Boarding schools have financial aid for families needing it. Otherwise, yes the family pays up. Prep schools run like a business. There are a few basically non-academic sports academies in NE like Avon, Sailsbury and a few others like Hun and Peddie. Those for some sports will be more for sports scholarships possibly. The better NE prep schools, no. Lacrosse people give themselves more credit for being ace lax players than these schools do. Prep schools care a lot more about tuition paying good students than a sport like lacrosse.