Let's start with the number most families encounter first: tuition. For the eight elite boarding schools covered in this blog, full tuition — including room and board — currently runs approximately $70,000–$75,000+ per academic year. That's the advertised price. What you'll actually spend is a different number.
This article breaks down the full cost of attendance, inclusive of tuition and core costs. For information about other / forgotten costs, see The True Hidden Costs of Boarding School, or on financial aid, see Understanding Financial Aid and Need Blind vs. Need Aware.
Tuition, Room, and Board
The base cost across the eight schools is relatively consistent, with some variation.
Note: Day student tuition is typically $8,000–$12,000 less per year. All figures are for the 2025-2026 school year (confirm directly with each school's admissions or financial aid office).
What this price includes is substantial: housing, meals (three per day in a dining hall), academic instruction, mandatory athletics, access to arts facilities and programs, counseling and health services, and access to faculty advisors. It is genuinely comprehensive. With regard to health services, all schools offer health center services; however, some schools (e.g., Choate, Hotchkiss, Lawrenceville) also require students to carry their own health insurance, and other schools (e.g., Deerfield, Groton, St. Paul's) don't have a clear mandate for additional personal insurance, but are expecting families carry coverage that can be used for off-campus and/or major expenses.
Application and Enrollment Fees
Before you can access school-specific essay prompts or submit an application through the Gateway portal, each school requires an application fee of approximately $50–$75. Across eight schools, this runs $400–$600 before your child has written a single word. Application fee waivers are available for families demonstrating financial need (request them proactively).
Enrollment deposits, once a school is selected, will typically run you 8%–15% of total tuition.
Technology
Most schools expect students to arrive with a personal laptop. A few — Choate is one example — also require an iPad.
Some schools outline technology costs as a separate line item that is part of their tuition; others do not. Safe to assume that you should expect to budget $650–$2,000 for technology, depending on school and what your child may already have.
School-managed software, WiFi networks, and productivity platforms (Google Workspace or Microsoft 365) are typically provided. Personal mobile phone costs remain the family's responsibility.
Campus Visits and Family Events
If you're applying to multiple schools — and most families applying to this tier do — the campus visit costs add up quickly. Hotels, gas, tolls, meals, and sometimes flights can run $2,000–$5,000+ depending on how many schools you visit and your proximity to New England.
Once your child is accepted and enrolled, other one-time and recurring visit costs include: Revisit Days (once before enrolling), move-in and move-out weekends, Parents' Weekend, athletic events, and holiday travel home. These are ongoing costs across four years.
Clothing, Bedding, and Boarding Essentials
Dorm essentials (e.g., bedding, towels, basic organizational items) are a one-time cost (and can range between $300–$600). More significant: most schools expect some level of dress attire (for Chapel, formal dinners, or presentations), and students from warmer climates should budget meaningfully for cold-weather clothing. New England winters are not forgiving, and a proper coat and boots are not optional.
Extracurricular and Activity Fees
Most schools bundle athletics into tuition, but sport-specific costs vary. Expensive sports (e.g., skiing, equestrian, hockey, fencing) can involve equipment or gear costs of $300–$1,200+. Optional domestic and international travel programs (crew training trips, global cultural exchanges, spring break programs) are typically not included in tuition and can run $2,000–$8,000+ per program.
The Ghost Category: Everything Else
Laundry (either coin-operated or a laundry service), health center charges for certain treatments, tutoring, school merchandise, and the steady stream of small purchases (e.g., snacks, local restaurant visits, Amazon deliveries) are easy to underestimate. During my daughter's summer Exeter program, the small charges — grab-and-go meals, incidentals — added up in ways I didn't anticipate.
In aggregate: budget 10–20% above the base tuition figure to account for these additional costs. For a family paying full tuition, that means the realistic annual cost of attendance is closer to $80,000–$90,000.
The Bottom Line
The cost of boarding school is real and significant. But so is the potential for financial aid to offset it — substantially. Before drawing conclusions about affordability, understand the aid landscape. Several of these schools are among the most generous in the country. See Understanding Financial Aid for a full treatment of how aid works and what to expect from the process.