An elite boarding school experience holds a lot of value, from exposing students to a world-class education to opening doors to prominent colleges — but it often comes at a steep price.
Business Insider recently published our list of the most elite boarding schools in the country using endowment, acceptance rate, and average SAT score provided by BoardingSchoolReview.com, a website that collects information on boarding schools directly from the institutions.
Though we didn’t factor annual tuition into our original ranking, we’ve re-ranked the pool of 50 elite boarding schools based on 2015-2016 tuition figures to find out which ones are the most expensive.
The two most expensive elite boarding schools — St. Albans School and The Masters School — both charge nearly $58,000 in annual tuition.
Notably absent from the top-25 most expensive are the No. 1 and No. 2 most elite boarding schools, Phillips Exeter Academy and Phillips Academy Andover — both have an annual tuition of less than $48,000.
Still, despite the high costs charged by these boarding schools, many offer millions of dollars a year in financial aid to families who can’t afford the full cost.
Read on to find out how much it costs to attend some of the most elite boarding schools in America.
Additional reporting by Andy Kiersz.
SEE ALSO: The 20 richest boarding schools in America
AND: The 16 most selective boarding schools in America
25. Portsmouth Abbey School
Location: Portsmouth, Rhode Island
Tuition: $54,630
Enrollment: 360
Portsmouth Abbey School boasts 1.24 miles of coastline along Narragansett Bay and houses 70% of its students. The Roman Catholic school is also home to a fully operational, on-campus monastery led by a community of Benedictine monks. The Benedictine ideal of a “community life of work and prayer” informs the school’s ethos, which teaches students to balance academics with social and physical activities.
24. Northfield Mount Hermon
Location: Mount Hermon, Massachusetts
Tuition: $54,700
Enrollment: 650
In 2014, the highest number of Northfield Mount Hermon students matriculated to Boston University, NYU, George Washington University, and Northwestern. The school helps students get there by offering $8.4 million in financial aid and a College Model Academic Program, which requires them to complete three college-prep courses each semester. Eighty percent of students are boarders on NMH’s 1,565-acre campus, most of which is along the scenic Connecticut River.
23. Deerfield Academy
Location: Deerfield, Massachusetts
Tuition: $54,720
Enrollment: 638
Deerfield Academy provides 35% of its student body with $8 million in financial aid annually. In addition to participating academically, students are required to be involved in a cocurricular activity like community service, dance, theater, or sports. More than one-fourth of Deerfield’s 330-acre campus is comprised of athletic fields, tennis courts, a fitness center, and a 5,900-square-foot boathouse along the Connecticut River.
