Private school tuition
Is San Domenico School worth the tuition?
San Domenico School (San Anselmo) set beside Tamalpais High School (Mill Valley), 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 San Domenico School cost?
San Domenico School publishes tuition of $69,650 for 2026-27, which is $278,600 over four years at today's tuition.
| Published tuition | $69,650 (2026-27) |
| Four years at today's tuition (tuition × 4) | $278,600 |
- As the school lists it: $69,650 day / $86,800 boarding for grades 9-12 (2026-27; K-8 $47,975-$54,500).
- Form 990 tuition revenue per student: about $104,706 (program revenue of $40,940,158 for fiscal 2023, tuition and other earned revenue, divided by 391 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?
San Domenico School has a 64 UC Reach Score, from 60 UC admits counted at each campus for 94 seniors, and Tamalpais High School has a 55 score, from 231 admits for 419 seniors, 63.8 and 55.1 admits per 100 seniors.
| San Domenico School (private) | Tamalpais High School (public) | |
|---|---|---|
| UC Reach Score 2025 | 64 | 55 |
| UC admits 2025, counted at each campus | 60 | 231 |
| Seniors | 94 | 419 |
| UC admits per 100 seniors | 63.8 | 55.1 |
| Publishes a counted college list | No | Yes |
Tamalpais High School: five most-named colleges
- University of California campuses (68)
- Community College (43)
- California State University campuses (35)
- College of Marin (27)
- Cal Poly - San Luis Obispo (18)
From the school's own published list, matriculation (where graduates enrolled), Class of 2026; Tamalpais High School 2026-2027 School Profile. Counts are the school's own.
San Domenico School does not publish a counted college list that we hold, so only one list is shown.
What does the public school offer?
Tamalpais High School in Mill Valley is 9.4 miles from San Domenico School, has a 55 UC Reach Score and enrolled 1,346 students in 2026.
- UC Reach Score 2025: 55, from 231 UC admits for 419 seniors.
- Enrollment: 1,346 students (2026).
- A-G completion: 87.0% of the 2024-25 graduating cohort of 420 met the UC/CSU course requirements (California median 55.9%).
- Students per counselor: 269 to 1 (Civil Rights Data Collection 2020; California median 337 to 1).
- Full profile: Tamalpais High School.
What are families also paying for at San Domenico School?
Some of what a family pays for at San Domenico 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.
- Residential life. The boarding directory lists San Domenico School as a boarding school, so living on campus is part of what it offers.
- Class size. The National Center for Education Statistics' Private School Survey (2022) lists San Domenico School at 8.8 students per teacher across 690 students.
- Size and grades served. San Domenico School enrolled 391 students in 2025 and serves grades K–12. A school that starts in the middle grades keeps a student in one community for more than four years.
- 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 Tamalpais High School offers.
More on San Domenico School: its full profile, more private high schools in Marin County, and private vs public high schools in Marin 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, 9.4 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.