For the 2024-2025 school year, Houston private school tuition costs $26,896 a year on average per child, which amounts to a nearly 5% increase in tuition as compared to the 2023-2024 academic year. The cost of a private education in Houston has increased 21.3% since before the pandemic.
The price of admission varies by grade, but there are consistent increases across the board:
- Kindergarten — $22,379 (up from $21,235)
- Sixth Grade — $25,251 (up from $24,040)
- Twelfth Grade — $28,853 (up from $27,597)
If you have a kindergartener starting this fall and plan to keep them in private school through high school graduation, you can expect to pay in excess of $460,000 for all 13 years of education—or more than half a million dollars when annual fees are also factored in.
General Academic currently tracks tuition for approximately 50 of the most popular Houston-area private schools. The year-over-year tuition increases ranged from as low as 0% for Grace School, to as high as 12.8% for Annunciation Orthodox School.
When we compare tuition rates of Catholic schools to the rest of Houston private schools, we continue to see huge potential for savings. The average cost of a Catholic school education in Houston for the 2024-2025 school year is $20,761, which is over 22% cheaper than the average across all private schools.
The cost of attending a Houston private school is outpacing inflation (3.3% for the last year). If you are a parent of a current kindergarten student and assume an annual tuition increase rate of 5.7%, you can expect to be paying over $54,000 for your child’s 12th grade education — that is over double what you are currently paying for your child’s kindergarten education.
Big Fees Are in Addition to Tuition
When budgeting for a private school education, the costs don’t stop at tuition. Private school fees often add up to thousands of dollars on top of the tuition and can include items like new student enrollment, computers/tablets, class trips, and even new building construction.
For example, Episcopal High School charges $1,625 for food services and $2,500 for a laptop; St. John’s charges a $2,000 new student fee and up to $1,200 for textbooks/supplies; Awty charges $2,950 for a Washington, D.C. trip and $3,500 for bus service. Not all schools, however, take this approach to adding on or separating their fees: at The Emery/Weiner School, tuition includes meals, trips, and activities.
Don’t Count on Financial Aid
Unlike elite private colleges which are able to subsidize their educations with their multi-billion dollar endowments, most Houston private schools are tuition driven. However, some of the city’s most well-known private schools, like Kinkaid and St. John’s, do have relatively large endowments that exceed $50 million allowing them to offer more financial aid. Otherwise Catholic schools also remain relatively accessible due to both lower tuition and more aid from the church.
Tuition must usually be paid in one lump sum at the beginning of the year or via monthly direct withdrawals from a linked bank account, with the former usually giving a significant discount over the latter.
