Blair Academy

The week

Saturday morning is still class

Blair has 484 students, and its two live overview pages put the boarding share at 83% or 85%. The advertised average class is 12, with a five-to-one student-faculty ratio.

Saturday morning classes are part of the six-day cycle. A class generally meets three times, for 60 minutes.

Teachers are told to anticipate roughly 30 to 45 minutes of preparation per meeting, which is 90 to 135 minutes per course each cycle, and more in an advanced course. Study is protected from 8 to 10 p.m. on school nights.

Students should not expect to finish then. They may need free periods and weekends, and ninth graders also have a weekly daytime study hall.

Blair began replacing its AP framework in Fall 2024 with Advanced Survey and Advanced Seminar courses; surveys resemble first-year college cores, and seminars pursue narrower themes. Students should have no more than two full-period tests in one day.

A major incomplete before vacation can cost course credit. Intersession is an annual eight-day, pass-fail intensive before spring break.

Options may stay on campus, take day trips, travel overnight, or travel internationally.

Dorms and day students

Out by 8 p.m., or $90 to stay

Day students arrive for their first obligation and generally leave by 8 p.m. Only grades 11 and 12 may ordinarily stay later. They join classes, meals, afternoons, Saturday commitments, and some evening events.

A dorm sleepover for convenience is not allowed. Severe weather is an exception, and so is a required event that ends after 10 p.m. or begins before 7 a.m. When space and the student's standing allow it, temporary boarding is $90 a night.

Boarders generally share small rooms. Blair assigns roommates and may change the assignment.

Most dorm areas are designated for male or female students. The second floor of Hoffman House is gender-neutral.

Ninth graders sign in at breakfast through fall midterms. A missed sign-in can lead to Sunday work.

In-room visits come only after training, and only with adult permission, check-in and check-out, an open door, overhead lighting, and a roommate who agrees to be there. Ninth graders may have those visits only on Saturday from 8 to 10 p.m. and on Sunday from 2 to 4 p.m.

Grades 9 through 11 study from 8 to 10 p.m. and must be in their own rooms, with lights out at 10:45. Seniors can earn a less-restricted study arrangement and still have an 11 p.m. room deadline.

Saturday night is looser, not unsupervised. Blair has 12 dormitories and 98 faculty members, with 90% of faculty living on campus.

Dorm parents and residential faculty oversee the buildings. Senior prefects help them and communicate with younger students.

Tallies track check-in, lights-out, and REACH problems, and accumulated tallies can lead to Sunday work or a formal reprimand. Rooms should remain unlocked while the occupants are present.

Blair may search rooms, lockers, cars, belongings, packages, computers, or phones.

Weekends and phones

Ten weekends, and the phone stays in the dorm

The first two full weekends are required community weekends, and the 2026–27 calendar adds another in January. Peddie Day is also a required schoolwide commitment, and parents may visit, but Blair asks them not to remove students from campus except to take them out for a meal.

Grades 9 through 11 may take no more than ten nonclosed weekends away. The handbook suggests distributing them four, three, and three across the terms.

Seniors may leave on any nonclosed weekend during the first semester, subject to obligations and permission. Leave goes into REACH by Friday at 4 p.m. A parent approves it.

A host may need to approve it. An international family must name an adult who can grant permission.

Students cannot stay alone in hotels, rentals, or unchaperoned homes. Normal return is Sunday by 7:45 p.m., and late flights generally require return the next morning.

Daytime weekend trips within 30 miles are allowed with permission, generally during Saturday and Sunday afternoons, and students must return by 8 p.m.

From breakfast through the academic day, the phone stays in a dorm or a locker. That includes Saturday classes and selected gatherings.

A visible phone can be confiscated and can bring a 30-minute detention. At night, Wi-Fi is limited by grade, to reinforce sleep.

In a disciplinary matter the school may monitor its network or search a device.

Advising and support

Two advisers, and support with limits

Every student has an assigned academic monitor and chooses a personal adviser during the first five weeks. The monitor tracks academic progress and meets the student weekly; the adviser supports personal, social, and academic life, and the full faculty reviews each student four times a year.

The support Blair describes includes organization and study coaching, tutoring, accommodation plans, structured study, and the ninth-grade study hall. An accommodation requires documentation of a substantial limitation and has to be reasonable within Blair's program.

The school may decide its resources cannot support a student's continued enrollment. There is no ESL program.

Health and safety

Nurses around the clock, counseling that stops for breaks

The Center for Health & Well-Being opened in October 2025. The 16-bed Health Center has nurses around the clock while school is in session, walk-in hours from 7:30 a.m. to 10:45 p.m., a family nurse practitioner, and scheduled physician coverage.

Two emergency departments are about 10 miles away. For an off-campus appointment, a paid driver takes a boarder to the waiting room.

No Blair adult stays for the visit with the provider. The family pays for transport, insurance, and the provider.

Medication generally stays at the Health Center and is dispensed there, with narrow exceptions and specific windows for picking up stimulants.

Three full-time licensed counselors see students on weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. and on Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to noon. An emergency counselor is on call around the clock while school is open, not through breaks or summer.

Counseling is short-term and goal-oriented. Outside psychologists and psychiatrists contract with the family.

Blair can provide a private room on campus for those meetings. A student may see a counselor without parent notification.

Safety or care information may be shared on a need-to-know basis. If a parent refuses needed care, continued enrollment can be affected.

Blair may require outside care, a medical leave, withdrawal, or a separate evaluation before return, and a returning student can be restricted from residential or overnight life.

Two public records are worth a direct question. In 2021, a former Blair wrestler sued the school, four administrators, and four coaches; the civil complaint alleged years of harassment and hazing and a sexual assault by teammates during a 2016 trip.

Those are allegations, not adjudicated findings, and we did not locate a public disposition. One person named in that reporting, Brian Antonelli, is still listed on Blair’s site as Director of Athletic Facilities & Security.

A separate appellate opinion records a 2017 fatal ski-team accident involving a 15-year-old; the court decided only an arbitration question, not negligence. The current handbook has detailed hazing, harassment, assault, and reporting rules.

Ask how the 2021 complaint was resolved and who supervises off-campus team travel.

Getting home

When the campus closes, someone has to collect them

Thanksgiving closure runs from November 20 after 3:15 p.m. through November 29 at 7:45 p.m. Winter holiday runs from December 17 after 1 p.m. through January 4 at 7 p.m. Spring break runs from March 5 after 1 p.m. through March 22 at 7:45 p.m. Winter Long Weekend, January 29 through February 3, is a dorm closure.

A long-distance boarder may request housing then, for an extra fee, with approval in advance. That is a limited exception, not coverage for other breaks.

Other closures require family housing. Students cannot leave before the published dismissal time.

Current 2026–27 guidance names Newark as the most convenient airport. The current calendar asks Newark departures to be 3:30 p.m. or later, and other regional-airport departures to be 4:30 p.m. or later.

Blair has no regular campus bus, and local public connections require travel to Stroudsburg or Delaware Water Gap. On selected break dates, Blair plans charter or shuttle transportation to Port Authority and regional airports; airport and New York transportation depends on sufficient interest or scheduled school service.

Cost and aid

What a full-pay year costs, and the aid you have to request now

For 2026–27, boarding tuition is $81,950 and day tuition is $57,000. Boarding includes tuition, room, and board.

Day tuition includes study space and meals Monday through Saturday. A tuition-refund plan is required.

Full-pay boarding families pay $575 if they pay once, or $1,150 if they pay in two or ten installments. The published totals are $82,525 and $83,100, before travel, insurance, break care, course charges, equipment, and spending.

When net tuition is smaller, the refund-plan charge is a lower percentage. For day families the published floors are $57,400 and $57,800.

Apply for aid with the admission file if you might need it in any later year. A student who enters without requesting or receiving aid is highly unlikely to receive it later, and Blair does not reserve money for a late application.

The aid deadline is February 1, through Clarity, after the January 15 application deadline. Clarity charges $65.

It may waive its own fee automatically. Blair cannot waive that charge.

Grants are need-based, including for international students. There are no merit scholarships, and the grants do not contain loans.

The aid page reports $8.8 million in grants, 31% of students receiving aid, 84% of demonstrated need met, a $48,820 average boarding grant, and a $31,829 average day grant. Nearby text and the FAQ nevertheless promise 100% support toward family demonstrated need.

At a Glance instead reports $9.9 million in aid, 36% receiving, 176 annual awards, a $54,896 average boarding grant, and a $33,173 average day grant.

Families reapply every year. Blair anticipates a similar award when finances stay steady, and it keeps discretion based on the family and the whole aid pool.

Divorced or separated parents are evaluated separately. A stepparent's income and assets may count, and Blair may require a form from the noncustodial household.

If that household will not complete it, the application can be affected. The school generally will not replace income when a parent chooses not to work, or changes jobs voluntarily.

Applying

January 15 is the date that matters

The 2027–28 application opens August 1, 2026. It is due January 15, and decisions are released by email on March 10.

Blair describes itself as a Grades 9 through 12 school. Its testing table separately gives submission options for applicants to Grades 9, 10, 11, 12, and the postgraduate year.

A complete file requires the student profile, admission interview, student questionnaire, official current transcript, and recommendations from the current English and mathematics teachers. Blair's transcript instructions also request the prior two academic years and current first-quarter or trimester grades.

Families should request teacher recommendations after November 1. Blair asks for recommendations by January 15 and limits optional personal recommendations to one or two.

An admission interview is required for every applicant, takes about two hours on campus, and combines a student-led tour with the interview. Virtual interviews remain available, and families must complete an inquiry before scheduling.

One live page lists September 3 through January 15, while the interview page lists September 10 through January 15. The published Fall Preview is Saturday, September 19, 2026.

Standardized testing is generally preferred, not required. Grade 9 and 10 applicants may submit SSAT, ISEE, or public-school assessment results.

Grade 11 applicants may submit SSAT, PSAT, SAT, ACT, or public-school results. Grade 12 and PG applicants may submit PSAT, SAT, ACT, or public-school results.

Blair classifies a student as international if the student needs an F-1 visa and I-20, or if the family's primary residence is outside the United States regardless of citizenship or visa status. International families must submit the Candidate Profile and fee before scheduling the interview.

If English is not the applicant's first language, Blair asks for TOEFL, TOEFL Essentials, IELTS, or Duolingo, and describes a waiver after two years at an international school or U.S. junior boarding school.

The main application page says complete Vericant before December 15; the current international block says Vericant satisfies the interview and gives January 15.

Those dates are for 2027–28. The part of the page that names the platform and the fee still describes the 2026–27 cycle: SAO or Gateway, $75 domestic and $140 international.

Gateway lists Blair's January 15, 2027 deadline. A fee waiver starts with an inquiry and a household-income band.

Blair's six-day week, day-student hours and dorm nights

Blair's schedule runs six days, so ask what a full week means for a boarder and for a day student, and who is responsible overnight.