As you browse through the Junior Boarding School Association’s list of junior boarding schools in the Northeast, you’ll find that some schools are comprised of almost entirely day students with a handful of boarders. The populations of others are made up of varying mixes of boarding students and day students—students who live off-campus with their families.

For example:

• Hillside School, in Marlborough, Mass., has a population of 65 percent boarding students and 35 percent day students.
• Among the 206 students at Bement School in Deerfield, Mass., only 37 are boarders.
• Here at The Fessenden School, in Newton, Mass., our total student population of 526 (spread across our Lower, Middle, and Upper schools) includes 105 boarding students.

As they search for a junior boarding school for their sons and daughters, some parents wonder if a large population of day students is a sign of the junior boarding school equivalent of a “suitcase school.” Boarders who stick around remain bored and unoccupied in the evenings and on the weekends when everyone else has gone home.

Parents of day students wonder if their children will be an afterthought at a school with a boarding student majority.

What is the ideal ratio of day students to boarders at a junior boarding school? Does it even matter?

The ratio of day students to boarders is irrelevant.

When families ask us this question at The Fessenden School, we advise them to not focus on strict numbers of the population mix. What really matters is what life is like at the school for boarding students and day students.

• Do the students get individualized attention from faculty, staff members, and dorm parents, regardless if they’re day or boarding students?

• Are the dormitories appropriately sized for middle school-aged boys? At The Fessenden School, for example, our largest dorm houses 18 boys, the smallest, 11. Two faculty or staff members live in each hallway. This is far from the overcrowded, unsupervised residential experience you had in college—and even what you would find in many secondary boarding schools.

• Do faculty and staff members live on campus? At The Fessenden School, over 70 percent of our Upper School faculty and staff members live right here. This not only allows them to build meaningful mentor relationships with our students outside the classroom, but it guarantees our boarding students will never feel isolated.

• Does the school organize a wide variety of weekend activities for boarding and day students? Weekend programming isn’t just a way to keep students occupied. It’s another learning opportunity. A well-planned slate of weekend outings helps expose students to places and activities they may not otherwise have the chance to experience. At Fessenden, we offer 20 to 25 options every weekend, partly thanks to our convenient location near the major city of Boston and all the historical, cultural, and natural attractions of New England. Here is just a sample of what is available to our students every weekend.

Day students enrich the experience of boarding students—and vice versa.

Day students and boarding students are not exclusive populations. At a school like Fessenden, they intermix.

Day students bring a daily dose of energy to our campus. They befriend our boarding students. Their families often provide a home away from home for boarding students craving a home-cooked meal or simply a quiet family weekend. The younger Lower School students give the older boys—boarders and day students—the chance to be mentors and role models.

Our boarding students contribute to the diversity of our population. They hail from 13 American states and 13 different countries. Our boys form lifelong friendships that span the globe. In a recent article, the father of one of our graduates reminisced about meeting up with five other Fessenden alumni on a trip to South Korea, years after they graduated.

Experience the population mix for yourself.

The best way to get a sense of a junior boarding school’s campus community is to see for yourself. Click here to schedule a visit with The Fessenden School.

Wherever you visit schools, you’ll want to be sure you’re getting all the information you’ll need to make an informed decision about your child’s future. This Junior Boarding School Visit Checklist will help you ask the right questions.

What do you think is the ideal ratio of day students to boarders at a junior boarding school? Share your ideas in the comments section below.