'Iolani School
★ Founded 1863; Episcopal; about 2,300 students across K-12 with a small residential programme in a five-storey residence hall; boarding entry at Grades 9, 10 and 11 only; 18 visual arts course offerings and 32 performing arts groupsCheck accreditation yourself
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DAPIP - U.S. Department of Education ↗About 'Iolani School
An Episcopal K-12 school in Honolulu founded in 1863, with about 2,300 students and a small boarding programme housed in a five-storey residence hall. Boarding is open to students entering Grades 9, 10 and 11 only. Tuition and boarding for 2026-27 is USD 74,000, and everyone who meets the January deadline is automatically considered for a merit scholarship.
- Tuition and boarding for 2026-27 is USD 74,000, plus a USD 525 technology fee and an estimated USD 200-650 for books. A USD 2,500 tuition deposit is required. Families choosing the semester payment plan also pay USD 925 for the Tuition Refund Plan and a service charge.
- Payment dates are fixed and early: the annual plan falls due 31 July 2026; the semester plan splits between 31 July 2026 and 11 January 2027.
- Boarding admission is open only to students entering Grades 9, 10 and 11 for 2027-28. If your child would be entering Grade 12, this school is not an option regardless of their record — worth knowing before anyone invests in an application.
- The calendar for 2027-28 entry: applications open 1 August 2026, the application and required documents are due 15 January 2027, and interview and test results are due 31 January 2027.
- The SSAT is required of all boarding applicants. An English proficiency test — TOEFL, Duolingo or IELTS — is required only where English is not the applicant's first language, and the school publishes no minimum score for it.
- The scale of the school is unusual for a boarding option. With around 2,300 students from kindergarten upwards, a boarder joins a large day school rather than a self-contained residential community. That has real advantages — the breadth of courses, arts and sport that a school of that size can run — and one real trade-off, which is that most classmates go home at the end of the day.
- Honolulu is a materially easier place to reach from Vietnam than most American boarding schools, and the climate needs no adjustment. For a family weighing a first winter in New England against this, that is a fair point to put on the scales.
The USD 74,000 boarding tuition, technology fee, book estimate, USD 2,500 deposit and payment dates were read directly on iolani.org on 17 September 2026 at /admission/boarding/tuition-financial-aid. The Grades 9-11 boarding entry rule, the 1 August 2026 / 15 January 2027 / 31 January 2027 dates, the SSAT and English test requirements, and the statement that all applicants meeting the deadline are automatically considered for a merit scholarship come from /admission/boarding and /admission/boarding/apply. The 1863 founding, the roughly 2,300 enrolment, the Episcopal affiliation and the five-storey residence hall come from the home page. NOT FOUND: the number of boarding students, the countries represented in the residence, the student-teacher ratio, campus acreage, the accrediting body, the application fee, and the size or number of merit awards. Tuition changes from year to year.
Ask VNIS about this programmeTuition & scholarships
'Iolani School sits in the High tuition band. Tuition and scholarships change every year and by program, so VNIS provides the exact up-to-date figures for the program you choose during consultation. The most useful sentence on the boarding pages is this one: every applicant who meets the 15 January deadline is automatically considered for a merit scholarship. There is no separate scholarship form and no extra essay — the deadline is the application. Miss it and you have not merely applied late, you have removed yourself from merit consideration entirely. The school does not publish award sizes or how many are made, so ask..
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Where is 'Iolani School located?
'Iolani School is located in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States, a private day & boarding school.
What are the tuition and scholarships at 'Iolani School?
Tuition sits in the "High" band. Tuition and scholarships change every year and by program, so VNIS provides the exact up-to-date figures for your chosen program during consultation. The most useful sentence on the boarding pages is this one: every applicant who meets the 15 January deadline is automatically considered for a merit scholarship. There is no separate scholarship form and no extra essay — the deadline is the application. Miss it and you have not merely applied late, you have removed yourself from merit consideration entirely. The school does not publish award sizes or how many are made, so ask..
How do I apply to 'Iolani School with VNIS?
Fill in the form at the bottom of this page. A VNIS advisor will contact you, review your profile for free and support you all the way to enrolment. You can also create an account to track your application.
