clarity Client Success Manager has been instrumental in helping us shape the program itself," Mitchell shared.

Why Small Schools Shouldn't Wait

"I think a lot of small schools think that using a platform like Clarity is something you wait to do when you get bigger,” shared Mitchell.  

“I'm glad we were able to start early because it's helped us build consistency and transparency into our processes."