Private school tuition
Is Laguna Blanca School worth the tuition?
Laguna Blanca School (Santa Barbara) set beside Dos Pueblos High School (Goleta), the highest-scoring public high school within 15 miles that has at least 100 seniors. The two are compared on cost, on 2025 UC outcomes and on what each offers.
What does Laguna Blanca School cost?
Laguna Blanca School publishes tuition of $45,060 for 2026-27, which is $180,240 over four years at today's tuition.
| Published tuition | $45,060 (2026-27) |
| Four years at today's tuition (tuition × 4) | $180,240 |
- As the school lists it: $45,060 grades 6-12; $39,128 EK-grade 5 (2026-27 school year, per lagunablanca.org/admissions/tuition).
- Form 990 tuition revenue per student: about $40,732 (program revenue of $16,863,220 for fiscal 2023, tuition and other earned revenue, divided by 414 students; the IRS filing, not the school's published price).
- The four-year figure holds tuition constant. It leaves out fees, books, transportation and any financial aid, which Reach does not hold; the school's admissions office can say what applies.
How do their UC outcomes compare?
Laguna Blanca School has a 63 UC Reach Score, from 29 UC admits counted at each campus for 46 seniors, and Dos Pueblos High School has a 46 score, from 246 admits for 539 seniors, 63.0 and 45.6 admits per 100 seniors.
| Laguna Blanca School (private) | Dos Pueblos High School (public) | |
|---|---|---|
| UC Reach Score 2025 | 63 | 46 |
| UC admits 2025, counted at each campus | 29 | 246 |
| Seniors | 46 | 539 |
| UC admits per 100 seniors | 63.0 | 45.6 |
| Publishes a counted college list | Yes | No |
Laguna Blanca School: five most-named colleges
- University of California (Berkeley) (11)
- Santa Barbara City College (10)
- Southern Methodist University (8)
- University of Miami (8)
- Boston University (7)
From the school's own published list, acceptances, Classes of 2022-2026; "College Matriculation" page (the page's own list is labeled acceptance offers). Counts are the school's own.
Dos Pueblos High School does not publish a counted college list that we hold, so only one list is shown.
What does the public school offer?
Dos Pueblos High School in Goleta is 6.9 miles from Laguna Blanca School, has a 46 UC Reach Score and enrolled 2,182 students in 2026.
- UC Reach Score 2025: 46, from 246 UC admits for 539 seniors.
- Enrollment: 2,182 students (2026).
- A-G completion: 79.5% of the 2024-25 graduating cohort of 529 met the UC/CSU course requirements (California median 55.9%).
- Students per counselor: 436 to 1 (Civil Rights Data Collection 2020; California median 337 to 1).
- Full profile: Dos Pueblos High School.
What are families also paying for at Laguna Blanca School?
Some of what a family pays for at Laguna Blanca School is something only a private school can offer. None of it shows up in a UC Reach Score, and each item is a question of fit rather than a ranking.
- A community chosen by fit. A private school runs its own admissions process, so the application, the entrance exam and the interview work as a fit signal in both directions: the school learns about the student, and the family learns how the school talks about its students.
- Its own values and program. A private school sets its own curriculum, calendar and expectations rather than inheriting a district's, so a family can look for a philosophy it shares.
- Class size. The National Center for Education Statistics' Private School Survey (2022) lists Laguna Blanca School at 7.9 students per teacher across 450 students.
- Size and grades served. Laguna Blanca School enrolled 414 students in 2025 and serves grades 9–12.
- Advising, arts and athletics. A private school builds its own college advising and its own arts and athletics offerings, and a smaller school can mean more students on each team and in each production. Ask what the counselor caseload and the participation look like.
Parents are not only shopping for college outcomes. The UC Reach Score counts one thing, UC admits per 100 seniors, and it says nothing about whether a teenager will be known, challenged and happy at a school for four years.
Public schools are a great choice when a family cannot afford a private school, and the section above shows what Dos Pueblos High School offers.
More on Laguna Blanca School: its full profile, more private high schools in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, and private vs public high schools in Santa Barbara County. Other schools are on the is it worth the tuition? index.
UC Reach Score is top-6 UC admits per 100 seniors in 2025, counted at each campus, so a student admitted to several campuses counts at each; a "~" marks an estimated senior count. Tuition is the figure the school publishes on its admissions pages, for the year shown. The public school is the highest-scoring district or charter high school within 15 miles (straight-line distance, 6.9 miles here) that reaches grade 12, has at least 100 seniors and is not an online, independent-study or alternative program. Form 990 figures come from the school's IRS filing, as reported through ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer; its program revenue includes tuition and other earned revenue. A-G completion is the California Department of Education's adjusted cohort graduation file; the counselor ratio is the federal Civil Rights Data Collection.