A Swiss boarding school costs from just under CHF 70,000 to just over CHF 180,000 a year, depending on the school, before personal spending. That is a factor of nearly three, and it does not map neatly onto quality. Most of the gap comes from curriculum, language, size and what the fee actually covers.
I went through the fee schedules thirteen boarding schools publish on their own sites, and their terms and conditions where they exist, because that is where the lines missing from the headline figure are written.
Boarding fees, school by school
| School, location | Boarding, per year | Year | Curriculum |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beau Soleil, Villars-sur-Ollon | CHF 171,990 to 183,390, compulsory lines included | 2026-2027 | IB (bilingual option), US diploma |
| Aiglon College, Chesières-Villars | up to CHF 168,000 | 2026-2027, from the Good Schools Guide | IGCSE, IB, US diploma |
| Institut Le Rosey, Rolle and Gstaad | CHF 164,400 (108,900 for the youngest) | 2027-2028 | IB, French bac |
| St. George's, Montreux | CHF 103,900 to 132,400 | 2026-2027 | IGCSE, IB, A levels |
| Leysin American School, Leysin | CHF 128,000 | 2026-2027 | US diploma, IB, AP |
| Collège Champittet, Pully | CHF 112,000 (91,800 weekdays only) | 2026-2027 | IB, Swiss Matura, French bac |
| Brillantmont, Lausanne | CHF 99,500 to 111,000 | 2026-2027 | IGCSE, A levels, US diploma |
| TASIS, Montagnola (Lugano) | CHF 106,500 | 2026-2027 | US diploma, IB, AP |
| Lyceum Alpinum, Zuoz | CHF 101,100 to 104,900 | 2026-2027 | Swiss Matura, IGCSE, IB |
| Ecole Nouvelle de la Suisse Romande, Lausanne | CHF 71,500 to 81,000 plus VAT (57,500 to 67,000 weekdays only) | 2026-2027 | Swiss Matura, IB |
| Ecole d'Humanité, Hasliberg | CHF 68,000 to 75,000 | 2026-2027 | US diploma with AP, Swiss programme |
| Institut Montana, Zugerberg | CHF 70,400 to 72,800 | not stated | Swiss Gymnasium, international school |
| Hochalpines Institut, Ftan | about CHF 69,800 (Matura with seven-day boarding) | not stated | Swiss Matura, international diploma |
Figures taken from the schools' websites and fee documents in October 2026, for seven-day boarding, from the youngest to the oldest year group. Le Rosey had already moved to publishing 2027-2028 only. Aiglon's site was down, hence the Good Schools Guide figure; Le Régent's in Crans-Montana was down too, and I would rather give no number than a guess.
The list falls into three bands. Around CHF 70,000, Swiss schools, mostly German-speaking, built first around the Swiss Matura, the national school-leaving diploma. Between CHF 100,000 and 135,000, mid-sized international boarding schools. Above CHF 160,000, the three names everyone knows, each covered in detail on this blog: Le Rosey, Aiglon and Beau Soleil.
Where the extra costs hide
The headline number is almost never what a family pays. Every school says so in its terms and conditions, just not in the same place or in the same way.
Often included
- The ski pass: Le Rosey, Zuoz, Leysin, St. George's, Champittet for full boarders.
- Study trips: TASIS, Brillantmont, and Aiglon for expeditions.
- English as a second language: TASIS, Aiglon.
- Airport transfers, on official dates only.
Often extra
- Exams: Le Rosey's IB package at CHF 13,900 a year, CHF 1,390 to 2,650 at ENSR, from CHF 1,000 at Zuoz.
- Health insurance: CHF 3,950 at Le Rosey, CHF 2,800 at St. George's.
- A single room: CHF 10,000 at St. George's, CHF 15,000 at Zuoz and at the Ecole d'Humanité.
- Ski gear, CHF 1,000 to 5,000 a year according to Leysin, which suggests budgeting CHF 10,000 for the student's personal account.
Then come the payments made on entry, which never appear in the annual fee. A deposit nearly everywhere: CHF 3,000 at TASIS, 12,000 at Brillantmont, 15,000 at Beau Soleil and Aiglon, 18,000 at Le Rosey, where it covers the extras account. Application fees from CHF 500 to 3,000. And capital contributions that families tend to forget: CHF 5,000 at TASIS, 10,000 at Leysin, a CHF 8,500 admission fee at St. George's, which also asks for a CHF 20,000 advance payment.
The last trap is in the contract. Several schools, Le Rosey, St. George's, Zuoz and Champittet among them, charge the following term if a student leaves mid-year; at Champittet, withdrawing after 31 October makes the whole year payable. At ENSR, paying in instalments adds CHF 2,000 a year.
Is there such a thing as a cheap Swiss boarding school?
Yes, depending on what "cheap" means. The realistic floor for private seven-day boarding in Switzerland is around CHF 70,000: the Ecole d'Humanité, Institut Montana, the Hochalpines Institut in Ftan, ENSR. That is a little under half of Le Rosey.
Three of those four are in German-speaking Switzerland, and the Matura there is taught in German, sometimes in a bilingual track. For a child who speaks French or English, the saving is paid for in language. The exception is ENSR in Lausanne, in French-speaking Switzerland, which prepares both the Matura and the IB for CHF 71,500 to 81,000 plus VAT; in my view that is the best value for a French-speaking student who wants to board in Switzerland.
Two options lower the bill for families living in or near Switzerland. Weekly boarding, home on Friday: CHF 57,500 at ENSR, 91,800 at Champittet. And the cantonal route: at Zuoz, the day Matura costs CHF 640 a year for families resident in Graubünden. Families living abroad have access to neither.
Below these amounts, what gets sold as a Swiss boarding school is usually a language course or a summer camp, not a school year.
Which school for which child
Once the budget is set, the child decides: their language, their temperament, the university they are aiming for. This is how I read the main options.
For the American boarding school in Ticino, admissions and scholarships are covered in TASIS Switzerland tuition and admission.
A list of thirteen schools shrinks to two or three once you start from the child rather than from reputation. Then comes the entry year, the applications, and preparation for tests and interviews, often in English. That is the work we do at Carmine with around twenty families a year; our school admissions page describes the support.