Europe's Most Expensive Boarding Schools

Ah, boarding schools. Cold showers, tasteless food and regimental matrons bent on making students’ lives a living hell. Not anymore. In Europe’s top boarding schools today, you’ll face Jacuzzis and heated swimming pools, five-star gyms and en suite bedrooms, not drafty dormitories and dreary common rooms.

Gone are the days when boarding schools were the places to “toughen” young people up in preparation for remote postings in overseas empires. Still populated by children of the global elite, the schools today are where royals rub shoulders with the offspring of the world’s business leaders in sumptuous surroundings. Mommy and Daddy pay through the teeth for the privilege.
In Pictures: Europe’s Most Expensive Boarding Schools

In Britain, where the median income in 2006 was 27,940 pounds ($57,567), basic boarding school fees can reach $54,900 a year, with additional expenses adding another 10%. Yet the sector thrives, with more than 67,000 students from across the world attending, according to a 2007 report by the U.K.’s boarding school sector.

Of course it’s more than schmoozing and hot tubs. Small class sizes, vast resources and intensive drilling sessions get students into the world’s top universities. In Britain, Eton and Harrow are passports into Oxford and Cambridge–an appealing choice for rich parents in a highly competitive world.

“The students take on responsibilities at a young age and get a chance to become an adult in an environment where they are safe,” says Penny Bysshe, director of school guidance consultancy, which helps place international students in many of the top boarding schools. “They learn how to become winners and leaders.”

The 15 most expensive schools in Europe, identified for Forbes.com by Geoff Stack at AU Consultants, are all based in Britain and Switzerland. Only one from Austria, the American International School in Salzburg, landed in the top 30. Switzerland dominates the rankings.

No. 1: Le Rosey, Château de Rosey in Rolle, Switzerland. Dubbed the “school of kings” for the number of royals who have attended, Le Rosey is, at 50,000 euros ($73,150) a year, also the world’s most expensive international school. Apart from getting a chance to rub shoulders with Rothschilds and Borgheses, there’s a lakeside château on 28 acres, 10 tennis courts, a Jacuzzi, a sauna and steam rooms, and a sailing center. The school moves to a separate winter campus between January and March. http://www.rosey.ch/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/11369567/Inside-the-most-expensive-boarding-school-in-the-world.html

College Alpin Beau Soleil, Villars-sur-Ollon, Switzerland, ranks close behind in the tuition race, at 48,000 euros ($70,220). An international boarding school in the mountains near Geneva, with views of the Rhone Valley, the school features a restaurant on the ski slopes, a performing arts center and a riding center.

“I think people are partly attracted by the beauty of the country and all the outdoor possibilities it offers, in a safe environment,” Sarah Frei, marketing director of the Swiss school Brillantmont (No. 5 on the list), says of the country. “As we are located in the heart of Europe, students can go on weekend trips to Paris or Rome.”

Eton College, the top-ranked British school, comes in at No. 10 (tuition: 37,500 euros, or $54,900). Synonymous in many people’s minds with the term “boarding school,” this bastion of Britishness, founded in 1440, remains a school for boys, unlike many former single-sex schools. It has churned out more politicians, royals and celebrities from across the world than any other boarding school, and the large number of students who go on to Oxford and Cambridge sometimes raises eyebrows. Both Prince Harry and William attended, as did the leader of Britain’s Conservative Party, David Cameron. Past graduates include economist John Maynard Keynes and writer George Orwell.

Number 2 in Britain and No. 11 overall: the Charterhouse School in Surrey (tuition: 37,000 euros, or $54,000). Students of this elite British public school, founded in 1611, are called Carthusians. The school has a strong religious tradition, originally founded on a monastery. The school now accepts girls but sticks to some of its old traditions, including the so-called “calling over” ceremony, in which students are individually chastised or praised in public, depending on their performance over the year.
In Pictures: Europe’s Most Expensive Boarding Schools

One reason for the ascendance of Swiss schools: the multinational companies crowding the cities and towns, giving the schools much of their business. They’ve responded to the needs of their globalized clientele by teaching under different education systems, ranging from the American and British systems to the International Baccalaureate.

“International education has become a real growth area thanks to globalization. It is becoming increasingly important for employees of multinational corporations to be able to get the best education wherever their jobs take them,” says Robin Brooke-Smith of education consultancy Creative Consulting.

There are other cultural differences between boarding schools in Britain and Switzerland. While in Britain much is made–by the media and by schools themselves–of the boarding school background of such politicians as Tony Blair and David Cameron, the leader of Britain’s Conservative Party, Swiss schools have a reputation for keeping the names of their students secret.

“We are a country used to wealth and discretion, and for a certain kind of person, that low profile is important,” says Frei.

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