Harrow in U.S.?

Prep School Admissions Prep School Cafe
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Good to hear your son is loving it.

How many students are there, and in what grades? What is the split between day/boarding, and of the boarders, how many are NY residents, how many ex-NY, and how many from abroad? It’s hard to start a school from scratch, and trying to understanding how they are building this up.

There must be a lot of money behind Harrow US, as it likely won’t make money for years. But as shown on another thread, boarding schools are expensive to run and costs exceed tuition (and fund themselves from donations and returns from endowment). How is Harrow US going to make money for its owners, without donations, while still providing students something comparable (or even superior) to US private schools (day and boarding)?

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I want to hear about the hats.

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Heard the radio ad today while I was driving. I thought it was satire (either a promo for SNL, a new standup routine for Ricky Gervais?) until I realized it was genuine. The key selling point appears to be the “plummy” British accent (BBC British, not Manchester or Leeds).

Fascinating.

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From Bloomberg (November 7, 2025)

Harrow, USA

Harrow is one of Britain’s most established — and profitable — providers of overseas education.

The west London private school, where alumni such as Winston Churchill were educated, opened its maiden international offshoot in Bangkok in 1998. It’s now launching its first US campus. The Long Island, NY institution is licensed to use Harrow’s name and badge, though it’s owned, funded and operated by India’s Amity Education Group.

Amity bought the 170-acre campus almost ten years ago with a different goal in mind. According to a press release at the time, the site was to be used as “a platform for research collaboration” as well as education. The Indian firm had also planned to buy two for-profit colleges, though these deals were dropped following criticism from US officials.

Maura Healey, then-attorney general in Massachusetts, told the Associated Press in 2016 she was “very very skeptical” of the group’s ability to provide education to US students given its lack of track record in the country.

Still in possession of the Long Island site, Amity shifted its focus and announced the tie-up with Harrow in 2021. It’s also opened a Harrow outpost in Bengaluru, India.

The organization has faced scrutiny at some of its schools over the years. In 2005, India’s educational regulator revoked the license of an Amity business school over unapproved courses, opaque admissions, and inflated fees.

In 2018, Amity disaffiliated with three institutions at GGSIPU in Delhi amid protests and a lawsuit over the suicide of a student who said he’d been prevented from taking his exams.

“When selecting potential partners, we engage expert independent advisers to conduct thorough due diligence,” a spokesperson for Harrow said in an emailed statement. All partnerships “are subject to ongoing review to ensure they consistently uphold our expectations.”

Like many schools expanding abroad, Harrow charges fees that vary by location. Its first US site is charging up to $75,000 a year for boarding students — that’s slightly cheaper than the UK school’s roughly £63,735 annual cost (or around $83,500 at current exchange rates) but a pricier option than tuition and board at Harrow in Hong Kong, which can be as much as HK$369,775 (around $47,560).

Matthew Sipple, principal of the new US school, said in a previous Bloomberg News story that the expansion is “not about the finances — it’s about creating a lasting legacy.”