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International school tuition in Bangkok runs from about THB260,000 to THB1,197,000 a year, and the headline number is never what you actually pay. Here’s what the published fee schedules add up to, tier by tier.
Ask an expat parent in Bangkok what school costs and you’ll get a number that sounds manageable. Then you’ll get a pause, and a second number that isn’t.
The gap between those two numbers is the point of this guide. Every school publishes an annual tuition figure. Almost none of them publish a line that says “here is your total bill for year one”, because that total also includes a one-time registration fee that can reach THB260,000, a bus that costs more than most people spend running a car, a compulsory lunch plan, and an exam fee that lands in Year 11 when you’ve stopped expecting surprises.
Every figure below comes from a school’s own published 2026/27 fee schedule, and all amounts are in Thai baht. Schools reissue those schedules annually, so treat this as the current picture rather than a permanent one.
Contents
Key Takeaways
- Annual tuition at Bangkok international schools spans roughly THB220,000 to THB1,197,000. The tier you shop in matters far more than the individual school you pick inside it.
- Year one is the expensive one. One-time registration and enrolment fees run from THB5,000 at the cheapest end up to THB260,000 at International School Bangkok, and they’re almost never refundable.
- The school bus is the most underestimated line item on any fee schedule. ISB charges THB111,300 to THB178,000 a year depending on how far you live from campus.
- Lunch is often compulsory, not optional.
- Wells International School states in its own fee schedule that tuition is set to rise roughly 6 to 10 percent per academic year, which compounds hard across a 13-year school career.
- IGCSE and IB exam fees sit outside tuition at several schools, so Years 11 and 13 cost more than the years either side of them.
- Sibling discounts are worth asking about. Ruamrudee cuts THB50,000 off registration for each additional child, and Wells waives the campus development fee entirely for a third and fourth child.
- Leaving Bangkok doesn’t automatically save money. Wells charges more at its Chonburi campus than at any of its Bangkok ones.
The Three Price Tiers
The biggest decision you make is which tier you shop in, not which school you choose inside it. The gap between the cheapest and priciest school in the same tier is maybe THB150,000 a year. The gap between tiers is three or four times that.
Here’s how Bangkok’s international schools sort out on published 2026/27 annual tuition.
| Tier | Annual tuition | Example schools | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Budget international | THB260,000 to THB570,000 | Wells International School (Bangkok campuses) | Full international curriculum on smaller, older campuses with fewer facilities |
| Mid-range | THB220,000 to THB800,000 | St Andrews Sukhumvit 107, Regents International School Bangkok | Established British-curriculum schools, purpose-built campuses, broad activity programs |
| Top tier | THB540,000 to THB1,197,000 | ISB, Ruamrudee, Harrow Bangkok | Large campuses, deep facilities, strong university placement records, high one-time fees |
Budget International
Wells International School sets the floor for a genuine international school in Bangkok. Nursery runs THB129,500 a semester, or THB259,000 a year. By Grades 11 and 12 that reaches THB285,000 a semester, or THB570,000 a year.
Its Chonburi campus is worth flagging for anyone assuming a move out of the city cuts the bill. Chonburi tuition starts at THB320,000 for nursery and climbs to THB760,000 for Grades 11 and 12, comfortably above the Bangkok campuses.
Mid-Range
St Andrews International School Sukhumvit 107 starts at THB220,000 a year, though that buys a nursery place at three half days a week rather than a full-time seat. The top of its range is Year 12 at THB799,000.
Regents International School Bangkok is more linear. Pre-Nursery costs THB445,500 a year, Years 3 to 6 cost THB668,100, and Years 12 and 13 reach THB780,000.
Top Tier
International School Bangkok is the most expensive school on this list. Pre-Kindergarten costs THB659,000 a year, Elementary jumps to THB1,015,000, Middle School is THB1,137,000, and High School reaches THB1,197,000.
Ruamrudee International School comes in noticeably lower for the same tier, with combined annual fees of THB538,400 for Pre-K rising to THB790,500 for Grade 12.
Harrow International School Bangkok runs from THB571,100 for a half-day pre-nursery place up to THB1,063,000 for Years 12 and 13. Harrow also boards, which adds THB456,700 a year for weekly boarding of up to five nights, or THB571,100 a year for full boarding.
Good to Know: Harrow includes meals in its tuition, and textbooks for Years 1 to 9. That sounds minor until you set it against schools charging THB30,000 to THB36,000 a year for a compulsory lunch plan on top of tuition.
Read more: International Schools in Bangkok
What the Headline Tuition Leaves Out
Tuition is the figure schools lead with, and it’s genuinely only part of the bill. Here’s what sits underneath it, taken from the published fee schedules.
Registration and Enrolment Fees
Nearly every school charges a large, non-refundable, one-time fee when you accept a place. It goes by different names (registration, enrolment, admission, campus development) and the amount varies enormously.
- ISB: THB260,000 registration fee, payable the first year a student enrols from Kindergarten through Grade 12.
- Harrow Bangkok: THB225,000 admission fee, reduced by THB100,000 for children of alumni.
- Ruamrudee: THB200,000 registration plus a one-time THB40,000 learning resources fee.
- Regents Bangkok: THB75,000 registration plus a THB95,000 enrolment fee, due at different points in the process.
- St Andrews Sukhumvit 107: THB120,000 per child for Nursery to Year 6, THB70,000 for Years 7 to 13, capped at THB180,000 per family.
- Wells: THB5,000 registration plus a one-time campus development fee of THB70,000 or THB140,000 depending on grade level.
None of these come back to you in the normal case. ISB is the rare exception, refunding if a new student withdraws inside the first 20 days of enrolment.
Deposits
Separate from the fees above, several schools hold a refundable deposit for as long as your child is enrolled. Harrow asks THB200,000 for day students and THB275,000 for boarders. St Andrews Sukhumvit 107 holds THB100,000 per child.
Ruamrudee takes a THB50,000 re-enrolment deposit, refundable on graduation or withdrawal provided you give the notice the school asks for. Wells holds a THB35,000 damage deposit that you have to claim within two years of withdrawal or forfeit.
You do get this money back. You still need it on hand in the first term, which is the part that catches families out.
Application Fees
Small but real, and non-refundable whether or not your child is offered a place. ISB charges THB4,700, Ruamrudee and Harrow THB5,000, St Andrews Sukhumvit 107 THB5,000, and Regents THB5,500. Applying to four schools to keep your options open costs around THB20,000 before anyone has offered you anything.
The School Bus
Transport is the line families forget most often, and at the top end it costs more than a full year at a Thai private school.
| School | Annual round-trip bus cost | How it’s banded |
|---|---|---|
| ISB | THB111,300 to THB178,000 | Six distance bands, 1km to 55km from campus |
| Harrow Bangkok | THB125,200 to THB143,000 | Four zones |
| Wells (Bangkok) | THB52,000 to THB75,000 | Four zones, charged per semester |
| Wells (Chonburi) | THB72,000 to THB160,000 | Five distance bands, 1km to 100km |
Notice how steeply the ISB and Wells Chonburi numbers climb with distance. Living 50km from campus rather than 5km adds THB66,700 a year at ISB, and the Chonburi campus more than doubles its bus fee across its distance bands.
Tip: Work out the bus cost before you sign a lease, not after. At ISB the difference between a condo in the closest band and one 40km out is roughly THB50,000 a year, which buys a lot of rent.
Lunch
Several schools make lunch compulsory rather than optional. Wells charges THB15,000 a semester (THB30,000 a year) for a school lunch that’s mandatory across all grade levels, with parents needing administration approval to send food from home. Regents charges a compulsory THB12,000 a term, or THB36,000 a year, for all day students unless there’s a medical certificate involved.
Ruamrudee builds a set lunch, snack and milk package worth THB16,200 a semester into fees for younger grades, and prices it separately at THB9,100 for lunch and THB8,100 for snack and milk further up the school. Harrow includes meals in tuition.
Uniform and Kit
The uniform itself is cheap by international school standards. Wells prices shirts, trousers and PE kit at THB600 to THB750 per item and neck ties at THB300, so kitting a child out for the year runs to a few thousand baht.
The extras are what add up. St Andrews Sukhumvit 107 lists uniform, sports kit, personal equipment and IT devices among the costs tuition doesn’t cover. Most secondary programs now expect a laptop or tablet, a several-thousand-baht purchase you make once and then repeat every few years.
Exam Fees
This one is easy to miss because it arrives years after you enrol. Regents states plainly that for Years 11 and 13, “the tuition fees exclude IGCSE examination fees, IB fees, and any additional examination fees.“
St Andrews Sukhumvit 107 bills external examination fees in Term 3 of Years 11 and 13. Harrow charges separately for IGCSE, AS and A2 entries.
The practical effect is that Years 11 and 13 cost more than the years around them, in exactly the two years you’re also paying for university applications.
English and Learning Support
If your child needs English language support or additional learning support, it’s charged on top of tuition, assessed case by case, and it isn’t small.
- Ruamrudee: English Language Development at THB30,000 a semester and Learning Support at THB40,000 a semester, both based on assessment.
- Wells: ESL and learning support from THB28,000 to THB80,000 a semester depending on grade level.
- Regents: separate English Language Development charges for primary and secondary, with support offered for a maximum of two years.
A child arriving with limited English can add THB60,000 to THB160,000 a year to the bill for the first couple of years. If you’re moving a non-English-speaking child into an international school mid-stream, budget for it rather than hope.
Trips, Activities and the Rest
The exclusion lists repay a careful read before you sign anything. Regents includes compulsory day trips and production costumes in tuition, but excludes exercise books, FOBISIA games, after-school activities, non-curriculum day trips, and residential and international trips.
St Andrews Sukhumvit 107 excludes canteen fees, uniform, sports kit, personal IT devices, individual music tuition, external examinations, compulsory residential trips, school trips, bus transport, certain extra-curricular activities, and additional special educational needs support.
Then come the small recurring charges nobody mentions on a school tour. Ruamrudee alone lists a campus development fee of THB10,000 a semester, an Explore the Kingdom trip at THB15,000, a graduation fee of THB4,500, yearbooks at THB1,000 to THB1,700, and THB7,700 a year for visa and re-entry permits for non-Thai boarders. ISB adds a THB22,000 annual fee on top of tuition.
What a Real First Year Costs
Year one is always the expensive one, because that’s when the one-time fees land. Below are three worked examples for a single child entering primary school, built only from published figures.
| Line item | Wells (Grades 5-6) | Regents (Years 3-6) | ISB (Elementary) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Annual tuition | THB466,000 | THB668,100 | THB1,015,000 |
| Application fee | included in registration | THB5,500 | THB4,700 |
| Registration and enrolment | THB145,000 | THB170,000 | THB260,000 |
| Annual school fee | none | THB20,000 learning resources | THB22,000 |
| Compulsory lunch | THB30,000 | THB36,000 | not compulsory |
| Bus, closest zone | THB52,000 | not published | THB111,300 |
| Refundable deposit | THB35,000 | not published | none |
| First-year outlay | about THB728,000 | about THB900,000 | about THB1,413,000 |
| Every year after | about THB548,000 | about THB724,000 | about THB1,148,000 |
The pattern holds across all three tiers. Year one runs 25 to 30 percent above a normal year, and even a normal year sits well above the tuition figure that first drew you to the school.
With two children, the one-time fees roughly double (minus whatever sibling discount applies) and the recurring costs double outright. A family with two kids in the mid-range tier is looking at around THB1,400,000 a year in ongoing school costs before rent, before family health insurance, and before anything else.
Read more: Cost of Living in Thailand for a Family
Fees Go Up Every Year
Two escalators run at once, and families who budget from a single year’s fee schedule get caught by both.
The Annual Increase
Wells says it outright in its own fee schedule: “Tuition fees are currently set to increase approximately 6-10% per academic year.” Most schools are less explicit, but they reissue their schedules every year for a reason.
At 7 percent a year, a THB600,000 tuition bill becomes roughly THB900,000 after six years. Across a full school career from nursery to Year 13, compounding does more damage to your budget than the choice between two schools in the same tier ever will.
The Grade-Level Jump
Fees also rise as your child moves up, and not smoothly. ISB goes from THB659,000 in Pre-Kindergarten to THB1,015,000 in Elementary, a 54 percent increase in a single step.
Regents climbs from THB668,100 in Years 3 to 6 up to THB769,200 by Year 10. Wells rises from THB259,000 in nursery to THB570,000 by Grade 12, more than doubling.
Tip: When you model a school’s cost, don’t use this year’s fee for your child’s current grade. Use the fee for the grade they’ll be in five years from now, then add 7 percent a year on top. That’s the number that decides whether the school is affordable, and it’s usually a shock.
Where the Discounts Are
Schools rarely advertise these and mostly won’t volunteer them. Everything below comes straight from published fee schedules.
Sibling Discounts
- Ruamrudee: registration reduced by THB50,000 for each additional child, plus a tuition discount of THB15,000 per semester for every sibling enrolled at the same time.
- Wells Bangkok: THB40,000 off the campus development fee for a second child and a full waiver for a third and fourth, with tuition discounts of THB50,000 for a third child and THB100,000 for a fourth.
- Wells Chonburi: THB80,000 off campus development for a second child, waived for a third and fourth, with tuition discounts of THB100,000 and THB160,000.
- St Andrews Sukhumvit 107: the enrolment fee is capped at THB180,000 per family however many children you enrol.
Paying Early, and What Paying Late Costs
Wells gives a 3 percent discount on tuition if you pay the full year in advance, applied against the second semester. Installment plans run the other way: two installments add 5 percent, three add 6 percent on the unpaid balance.
Late payment penalties are steeper than most people expect. Ruamrudee charges THB500 a day on overdue fees, Wells charges THB200 a day, and Harrow charges 1.25 percent a month accruing daily. Paying by credit card adds 1 to 3 percent depending on the school and your issuing bank.
Scholarships
Most scholarship programs at Bangkok international schools open from Year 10 upwards and reward academic, sporting, musical or artistic ability rather than financial need. They’re competitive, and they’re real, with awards running as high as full tuition at some schools. If your child has a genuine strength in one area, it’s worth an email to admissions before you rule a school out on price.
How to Spend Less
The obvious lever is dropping a tier, which saves THB400,000 or more per child per year. Here are the less obvious ones.
- Live close to campus. Bus fees are distance-banded at most schools, and at ISB the spread between the nearest and furthest bands is THB66,700 a year. You may spend that difference on rent anyway, but you get the commute time back.
- Start part-time in the early years. St Andrews Sukhumvit 107’s THB220,000 nursery rate covers three half days a week. Full-time nursery elsewhere costs two to three times that, and a three-year-old rarely needs five full days.
- Compare what’s bundled, not what’s advertised. Harrow’s tuition includes meals and textbooks; Wells adds THB30,000 a year for compulsory lunch. Total packages tell you more than tuition headlines.
- Look at bilingual schools. Private bilingual programs in Thailand start around THB100,000 a year, a fraction of international school cost, and suit families planning to stay long-term rather than repatriate.
- Get it into the job offer. Education allowances are common in senior Bangkok packages. Where they exist they often cover tuition and nothing else, so negotiate on the total bill rather than the tuition line.
- Consider homeschooling. Thailand permits registered homeschooling, and for families with one parent not working it removes the single largest expense of expat life here.
Read more:
- The Thai Education System
- Homeschooling in Thailand
- International Schools in Thailand
- IB Schools in Bangkok
- Moving to Thailand
Common Mistakes
In the expat forums, the school question that comes up most isn’t which school is best. It’s some version of “we budgeted for tuition and the first invoice was double what we expected.” Expat guides to schooling in Thailand quote a broad range of THB200,000 to THB1,000,000 a year for international schools, which is accurate for tuition and misleading as a family budget, because tuition is all it covers.
Here’s where families most often get it wrong.
- Budgeting tuition only. Add 20 to 30 percent for a normal year and 50 percent or more for year one. That’s the realistic planning number.
- Assuming the employer package covers it. Education allowances usually cover tuition, not registration, buses, lunch, uniform or trips. Read the wording before you sign, and ask specifically about the one-time registration fee, which is the biggest item an allowance is likely to exclude.
- Skipping the refund policy. Wells refunds 80 percent if you withdraw before term starts, 50 percent in the first 21 days, 25 percent between days 22 and 39, and nothing after day 40. If there’s any chance your posting ends early, know those numbers first.
- Choosing on facilities. An Olympic pool is the easiest thing to show on a tour and the least predictive of whether your child will be happy. Talk to parents already at the school instead.
- Ignoring the 13-year total. Parents assess a school on this year’s price, then discover in Year 9 that the same school now costs 60 percent more. Model the whole run before you commit.
Tip: Ask each admissions office for a written all-in quote for your child’s specific year group, including registration, deposit, lunch, the bus from your actual address, and any support fees. Schools will produce one if you ask. Four of those quotes side by side tell you more than any fee page.
How Much Should I Budget per Child, per Year?
Here’s a realistic all-in figure per child, per year, once you fold in the bus, lunch and extras:
- Budget tier: around THB550,000 a year.
- Mid-range: THB750,000 to THB900,000 a year.
- Top tier: THB1,150,000 or more a year.
Add roughly 25 to 30 percent for the first year, when the one-time registration and enrolment fees land.
Those are per-child numbers for a single year. Multiply by the number of children you’re enrolling and subtract any sibling discount. Then stretch the total across every year from nursery to Year 13, adding about 7 percent a year on top.
That final figure is the one worth planning around, and it’s usually a good deal larger than the tuition page that first drew you to the school.
So before you commit to a campus, ask its admissions office for a written all-in quote for your child’s exact year group, including the bus from your actual address. Hold that number against your budget rather than the one on the fee page. It’s the difference between choosing a school you can afford and finding out, three invoices in, that you can’t.
