It shouldn’t (but still may) come as a surprise to see a California school on top. Taking a quick look at Thacher’s 990 shows some very significant expenses relative to their modest student population (I’m looking at you, in particular, 990 Part IX, Line 5). You can see that in the tuition differences at these schools too, with Thacher at ~$81K vs. Exeter at ~$70K or Groton at ~$62K.
Who would have thought that running a school in beautiful Ojai could be more expensive than in New Hampshire or north-central Massachusetts?
I should have labeled these as boarding schools. Hard to compare day schools to the expenses of a boarding school, but to answer your question:
Harvard-Westlake is $64k per student (Gr 7-12, 2023).
A couple of other Cali day schools:
Nueva: $68k (K-12).
Flintridge Prep: $56k (7-12).
The figures for somewhat smaller schools (Thacher, Groton, St. Paul’s) are skewed upwards due to some fixed costs spread over fewer students, and conversely the figures for larger schools (Exeter, Lawrenceville, Andover, Choate) are skewed downwards due to some fixed costs spread over larger student bodies.
Do you think that you’d be able to say that the student at PEA/PA would feel the expenditure more than a student at SPS/Groton/DA since there are more variable costs per student?
It’s kind of crazy to think that some of these schools are spending 200% as the others.
