A Year 11 place at the top of Hong Kong's international-school table now costs HK$354,500 a year in tuition alone - and at several schools that is not the end of the bill. Before a child sits in a classroom, parents are asked for an application fee, a capital levy, and at some schools a debenture or reservation deposit running into six or seven figures.
Below is every secondary international school in the city whose published 2026/27 schedule prices a 16-year-old - 26 schools, ranked by annual tuition at age 16. Every figure links to the school's own published fee page, and every number in this article is taken from those schedules, not from a directory.
What a year costs: the full table
Ranked by annual tuition for a 16-year-old (Year 11 / Grade 11 equivalent), 2026/27, in Hong Kong dollars:
One-off entry costs = application fee + registration fee + capital levy + refundable security deposit, as published by each school. A dash means the school publishes no one-off charges on its fee page - usually because the schedule covers tuition only, or because the amount sits behind the admissions process. Deposits are normally refundable on leaving or graduation; the rest is not. The curriculum column shows each school's main published pathway; several run more than one.
The number most parents forget: entry costs
Tuition is only part of the first invoice. Across the 23 Hong Kong schools that publish one-off charges, the entry bill ranges from HK$500 to HK$180,200 - on top of the first term's fees. A further 3 publish no one-off charge at all on their fee pages: Li Po Chun United World College of Hong Kong, German Swiss International School, Po Leung Kuk Choi Kai Yau School.
| School | Application | Registration | Capital levy | Security deposit | Total one-off |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese International School | - | - | HK$30,200 | HK$150,000 | HK$180,200 |
| Canadian International School of Hong Kong | HK$2,350 | HK$12,500 | HK$43,000 | HK$80,000 | HK$137,850 |
| AISL Harrow Hong Kong | HK$1,500 | - | HK$60,000 | - | HK$61,500 |
| Malvern College Hong Kong | HK$1,800 | - | HK$42,000 | - | HK$43,800 |
| Kellett School | HK$2,000 | - | HK$40,000 | - | HK$42,000 |
| Hong Kong International School | HK$2,000 | HK$15,000 | HK$24,500 | - | HK$41,500 |
| The ISF Academy | HK$1,000 | - | HK$40,000 | - | HK$41,000 |
| English Schools Foundation (ESF) | HK$2,800 | - | HK$38,000 | - | HK$40,800 |
| Nord Anglia International School Hong Kong | HK$3,000 | - | HK$35,000 | - | HK$38,000 |
| The Harbour School | HK$2,500 | - | HK$33,000 | - | HK$35,500 |
| Hong Kong Academy | HK$3,000 | - | HK$32,000 | - | HK$35,000 |
| American School Hong Kong | HK$900 | - | HK$29,500 | - | HK$30,400 |
| Stamford American School Hong Kong | - | - | HK$30,000 | - | HK$30,000 |
| Australian International School Hong Kong | HK$1,500 | - | HK$25,000 | - | HK$26,500 |
| Singapore International School (Hong Kong) | - | - | HK$20,000 | - | HK$20,000 |
| Discovery Bay International School | HK$2,000 | - | HK$15,000 | - | HK$17,000 |
| American International School | HK$1,500 | - | HK$12,000 | - | HK$13,500 |
| French International School (Lycee Francais International de Hong Kong) | HK$2,200 | - | - | - | HK$2,200 |
| Victoria Shanghai Academy | HK$2,000 | - | - | - | HK$2,000 |
| International Christian School | HK$1,500 | - | - | - | HK$1,500 |
| Yew Chung International School of Hong Kong | HK$1,000 | - | - | - | HK$1,000 |
| DSC International School (formerly Delia School of Canada) | HK$1,000 | - | - | - | HK$1,000 |
| Kiangsu-Chekiang College (International Section) | HK$500 | - | - | - | HK$500 |
The largest single line in the city is the HK$150,000 reservation deposit at Chinese International School - the school credits it against tuition and its annual capital levy rather than keeping it, which is why it is recorded here as a deposit and not as a fee.
The Hong Kong habit that surprises families most is the capital levy, which at most schools that charge one is annual, not one-off: AISL Harrow Hong Kong bills HK$60,000 per pupil per year, Malvern College Hong Kong HK$42,000 and Kellett School and The ISF Academy HK$40,000. A levy at that level adds up to well over half a million dollars across a secondary education - and several schools waive it only for families holding a debenture or capital certificate. Kellett's own published debentures run from HK$5 million to HK$20 million; German Swiss International School and Victoria Shanghai Academy both require every student to be covered by a debenture or levy but do not publish the amount on their fee pages. If you are comparing two schools, ask what happens to the levy when a child leaves.
The median and the cheapest
Across the 26 schools priced here, the median age-16 tuition is HK$243,750 a year. The cheapest is Kiangsu-Chekiang College (International Section) at HK$128,000 - a genuine international section teaching the English National Curriculum with Cambridge IGCSE and the IB Diploma, at roughly a third of the top of the table.
That spread - from HK$128,000 to HK$354,500 - is the most useful fact on this site. There is no single 'cost of an international school in Hong Kong'. There is a league table, and where a school sits in it is a decision parents actually make. The full ranking lives on the Hong Kong city page, with the most expensive and cheapest lists broken out, and you can put any two schools side by side on the comparison tool.
Two schools we do not rank
Hong Kong has more international schools than appear above. Two of them - Shrewsbury International School Hong Kong (Nursery to Year 7) and Norwegian International School (Kindergarten to Year 6) - publish schedules that stop well before age 16, so they have no age-16 tuition to compare and are excluded rather than estimated. Their published fees still appear on their own pages on the site, and in the Hong Kong country index.
How these numbers were produced
Every figure here comes from the school's own published fee schedule for 2026/27, read directly from the school's website - never from an agent, a directory or a second-hand table. Where a school bills in monthly instalments, the annual figure is the school's own 10-month, 11-month or 12-month total. Where a school quotes a range, the fee shown is the one its schedule gives for the age-16 year group.
Ranking is by day tuition at age 16 only, in Hong Kong dollars. Boarding, lunches, buses, technology and examination entry fees are excluded from the ranking figure and recorded separately. One school in this table, Li Po Chun United World College, is residential-only and publishes a single all-inclusive fee that includes boarding - its figure is therefore not strictly comparable with the day schools above it, and we say so rather than adjust it. Confidence levels, the age-mapping rules and the treatment of fees published ex-VAT or in a foreign currency are set out in full on the methodology page.
Fee year: 25 of the 26 schools publish a 2026/27 schedule; the remainder are on their most recently published year, which is noted on each school's own page.
Comparisons with other markets are available for Singapore, Bangkok and Dubai, and the country index at /hong-kong covers the rest of this market.