Planet School Economics
No tuition?! That’s correct.
We are reimagining the education business model to attract the best students and create a robustly authentic curriculum.
Why Tuition-Free?
We want the most visionary students on Earth.
Charging tuition is counter-productive to creating a student body of the most visionary students. Exorbitant tuition fees discourage applications from students who cannot afford to enroll without financial aid. We want any motivated teen to see themselves as a potential Planet School student, so we don’t even ask about income—it’s not a factor. We started by looking at how we could assemble the best students and our research showed that making incremental changes to the tuition/financial aid model would be ineffective—the data is overwhelming that tuition fees shrink applicant pools. If our North Star is attracting exceptional students, we needed to scrap tuition and start from scratch with a new business model.
The high cost of education is a social ill.
We believe that exceptional private education should not be the exclusive province of the wealthy. We believe in meritocracy and rewarding students for their ideas, their hard work, and their accomplishments, not the accomplishments of their parents. While it is true that many elite schools derive their exclusive appeal from the wealth of their student families, we believe that the projects Planet School students will complete and share with the public—”Wow, high school students did this?! I want to go to that school”—will very quickly eclipse any value we might have accrued from charging $56,000/year, the average tuition cost of the top 50 private high schools in America in 2024. Trading exorbitant tuition for institutional prestige is a Faustian bargain we decline to make.
The Planet School’s admissions process is more rigorous.
While we view it as an immensely noble pursuit to bring a world-class private education to students across the socio-economic spectrum, the decision to not charge tuition is strategic rather than charitable. Planet School students do transformative work that contributes to cutting edge research, informs policy decisions, builds businesses, and develops neighborhoods. For work of such rigor and purpose, we would be remiss to assemble a Planet School student body from just the 2% of American households that can afford private school tuition.
Curriculum authenticity is enhanced.
Authentic projects, no busy work: everything Planet School students work on is “real.” Students are involved in every aspect of the Planet School, including the stewardship of the school’s fiscal health and management of our business portfolio. Inviting students to sit at the table to participate in this meaningful work imbues the entire curriculum with authenticity. Students are not doing work to get a grade, they’re doing work to change the world and build a legacy.
Financial aid does not reach students at scale.
While most private schools have financial aid programs to enable enrollment by students without the economic means to afford tuition, these are insufficient. Students from families making less than $100,000 make up less than 10% of the private schools we studied despite 63% of American families making less than $100,000. Even if tuition-based schools wanted to give more generously, their business model constrains them from going above a ceiling of about 40% of their student body receiving aid. When schools approach this threshold (or lower, depending on endowment size), aid has to get scaled back, a phenomenon that has happened repeatedly. Read more about our research on the role of tuition in shaping enrollment.
Tuition and charitable giving are brittle revenue strategies.
Due to snafus in the 2023-2024 rollout of the new FAFSA form, it has been widely reported that many public and private universities are facing serious budget problems and contemplating layoffs and program cuts because they did not receive the tuition (and federal aid) that they rely on. Tuition is a monocropped business model where a slight change in expected conditions can have devastating consequences; a single season of slightly depressed enrollment has revealed this model’s fragility. We also saw charitable giving dry up during the the 2008 Great Recession, also leading to massive program cuts.
Planet School Business Model
The Planet School is building a portfolio of businesses that operate independently of the school while providing real-world curricular opportunities to students. Business profit is allocated to Planet School operations or added to the Planet School endowment.
How It Works
These guiding principles will be evident throughout the Planet School business portfolio.
Established Business Models
Our business portfolio will not rely on overly disruptive business concepts—we leave that to our curriculum. For our first 5-7 years of operations, we are building time-tested businesses that leverage our major campus assets. Boat tours, accommodations, and retail are our first collection of revenue strategies. You can read more about each of these below.
Donations and Giving
We also plan to pursue tax-deductible private donations, grant funding, and foundation giving as part of our diverse revenue strategy. Indeed, we believe both our curriculum and our business model make us highly fundable. We are reaching students other private schools cannot and we are creating cutting edge pedagogy in STEM, experiential education, climate and ocean science, and social/emotional learning. You can donate here.
Zero Student Labor
We do not assume student labor in our financial models at all. Students will be involved in the founding, managing, and operating of our businesses strictly for curricular benefit. We have found that students creating work for public consumption enhances project authenticity, so our businesses allow for students to engage in real-world problems. But our businesses are operated by professional staff.
Masters and Apprentices
Our business operations mean that we will be bringing experts in their field to come work with us: ocean researchers, entrepreneurs, craftsmen, farmers, mariners, and many more. Students will have the opportunity to learn alongside these individuals in addition to their teachers, creating a learning opportunity that other schools structurally cannot match.
Strong Financial Foundations
The Planet School is not yet operating as a full-time high school and we will not open our school until our businesses have solidly established themselves. We view the tuition model as risky: look at the financial strain that resulted from colleges not receiving the federal aid that they rely on to subsidize their exorbitant tuition fees. The Planet School’s revenue streams will be diversified.
For-Profit and Non-Profit
Our business ventures are operated as for-profit entities with their own brand identity. You can see this in action with sailwonder.com and parkerhousedetroit.com. Our long term intention is to operate these entities as B Corps since their profits are directed into the Planet School Education Fund, which currently has 501(c)3 status via fiscal sponsorship while we pursue our own designation.
We invite you to read these principles in action in our 2025 Strategic Plan.
Tours and Experiences
Lake & Ocean Campus Aboard Wonder
When the Planet School’s sailing vessels are not hosting students, they are hosting members of the public for sunset sails, day sails, and celestial night-time sails. During our abbreviated three week 2024 season, we had 200+ guests aboard Wonder, received 100% 5-star reviews, hosted two birthday party events, and tested five different dockage locations around Detroit. Read about our 2025 Strategic Plan that focuses on growing our business aboard Wonder.
Experiencing Wonder is not limited to those who can physicall step aboard. Wonder makes an annual migration from the Great Lakes to Florida for the winter before returning in the spring, enabling 12 month operations. During these voyages we host the Sense of Wonder Project that youth and adults anywhere in the world can participate in.
Hospitality
Forest Campus in Northern Michigan
Since 2014, the Planet School’s founder has been operating multiple successful Airbnb properties in Detroit. When Airbnb first visited Detroit in 2016 to formulate their municipal policy strategy, they stayed with Thane and he gave them a tour of the city. We currently operate Parker House Detroit as a neighborhood inn in Detroit's West Village.
When the Planet School acquires its Forest Campus (est. 2026), a portion of the land will be set aside for a small eco-resort with 5-7 tiny homes and yurts. This property will cater to private stays, weddings, retreats, and private events. Looking further into the future, the Planet School plans to open a boutique hotel on its Urban Campus in Detroit.
Retail
Urban Campus in Detroit
As students work on revitalizing a portion of Detroit on the Planet School’s Urban Campus, they will consider what small businesses their community need. A coffee shop, laundromat, bike shop, grocery store…all of these are contenders for being featured on the Planet School campus. We currently envision a coffee shop as our first endeavor.
Currently we have a limited online store that sells Planet School merchandise. Our next planned product launch is a series of educational kits with pre-orders via IndieGoGo. As this business vertical matures, we envision products and art designed by both faculty and students will be sold in the Planet School shop. An extension of this may be the launch of unique product lines. The conceptualization, design, prototyping, and launch of a product is an exciting curriculum arc available to Planet School students.
Real Estate
Urban Campus in Detroit
Through Detroit Space Lab, our design and management firm, students put their urban design and business management curriculum into practice. One of the projects that students work on during their first year is some form of property improvement. This could be new construction, remodeling, landscaping, rehabilitation, or a mixture. Some of the properties are rented by Planet School-operated businesses (like Parker House Detroit) while others are rented to families or other businesses. This gives students a mixture of long-term stewardship and roll-up-your-sleeves short-term experience. It also ties Planet School asset growth to the success of our campus and surrounding community.
Pop-up Businesses
As part of a warm up for business experimentation, each year Planet School seniors design, build, and run a haunted house as a pop-up business project. If students take on launching a new business during their time at the Planet School, creating a prototype pop-up will usually figure into the launch process.
Pop-ups serve as a curricular stepping stone towards larger business design and management. So while pop-ups are not a core pillar of our business portfolio, they are worth mentioning due to how successful they usually end up being—a testament to the talent of our students. In 2022, students raised $22,101.36 over 3 sold out nights of our inaugural haunted house.