Delphian School boarding costs for 2026-2027, and what to ask before you pay a deposit

This guide is for families weighing up a US boarding education and already looking at Delphian School in Oregon. Rather than repeat the school introduction - that is in the profile article - it goes straight to two practical questions: what it costs, and what to ask before you commit.

Every figure below comes from the school's own website, read on 5 September 2026, with the source page named so you can check it yourself.

Fees for the 2026-2027 academic year

The school publishes these openly under Admissions › Tuition & Fees. Students coming from Vietnam fall under international boarding - the final column:

Level	Day	Boarding	5-day boarding	International boarding
Early Learning / Lower School	US$29,744	-	-	-
Elementary	US$39,136	US$67,190	US$62,651	US$74,650
Middle	US$44,940	US$71,454	US$66,992	US$78,914
Upper	US$53,912	US$76,210	US$71,987	US$83,670

Those figures cover tuition, study materials, and room and board for boarding students. For students who are not US residents, the school states that insurance is included in tuition - a line item many schools bill separately, so normalise for it when you compare offers.

Costs the school lists on top of tuition:

• Application fee of US$100 per student, non-refundable.
• Tuition deposit of 10% of net tuition, non-refundable.
• Visitor meals at US$10 per person.

The school states that more than US$3,000,000 goes to scholarships and financial aid for families each year, awarded on the academic and leadership merits of the applicant. Our profile article cites the school's figure that 44% of students receive financial aid, scholarships, or both. Individual awards are not published - that is a case-by-case conversation.

Accreditation: verifiable, not hearsay

Per the school's Affiliation and Accreditations page, Delphian School is an accredited member school of Cognia and an accredited member of the Northwest Association of Independent Schools (NWAIS). It also lists membership of the Oregon Federation of Independent Schools, The Association of Boarding Schools (TABS), the Western Boarding Schools Association, the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), the Small Boarding Schools Association and the Oregon School Activity Association.

The first two matter most: those are accreditations, the rest are memberships. When comparing schools, keep the two apart - a long membership list is not a substitute for accreditation.

The programme does not work like a conventional school

This is the part that decides whether the school fits your child, and it differs from the year-group, term and letter-grade model Vietnamese students know.

• Students are placed in "forms" rather than age-based grades.
• Progress is based on mastery, not time. In the school's words: "learning is the constant and time is the variable."
• The school does not use letter grades; students complete the graduation requirements for each level.
• Graduation requires 20 real-world projects and internships.
• There is an English Immersion programme for students who need to build English first.

The school also reports that 85% of its graduates are accepted to their first-choice college. That figure is compiled and published by the school; VNIS repeats it with its source rather than verifying it independently.

Teaching method: something to know up front

On two of its own pages, Delphian School states that its academic approach draws on L. Ron Hubbard's educational philosophy and a method called "Study Technology", and that the school is licensed by Applied Scholastics International to use its educational services. Standardised curriculum is supplied by Heron Books.

We raise this because it is material to a decision worth up to US$83,670 a year, and because the school publishes it openly rather than hiding it. L. Ron Hubbard founded Scientology; Applied Scholastics presents Study Technology as a secular study method. Delphian School does not describe itself as a religious school.

VNIS offers no verdict on the method on your behalf. What we do recommend is asking the admissions office directly - it is an ordinary question and one the school is used to answering.

Four questions to ask before paying a deposit

The deposit is 10% of net tuition and non-refundable, so ask these before you transfer money:

1. What does the transcript look like? The school does not use letter grades, while most US universities and visa files expect a convertible transcript. Ask to see a sample transcript from a recent graduate.
2. Which form will my child enter, and how long to graduation? Because progress is by mastery rather than by year, time to completion can differ from your plan - which changes the total cost.
3. How much of the school day is Study Technology? Ask concretely how it appears in the daily timetable.
4. How does financial aid apply to international students? The US$3m-plus figure is school-wide; ask what portion is open to international boarders and what maintains it year to year.

Getting in touch through VNIS

VNIS Education works directly with Delphian School's admissions office. Leave your details and we will confirm the fee schedule in force when you apply, entry requirements by level, and interview availability - admission decisions rest with the school, and VNIS does not promise outcomes on its behalf.

See also the Delphian School directory profile, the school introduction, or the full VNIS school directory.

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All figures cited from delphian.org, accessed 5 September 2026: fees at Admissions › Tuition & Fees, accreditation at Affiliation and Accreditations, the academic model at Academic Program. Fees and policies can change - confirm with the school before deciding.