TMS is an emerging asset for the children and families of our Albuquerque community. We desire that our children are surrounded by the subtle color, beauty and healing properties of the natural world. We would like the flowing grains of wooden furniture on which to eat our homemade bread and also beautiful woods to provide structures for play. The softness of silk fabrics to play amidst and bright colors for painting on quality paper will bathe our children’s emerging beings. A school yard with trees and space for a garden are part of our vision.

As a new school, Tierra Madre faces the myriad of start-up costs. Finding a beautiful facility located in a natural environment with a playground/garden and zoned for a school is the first hurdle we are overcoming. Furniture, play structures, storage cabinets, office furniture, kitchen furnishings are necessary. Because we do not have the numbers (in terms of students) to think about charter options, nor do we have a substantial donor to help with start up costs that all schools face equally, both public and private, we are embarking on a new path called the Third Way. We will be recruiting community donors to contribute to our foundational work. But until this program is up and running, it is up to us to do what we can, whatever we can, to manifest our vision.

We also took this road because we are committed to social change. We will never be a tuition-based school in the old paradigm. A goal of TMS is to provide a Waldorf education to every child and family that desires it. But we need your help to build Tierra Madre from the ground up. We will need a contribution of tuition and resources from every family to make this vision possible. What an exciting opportunity to stretch ourselves in creating the asset to the community that Tierra Madre will surely be. Below is a description of how we hope to make this possible. We are indebted to you for joining us in this endeavor!

Tierra Madre’s Tuition for 2010-2011

Tierra Madre’s goal is to offer Waldorf education to all those who value it. There is a conscious placing of what is needed for the well being of the whole school community ahead of self-interest. However, as we are such a new school, we need to show our financial viability and need most of our children to be full tuition paying. We will however have some limited ATA (Accessible to All) slots and encourage you to apply if paying full tuition is a burden for your family. In order to ease the burden for families enrolling more than one child, TMS will offer a 20% discount for the second child.  For families enrolling more than two children, TMS will offer a 10% discount on the family's full tuition.  Families may also choose to pursue an ATA application or a CYFD application.  Families enrolling more than one child will only be required to pay one registration fee per family.  

Pre-K program

2 day (W-Th; $2750/yr )

Kindergarten

3 day (Tu-W-Th; $4400/yr )
4 day ( M-Th or Tu-F; $5500/yr)
5 day ( M-F; $6325/yr)

Already thousands of children in the United States have experienced Waldorf education and are contributing to social transformation in the world. One of the main challenges for Waldorf schools in North America is finding a way to include children from all economic levels in society while maintaining Waldorf schools as independent and self-administered schools. Our task is to work in a manner that is consistent with the goal of becoming a source of social change. If the acceptance of a child into the school depends on the financial resources of the child’s family, the school is not working toward its mission of promoting the betterment of society. The tuition adjustment program is a way of attempting to work out of the original impulse of Waldorf education by making this education accessible to all families who value it.

Several Waldorf schools are currently working with a tuition model based on the ideal that a Waldorf education should be accessible to all families who truly value it. Making this education accessible to more families is a step in working with the threefold (economic, cultural, political) social nature of society. The tuition adjustment process is not just an economic activity --its success lies in the understanding of all three aspects of the process. First, the path that leads the child and family to a Waldorf school and to acceptance into the class by the teacher is a spiritual activity. Second, the needs and well being of the school and the family are recognized through meeting each other as equals in a conversation to determine, in consensus, the family’s contribution. And third, the recognition that we are dependent on each other reflects the economic realm. There is a conscious placing of what is needed for the well being of the whole school community ahead of self-interest.

If a family is unable to meet the school’s tuition guidelines, the family completes a tuition adjustment application and meets with two members of the tuition committee. During this meeting the group closely reviews both the school’s budget and the family’s budget. Neither the family nor the school determines the tuition amount, and neither maintains a comfortable position in this process; each stretches to meet the needs of the other. The final step in this meeting is to arrive, by consensus, at a tuition amount.

The tuition adjustment program does not lessen the strong sense of fiscal responsibility. It also requires thorough budget preparation and ongoing review for continuous progress and the achievement of goals based on the values and ideals of Waldorf education.

“What each individual really needs can only be known by himself; what he should contribute he can determine through his insight into the situation as a whole.”
--Rudolf Steiner, Towards Social Renewal (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2000).


Each application package includes information about the tuition guidelines and tuition adjustment program. A family that cannot meet the tuition guideline completes a tuition adjustment application and submits it with a copy of their pay stubs and tax return. Once the school has received and reviewed this paperwork, a conversation is scheduled. The budget committee reviews information for completeness and notes any relevant questions for tuition committee members to ask during the conversation.

ATA Application (PDF)

Please submit the ATA application with with your application packet, but place it in a separate sealed envelope addressed, Attention: ATA committee.

The healthy social life is found
When in the mirror of each human soul
The whole community finds its reflection,
And when in the community
The virtue of each one is living.
--Rudolf Steiner, Motto of the Social Ethic

The “Motto of the Social Ethic” serves as a mission statement of the tuition adjustment program. During the conversation with a family, tuition committee members portray a full picture of the school, including the school’s economic life, values, and ideals. The school’s biography, current strengths and weaknesses, and future plans contribute to this picture. The family has an opportunity to contribute ideas to the school’s current operations and its long-term planning. Through these conversations, the school learns more about the members of the community and meets individuals with skills, capacities, and interest in serving the school.