Private school tuition
Is Salesian College Preparatory worth the tuition?
Salesian College Preparatory (Richmond) set beside Berkeley High School (Berkeley), 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 Salesian College Preparatory cost?
Salesian College Preparatory publishes tuition of $24,550 for 2026-27, which is $98,200 over four years at today's tuition.
| Published tuition | $24,550 (2026-27) |
| Four years at today's tuition (tuition × 4) | $98,200 |
- As the school lists it: $24,550 new students/transfers (2026-27; returning 9-11 $24,450, seniors $24,700 — includes registration fee and $500 su.
- 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?
Salesian College Preparatory has a 45 UC Reach Score, from 43 UC admits counted at each campus for 96 seniors, and Berkeley High School has a 67 score, from 539 admits for 799 seniors, 44.8 and 67.5 admits per 100 seniors.
| Salesian College Preparatory (private) | Berkeley High School (public) | |
|---|---|---|
| UC Reach Score 2025 | 45 | 67 |
| UC admits 2025, counted at each campus | 43 | 539 |
| Seniors | 96 | 799 |
| UC admits per 100 seniors | 44.8 | 67.5 |
| Publishes a counted college list | No | No |
Neither school publishes a counted college list that we hold.
What does the public school offer?
Berkeley High School in Berkeley is 6.9 miles from Salesian College Preparatory, has a 67 UC Reach Score and enrolled 3,279 students in 2026.
- UC Reach Score 2025: 67, from 539 UC admits for 799 seniors.
- Enrollment: 3,279 students (2026).
- A-G completion: 69.9% of the 2024-25 graduating cohort of 810 met the UC/CSU course requirements (California median 55.9%).
- Students per counselor: 225 to 1 (Civil Rights Data Collection 2020; California median 337 to 1).
- Full profile: Berkeley High School.
What are families also paying for at Salesian College Preparatory?
Some of what a family pays for at Salesian College Preparatory 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.
- A faith community. Salesian College Preparatory is a Catholic school, which matters to families who want faith to be part of the school day.
- Class size. The National Center for Education Statistics' Private School Survey (2022) lists Salesian College Preparatory at 12.1 students per teacher across 386 students.
- Size and grades served. Salesian College Preparatory enrolled 428 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 Berkeley High School offers.
More on Salesian College Preparatory: its full profile, more private high schools in East Bay, and private vs public high schools in Contra Costa 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.