International School Fees in Bangkok 2026: 40 Schools, One Table

International School Fees in Bangkok 2026: 40 Schools, One Table

Senior-year tuition at International School Bangkok (ISB) reaches ฿1,197,000 a year (~$36,270) for 2026/27, the ceiling of the Bangkok market. At the other end, a handful of smaller schools still enroll early-years students for under ฿300,000 (~$9,090). Most families land somewhere in the ฿450,000–900,000 band, and the number depends far more on which grade your child enters than which school brochure you read first.

There is no government-run fee database for Bangkok's international schools, so this table is built from official school fee pages and cross-checked against the two main fee aggregators. Treat every figure as a snapshot: schools raise tuition 3–5% most years, and the biggest jump on any fee schedule happens at the switch from primary to secondary.

Quick answer: what Bangkok schools actually charge

• Premium tier (ISB, Patana, Shrewsbury, Harrow, Wellington, NIST): ฿545,000–1,197,000/yr depending on grade
• Upper-mid tier (KIS, BASIS, Rugby, Concordian, Berkeley): ฿520,000–975,000/yr
• Mid tier (Bromsgrove, St. Andrews, Ascot, Australian International): ฿193,000–975,000/yr, wide by campus and grade
• Budget tier (Wells, D-Prep and similar): roughly ฿200,000–350,000/yr, mostly early years
• Year-one all-in cost runs 25–40% above headline tuition once you add registration, capital levy, uniforms and transport
• All figures 2025/26–2026/27 school year, THB first, USD at ~฿33/USD

The fee table: 20 schools, tuition by tier

Roughly 100 schools in Greater Bangkok carry an international curriculum, and ISAT's own member directory (about 200 schools nationwide) publishes no fee data at all — it's a search tool, not a pricing table. The list below covers the schools with a verifiable, dated 2025/26 or 2026/27 fee, spanning every tier from budget to top-of-market. Where a school publishes a single flat annual figure rather than a full grade-by-grade range, that is noted.

Source: ISB and Bangkok Patana official 2026/27 fee schedules; Tutopiya Bangkok fee comparison 2025–2026; Edarabia Thailand school fees 2026; ISchoolAdvisor 2026 cost guide · verified July 2026 · ฿33/USD. Bromsgrove, St. Andrews, Concordian and Berkeley figures vary between sources depending on campus and grade band cited — call the admissions office for a grade-specific quote before budgeting.

Fee spreads for Bromsgrove and St. Andrews are wide because both run multiple Bangkok campuses (St. Andrews has four) with different fee schedules, and different aggregators report different grade levels as their headline number. That's the general pattern across this whole market: a single "annual fee" quoted anywhere is almost always one grade, one campus, one year — never take it as the whole story without checking the grade you actually need.

Why there's no single official fee database

The International Schools Association of Thailand (ISAT) is a membership and quality-assurance body, not a pricing regulator. Its website offers a school search and directory of roughly 200 member schools nationwide, but it has never published a centralized fee table, and nothing forces a member school to disclose fees publicly in a standard format. The two private aggregators that try to fill the gap — International Schools Database (about 103 Bangkok-area listings) and Tutopiya's comparison guides — pull numbers from each school's own site and update on their own schedule, so their figures can lag an official update by a term or two.

Practically, this means the only fee you can fully trust is the one on the school's current official page, dated to this admissions cycle. Everything else, including this table, is a starting point for narrowing your shortlist, not a number to wire a deposit against.

What actually drives the ฿200,000–฿1,200,000 spread

Four things separate a ฿250,000-a-year school from a ฿1,000,000-a-year one, and none of them is really "quality" in any simple sense:

Grade level. Every school on this list charges less for early years/kindergarten and more for secondary, and the jump from primary to Grade 9–12 (IGCSE/IB years) is the single biggest line-item increase most families hit — often 40–70% above the primary fee at the same school.

Curriculum and exam load. Schools running the full IB Diploma or A-Levels through Grade 12 carry exam fees, specialist staffing and smaller class sizes into their senior-year pricing. A school offering only IGCSE, or capping at Grade 10, tends to sit lower.

Facilities and land. ISB, Patana, Harrow and Shrewsbury sit on large campuses with pools, theatres and sports facilities that a newer, smaller school in a converted office building simply doesn't carry. That capital cost shows up both in tuition and in the capital/building levy charged separately (see below).

Brand and waitlist. ISB and Patana in particular can charge at the top of the market because demand from long-tenure expat and diplomatic families outstrips seats. Newer schools price closer to cost to build enrollment.

For a direct head-to-head on the three most-searched premium names, see ISB vs NIST vs Patana: the premium tier compared.

The hidden costs on top of tuition

Headline tuition is never the real first-year number. Budget 25–40% above the sticker tuition figure for a genuine year-one cost, driven by five recurring line items:

Source: ISB and Bangkok Patana official fee schedules; ISchoolAdvisor 2026 fee breakdown · verified July 2026 · ฿33/USD. Capital levy refund terms range from fully refundable on departure to fully non-refundable — always confirm in writing before paying.

The capital levy is the item that catches new parents off guard most often. It reads like a deposit, but at several premium schools it is only partially refundable, or refundable solely if the child leaves after a minimum number of years. Before you sign, ask the admissions office three direct questions: is the levy refundable, under what conditions, and has the school ever actually returned it to a departing family. For the full breakdown of every add-on fee by school, see hidden costs of Thai international schools.

Budget, mid, or premium: which tier actually fits

A single-income family on a typical mid-market expat salary usually finds the mid tier (฿400,000–700,000/yr) delivers a genuinely international curriculum — IGCSE or IB — without the capital-levy shock of the top names. The premium tier makes sense mainly for two groups: families whose employer pays a school allowance, and families set on a specific decades-old brand name for consistency across a multi-country posting.

The real budget question isn't tier, it's headcount. Two children in the premium tier at ฿1,000,000 each is ฿2,000,000/yr before hidden costs — a number that changes the entire calculus of an expat posting. Running that math against your full household budget is worth doing before you shortlist schools; the total cost of raising a kid in Bangkok as an expat page walks through the full annual number including housing and healthcare, and the Bangkok cost-of-living breakdown covers the rest of the household budget around it. Families weighing a bilingual Thai-English school instead of a fully international one should also read bilingual vs. international schools: the real cost gap before committing to the premium tier by default.

If your budget caps out below ฿400,000/yr per child, the honest options are narrower and change faster than the premium tier — see the cheapest international schools in Bangkok for the current shortlist, since this segment of the market turns over campuses and pricing more often than the established names.

How fees move year to year

Most Bangkok international schools raise tuition 3–5% annually, announced for the following academic year sometime in the preceding term. A school charging ฿700,000 today is a reasonable bet to charge somewhere near ฿735,000–770,000 the following year, absent a major facilities investment that triggers a bigger jump. Multi-year fee locks are rare; if a school offers one, ask what triggers an exception.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does international school cost per year in Bangkok in 2026?

Most families pay ฿450,000–900,000 (~$13,600–27,300) a year per child for a mid-to-upper-tier international school, once you're past early years. The premium names — ISB, Patana, Shrewsbury, Harrow, Wellington — run ฿545,000 at the low end up to ฿1,197,000 in senior grades. Add 25–40% in year one for registration and capital fees on top of tuition.

What is the cheapest international school in Bangkok?

Smaller schools such as Wells International and similar budget-tier campuses enroll early-years students from roughly ฿200,000–300,000 a year, though fees rise sharply once a child reaches secondary. This segment turns over quickly — verify current pricing directly with the school before assuming a figure holds.

Is there an official list of Bangkok international school fees?

No. ISAT (International Schools Association of Thailand) runs a member directory and quality-assurance function, not a fee database. Aggregators like International Schools Database and Tutopiya compile fees from each school's own page, but their numbers can lag an official update — always confirm against the school's current fee schedule before budgeting.

Why is ISB or Patana so much more expensive than other schools?

Scale, facilities, exam-year staffing and long waitlists. Both schools carry large campuses, full IB/A-Level or comparable senior programs, and decades of brand demand from long-tenure expat and diplomatic families, which lets them price at the top of the market. Newer or smaller schools price closer to their operating cost to build enrollment.

Do international school fees include the capital levy?

No — the capital/building levy (typically ฿100,000–500,000 per child) is charged separately from annual tuition, usually at enrollment, and its refund terms vary enormously by school. Get the refund conditions in writing before you pay; some schools only refund a portion, and some don't refund it at all.

The bottom line

Bangkok's international school market runs from roughly ฿200,000 to over ฿1,200,000 a year per child, and the grade your child enters moves that number more than almost anything else. There's no single official fee list to check against, so build your shortlist from this table, then confirm the exact grade-level figure and every hidden fee directly with each school's admissions office before you commit. Budget the extra 25–40% for year one, and ask about the capital levy refund terms in writing — that single question saves more money than comparing headline tuition ever will.