St. Andrew’s School, Delaware: Full Boarding, Phone-Free Days, and the Price of Being All In

Tuition and financial model

Tuition, the $150,000 threshold, and all-in costs

St. Andrew’s publishes 2026–27 tuition of $78,500.

That is a prior-year benchmark, not a 2027–28 quote. The school says it meets 100% of demonstrated need for every admitted student and awards need-based grants, not merit scholarships.

Clarity is the financial-aid platform, and new-family materials are due January 15. Awards accompany admission and enrollment contracts.

Tax returns are due May 15, and an award may change if verified information differs materially. Families reapply annually.

Families who did not apply or qualify at entry should not expect later aid absent a significant verified change, the policy says.

Its current tuition page newly states that families with combined household income under $150,000 may attend 'free of cost,' provided the student submits a full application and is admitted. The policy normally requires information from both parents in separated or divorced households and considers stepparent finances.

It may impute $26,000 of income to a nonworking parent outside listed caregiving exceptions. The financial-aid policy says that, in nearly all cases, international need-based aid is capped at 50% of tuition.

The school says it cannot verify need through U.S. tax and cost-of-living data in the same way.

The aid program is large, even if the published figures do not line up perfectly: the homepage says 50% of students receive aid and awards average 75% of tuition, the About page says 45%, and the dated 2025–26 profile says 43%, $7.64 million awarded, and a $55,373 average grant.

The current handbook separately requires a $250 opening debit-account deposit. It makes families responsible for school-assisted transportation, outside medical care and medications, health-appointment transport, under-age travel escorts, and damage or late-cancellation charges.

Academics and placement

Five or six courses, no AP labels

The 2026–27 catalog sets a minimum of five and maximum of six academic courses in a semester. St.

Andrew’s does not offer AP courses. Graduation calls for four years each of English and mathematics, alongside biology, physics, and chemistry, plus U.S. history with advanced research, a sustained language, arts, religion and philosophy, and health and wellness.

New-student mathematics placement comes from department exams, and science honors placement is department-controlled.

First-semester Grade 9 work is officially pass/fail on the transcript, while families receive shadow grades. The policy is meant to shift attention toward academic engagement during the transition; it lowers early grade stakes without lowering workload, and course habits still affect placement and support.

The actual week

The daily rhythm and the two-hour study hall

The academic week runs Monday through Friday across seven rotating class blocks from 8:30 a.m. to 2:50 p.m., followed by extra help or SPARK time until 3:25 p.m. Wednesdays feature an advisory lunch, and every student transitions to mandatory afternoon activities from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. Freshmen and sophomores must play at least two sports each year, while juniors and seniors must play at least one.

The public schedule shows no standard Saturday academic classes.

Study hall runs 8:00 to 10:00 Sunday through Thursday and 8:30 to 10:00 on selected Fridays, with shorter first-year times on some nights. Saturday has no regular study hall.

The handbook says homework is designed for 45 minutes per class that meets. The school explicitly tells students that evening study hall provides only two hours, and they must use daytime free blocks and arrange more time as needed.

Major assessments should be announced two weeks ahead. Students with more than two on one day may request an alternate deadline at least 24 hours in advance.

Support and learning differences

Relational support, 24-hour nursing, and the tutoring ban

Every student has both an academic adviser and a faculty adviser; each grade has two academic advisers focused on course planning, workload, and study habits, while the faculty adviser is the broader home-school bridge. Teachers hold extra-help time, peer tutors offer subject sessions, and supervised evening study hall is available by choice or assignment.

The academic-support program also describes executive-function coaching, writing help, learning plans, and approved accommodations shared with teaching faculty. Students may not work with outside tutors while school is in session, and the handbook expressly extends that ban to executive-function coaches during the academic term.

Parents may arrange outside tutoring only during summer or major school breaks.

The 2026–27 handbook says the Health Center provides 24-hour service with at least one registered nurse on site whenever students are present. It identifies a pediatric advanced-practice director, local collaboration with Nemours Pediatrics, a freestanding ChristianaCare emergency department two miles away, and access to specialized hospitals in Newark and Wilmington.

Parents remain responsible for outside-provider bills, medications and devices, and school transportation fees to appointments. A student who becomes ill overnight must call before leaving and be accompanied by an adult or senior.

Routine counseling appointments are available Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Sustained ongoing therapy generally leads to an off-campus referral. When school is in session, an on-call counselor provides virtual emergency safety assessment and planning 24/7.

Counseling is not available during school breaks or summer.

Most prescription and over-the-counter medications must be checked into Health Services. Stimulants, psychoactive medication, sleep aids including melatonin, common pain and cold medicines, and other listed drugs cannot ordinarily be kept on dorm.

It says noncompliance can affect whether a student is considered independent enough to remain enrolled.

Dorms and supervision

Dorm staffing and lights-out

Freshmen, sophomores, and juniors live in dorms organized by gender and grade, while seniors are distributed through the dorms as 'Bigs' and residential leaders; each new student is paired with a senior mentor.

The school says a resident dorm parent lives down the hall, supported by a team of three or four faculty members on dorm each evening from 7:45 to 11:00. The public material does not say how many adults are present after 11:00 p.m., so ask for the overnight duty map.

Students complete a five-to-ten-minute daily campus job, usually on dorm, and rooms are inspected Sunday through Friday nights and again Monday morning. Room changes are a last resort after mediation unless medical, accessibility, identity, or safety needs require otherwise.

The 2026–27 handbook sets grade-based on-dorm, in-room, and lights-out times. On most weeknights, Grade 9 lights out is 10:30, Grade 10 is 10:30, Grade 11 is 10:45, and Grade 12 is 11:00, with earlier times on Sunday for younger forms.

Late study requires advance permission from dorm faculty.

Phones and technology

Phone-free common spaces and overnight turn-in

The school’s current boarding page says phones stay in student rooms during the academic day and sports or activities, and are turned in before lights out each night. Students may not walk around campus using phones or headphones, with only a limited exception for exercise.

Calls during academic hours require faculty permission, and students must ask permission to use a phone anywhere other than their own room.

The detailed 2026–27 handbook says Grades 9 through 11 turn in phones for study hall. They may call family between study hall and in-room time, then turn cellular-data devices in again at in-room or lights out.

Students retrieve them at 6:00 a.m. Seniors follow phone-free common-space rules but are not included in that specific mandatory turn-in paragraph.

Weekends and family rhythm

Leave limits and closed breaks

The 2026–27 handbook gives Grades 9 through 11 three weekend leaves per semester and seniors five. Requests go through Reach, require parent and student-affairs approval, and are due by 4:00 p.m. Tuesday.

Leaves ordinarily begin after the final Saturday commitment and end by 6:00 p.m. Sunday. Students cannot take leave when assigned detention or work detail.

The 2026–27 calendar lists four All-In weekends when students remain on campus, three long weekends, and four longer breaks when the school closes. The handbook says All-In overnight leaves are limited to emergency family situations.

Students cannot remain on campus over Thanksgiving, winter, spring, or summer break.

The community gathers twice weekly: Wednesday evening for a student or faculty Chapel Talk and Sunday morning for a service following Episcopal liturgy. Sunday chapel is required for students and weekend faculty, while Friday service is voluntary, and students may attend another off-campus worship service with a faculty chaperone.

For school-arranged travel, the 2026–27 handbook prefers Philadelphia International Airport for domestic flights, JFK for international travel, and Wilmington’s Amtrak station for rail. The school offers a charter bus to two Manhattan locations for long weekends and breaks, and may run a Washington, D.C., Union Station shuttle based on interest.

JFK is described as an international-only last resort, and the school does not provide door-to-door service.

Families pay transportation charges, and prices are posted in the parent portal after July 1. Students request service through Reach with a complete itinerary.

One handbook paragraph says requests are due at least seven days before travel, while a later sentence says 24 hours; because under-age air or train escorts also require seven days, treat one week as the safer planning standard. Ride-share services are prohibited unless both a parent and the dean of student affairs give explicit permission.

Fall 2027 admissions

Applying for Fall 2027: deadlines, testing, and interviews

The live Fall 2027 Gateway listing offers boarding applications for Grades 9, 10, and 11, due January 15, 2027. Its current transfer page says it typically admits about 15 to 20 new students to the rising sophomore class and as many as six to the rising junior class.

St. Andrew’s international FAQ explicitly rules out spring entry, Grade 12 transfer, and postgraduate study.

The current catalog gives later entrants reduced St. Andrew’s language, history, and arts requirements, but the handbook says prior credits may inform placement without replacing St.

Andrew’s graduation requirements, and summer courses cannot replace required school courses or departmental sequences. On Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association eligibility, the school warns that prior enrollment history can affect some sports.

St. Andrew’s accepts either Gateway to Prep Schools or the Standard Application Online and says not to submit both.

The live Fall 2027 Gateway checklist requires a candidate profile, student activities and essays, and a parent statement. You also submit current-year and previous grades, along with recommendations from the current principal or counselor, English teacher, and mathematics teacher.

A personal recommendation and special-interest recommendation are optional. Gateway lists a $60 domestic application fee and $120 international fee.

The school says its own fee waivers require a completed inquiry and family income below $150,000; Gateway says its waiver is accepted through school contact.

Gateway says Parts 1 and 2 are due January 15, while transcripts and recommendations are due February 1. The school page says applications are due January 15, with forms submitted between December 1 and January 31.

It notes that applications completed by January 31 receive decisions March 10, with a standard reply date of April 10. After January 15, the school accepts applications to a wait list and reviews them if space becomes available.

An interview is required. Current guidance offers on-campus appointments while school is in session from September through December, and virtual interviews from mid-September through mid-January for applicants who cannot visit.

The school says it cannot guarantee virtual appointment requests made after December 15. Mainland China applicants using the virtual route must submit Vericant by December 15.

That satisfies the interview requirement, though the school may request another January conversation.

St. Andrew’s general how-to page tells every applicant to submit either SSAT or ISEE.

The live Fall 2027 Gateway listing instead says SSAT is required, with PSAT or SAT allowed as a substitute for Grade 10 or 11 applicants.

St. Andrew’s offers no ESL program and expects nearly native fluency for a discussion-centered curriculum.

The school says there is no formal minimum, but historically successful international applicants have typically scored above the 90th percentile on the SSAT and above 110 on TOEFL; those figures are neither a cutoff nor a promise.

The general school page requires TOEFL or IELTS when English is the applicant’s second language and the current school does not teach primarily in English; Gateway says TOEFL is required when the native language is not English, waived for students at English-medium schools; and the international FAQ says TOEFL or IELTS may be used and repeats the English-medium waiver.

The 2026–27 calendar provided an international family orientation one day before general opening, and the handbook reminds international travelers to obtain an I-20 travel signature.

Ninth-grade balance and overnight care at St. Andrew's

St. Andrew's is fully boarding with phone-free days, so ask how advisers help ninth graders balance the load and what overnight supervision looks like.