Private school tuition
Is Santa Catalina School worth the tuition?
Santa Catalina School (Monterey) set beside Carmel High School (Carmel), 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 Santa Catalina School cost?
Santa Catalina School publishes tuition of $48,925 for 2026-27, which is $195,700 over four years at today's tuition.
| Published tuition | $48,925 (2026-27) |
| Four years at today's tuition (tuition × 4) | $195,700 |
- As the school lists it: 2026-27: $48,925 day / $79,300 boarding (2027-28 not yet posted).
- Form 990 tuition revenue per student: about $44,341 (program revenue of $19,465,594 for fiscal 2023, tuition and other earned revenue, divided by 439 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?
Santa Catalina School has a 76 UC Reach Score, from 29 UC admits counted at each campus for 38 seniors, and Carmel High School has a 44 score, from 88 admits for 200 seniors, 76.3 and 44.0 admits per 100 seniors.
| Santa Catalina School (private) | Carmel High School (public) | |
|---|---|---|
| UC Reach Score 2025 | 76 | 44 |
| UC admits 2025, counted at each campus | 29 | 88 |
| Seniors | 38 | 200 |
| UC admits per 100 seniors | 76.3 | 44.0 |
| Publishes a counted college list | Yes | No |
Santa Catalina School: five most-named colleges
- Northeastern University (9)
- California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (7)
- University of Southern California (7)
- Chapman University (6)
- San Diego State University (6)
From the school's own published list, matriculation (where graduates enrolled), Classes of 2021-2025; Santa Catalina Profile 2025-2026. Counts are the school's own.
Carmel High School does not publish a counted college list that we hold, so only one list is shown.
What does the public school offer?
Carmel High School in Carmel is 3.4 miles from Santa Catalina School, has a 44 UC Reach Score and enrolled 736 students in 2026.
- UC Reach Score 2025: 44, from 88 UC admits for 200 seniors.
- Enrollment: 736 students (2026).
- A-G completion: 72.9% of the 2024-25 graduating cohort of 202 met the UC/CSU course requirements (California median 55.9%).
- Students per counselor: 245 to 1 (Civil Rights Data Collection 2020; California median 337 to 1).
- Full profile: Carmel High School.
What are families also paying for at Santa Catalina School?
Some of what a family pays for at Santa Catalina 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.
- A faith community. Santa Catalina School is a Catholic school, which matters to families who want faith to be part of the school day.
- Residential life. The boarding directory lists Santa Catalina 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 Santa Catalina School at 6.5 students per teacher across 456 students.
- Size and grades served. Santa Catalina School enrolled 439 students in 2025 and serves grades PreK–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 Carmel High School offers.
More on Santa Catalina School: its full profile, and private vs public high schools in Monterey 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, 3.4 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.