Latin School of Chicago

The school

Home by midafternoon

Latin is an independent, coed school from Junior Kindergarten through grade 12, with nearly 1,200 students in three divisions on one Gold Coast campus. The buildings cluster near North Boulevard and Dearborn Street.

JK and SK run from 8:15 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. There is no official homework before grade 4, though a younger child may still have reading or writing, or an occasional family project.

One thing is unsettled. Thomas Hagerman stepped down after the 2025–26 school year, Debra Sampey is interim head for 2026–27 while Latin runs a permanent search, and the head for Fall 2027 is not yet named.

Junior Kindergarten is the major early entry. It is not Senior Kindergarten.

A child must turn four by August 31. For Fall 2027, Latin estimates about 65 JK spaces, with play dates on December 5, 2026, and January 9, 2027.

JK also requires a teacher recommendation, a child assessment, and a parent conference by January 15, 2027. Senior Kindergarten sits in the SK–grade 4 attrition pathway.

About 65 is not a combined kindergarten class, and it is not an SK admission rate.

The lower school uses no numerical or letter grades. JK and SK receive one year-end developmental report.

Grades 1–4 receive two reports and two conferences a year.

The day

Classes, teams, and Project Week

In middle school, math is grouped by assessed ability from grade 6; other subjects differentiate inside a common course. Grade 6 students choose band or chorus for the year and take one trimester each of drama, dance, and visual art.

Upper School follows an eight-day rotation: one 90-minute block and five 50-minute blocks each day, plus breaks and lunch. Grade 9 requirements include physics or honors physics and visual arts.

Graduation requires three years of science and three consecutive years of French, Latin, Mandarin, or Spanish, subject to placement and course rules. Latin offers seven AP courses; English and history use school-designed advanced work instead.

Narrative reports come after the first and third quarters, grade reports after each quarter or semester, with a fall teacher conference and a spring advisor conference.

Freshmen get an August orientation, a retreat, an advisor, and a Roman2Roman student mentor. Middle and upper athletics are no-cut, with 23 sports and more than 40 teams, and Latin reports more than 40 performances a year across theater and music.

Every March, upper school students and employees spend a week learning beyond the regular classrooms. Options run from local experiences to international travel.

Middle school sends grade 6 to Springfield and grade 8 to Washington. Grades 5 and 7 use local programming.

The charges for those weeks are published with the other extras, not inside tuition.

Applying

November 30 is the date that matters

The application is due November 30, 2026. Applications and financial-aid forms opened September 1, 2026, and most recommendations, records, tests, and new-family aid materials are due January 15, 2027.

Latin uses Ravenna. Follow the apply page for this cycle.

Applicants to Grades 5–12 must submit the ISEE, and Latin accepts only one ISEE score during an application season. Latin lists school-hosted ISEE dates, but only the December 12 administration offers accommodations.

Applicants learning English must submit TOEFL results and reach a stated minimum of 100. Latin offers neither English-language instruction nor a modified curriculum.

Fluent academic English is an enrollment expectation.

Grade 5 is a main entry year. Grade 6 is not.

For grades 6 through 8, Latin estimates about two to three spaces per grade. A grade 6 file requires teacher recommendations, ISEE results, transcripts, standardized testing, a family interview, and a student Shadow Day.

Grade 9 is a main entry year, with about 50 to 60 spaces estimated for Fall 2027. The file requires recommendations, ISEE results, transcripts, other standardized testing, and a family interview.

A student Shadow Day is strongly recommended, and Latin permits a virtual family interview when needed. Posted Shadow Day dates are October 12 and 28, November 11 and 17, and December 10, 2026.

The application must be submitted before registration, and space is limited.

Grade 9 decisions are scheduled for February 11, 2027. JK and grades 5–8 are scheduled for February 26.

SK through grade 4 is rolling, because openings depend on attrition. Accepted upper school families have welcome events on February 18 and 24, 2027.

Enrollment contracts become legally binding on April 15, 2027. It is not, by itself, the signature or deposit deadline.

Cost

Tuition, the extras, and aid

For 2026–27, tuition is $44,585 for JK through grade 4, $49,455 for grades 5–8, and $50,635 for grades 9–12. Plan from those figures.

Every family also pays Parent Association dues of $75 to $150. Lower School Extended Day begins at 7:15 a.m. and runs until 6 p.m. JK and SK have a 3:30 pickup option, then later scheduled pickups.

Families register by session. The 2026–27 Extended Day range is $310 to $7,065, and After School Resources, which can be combined with that care, costs $250 to $500 per session.

A lower school family at the top of that range is looking at the $44,585 tuition plus as much as $7,065 for care, before dues.

Middle school books and supplies are estimated at $300 to $900, plus a $35 physical-education uniform. Upper school books and supplies are estimated at $400 to $900, and athletics costs vary.

Project Week sits outside tuition. Published upper school charges run from zero to $3,200.

The grade 6 Springfield trip is currently estimated at $750.

Aid is based only on demonstrated need. Latin offers no merit, athletic, or activity scholarships, and it reports a $5.8 million annual financial-aid budget.

Separated or divorced parents generally submit separately. Latin may impute $25,000 of annual income to a nonworking parent without a child under five, with stated exceptions for health, disability, and caregiving.

New families indicate aid on the admission application, then file through Clarity by January 15, 2027. A late or incomplete file can jeopardize funding, because money is not reserved.

More families request aid than the first round can fund. Wait-pool aid may appear if funds open later.

Families reapply every year. Latin aims for consistent support when circumstances stay stable, including as tuition increases.

That is not a fixed four-year contract.

Support

Who helps, and where it stops

Lower school learning specialists support students with diagnosed differences and students at risk in foundational skills. Published services include intervention, remediation, accommodations, modifications, consultation, reading resources, and mathematics intervention.

Middle school support includes study skills, executive-function work, small-group study halls, accommodations, and teacher consultation. Upper school specialists primarily support diagnosed differences, and they offer shorter organizational and study help more broadly.

Latin says sustained course-specific difficulty may require outside support.

Counselors address stress, social difficulty, acute crisis, and high-risk behavior. Students and families can make referrals, and Middle School students may use informal walk-in access.

The school describes full-time registered nurses; its Lower School curriculum identifies three across the campus.

Latin reports that about 46% of students identify as students of color, and that families come from 46 city ZIP codes and 24 suburbs.

In 2020, Injustice Watch reported student and alumni accounts of racism and marginalization at the school, and then-head Randall Dunn acknowledged structures and practices that promoted racism; Latin's current DEI goals cover bias reporting, restorative practice, and training. Ask for recent climate-survey findings rather than relying on either.

In 2022, WBEZ reported that Nathan Bronstein's parents sued Latin. They alleged failures to investigate and notify them about cyberbullying before their fifteen-year-old son died by suicide.

Latin disputed wrongdoing and described prevention and intervention policies. A 2025 Illinois appellate order dismissed an appeal for lack of jurisdiction because the challenged orders were not final.

The court did not decide the allegations on the merits.

Getting there

The buildings, and the ride home

Latin describes arrival by public transit and publishes driving and parking directions. Lower School is at 1531 North Dearborn, Middle School at 45 West North Boulevard, and Upper School at 59 West North Boulevard.

Extended Day is lower school care; the hours and 2026–27 prices are with tuition above. Middle school common spaces are available from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Open hours do not establish childcare, continuous supervision, a snack, homework help, or permission for every grade 6 student to remain.

Upper school activities extend the day and are not aftercare. A grade 9 family needs a plan for transit, pickup, food, a device, and emergencies when practice, rehearsal, a club, or academic help runs late or is canceled.

Seats, Shadow Days and the full day at Latin

Latin's openings vary sharply by grade, so start by asking how many places exist in yours, then what the day and the bill look like.