# Private school fees — accra.cool > Greater Accra private school fees across 4 tiers and 15 tracked schools, with tier ladder, finder, and all-in annual fee calculator. ## Current snapshot - **average fee rise of 12.4% YoY** — across all 15 schools - **15 schools tracked** — across Tiers 1, 2, and 3 - **Tier 1 median: USD 5,200 per term** — 6 elite schools - **Tier 2 median: GHS 28,000 per term** — 4 premium schools - **Tier 3 median: GHS 8,500 per term** — 5 mid schools ## Accra's private school market in four tiers Greater Accra has roughly 200 private schools serving kindergarten through senior high. They cluster into four pricing tiers that map almost perfectly to curriculum and currency. Tier 1 — six schools, all dollar-denominated, $15,000 to $35,000 per academic year — offers International Baccalaureate or American curricula, primarily to expatriate families and the wealthiest Ghanaian households. Ghana International School, Lincoln Community, American International, Galaxy International, Tema International, SOS-Hermann Gmeiner. Tier 2 — premium GHS, ₵30,000 to ₵80,000 annually — uses British or blended curricula and serves Ghana's upper-middle class. Tier 3 — mid GHS, ₵10,000 to ₵30,000 — is the bulk of the market: Methodist, Presbyterian, and large independent academies. Tier 4 is under ₵10,000 annually and serves the broad middle class. We track 15 schools across the first three tiers. ## Why school fees always rise Across all four tiers, fees rise faster than inflation. The 15 schools we track averaged a 12.4% increase between 2024-25 and 2025-26 — and the Ghana Statistical Service's May 2026 inflation breakdown puts secondary school fees as the 4th-largest contributor to national headline inflation, accounting for 9.3% of the total. Three forces drive the pattern. First, the cedi: Tier 1 schools that import textbooks, hire foreign teachers, and pay for international accreditation pass currency risk directly to fees, and the cedi just weakened 4.6% in May 2026 alone. Second, teacher wages: experienced teachers move between schools every two to three years, bidding up salaries; schools pass this through. Third, capacity constraints: prime tier schools are oversubscribed every year, which means they can raise fees without losing enrollment. A Tier 1 school with a six-year admission waitlist has no incentive to hold fees flat. ## Reading the tier ladder The diagram above shows the four tiers as ladder rungs with the horizontal extent of each rung representing the fee range within that tier. Tier 1 is short and high — six schools clustered in a narrow $15,000–$35,000 band. Tier 2 is wider, more diffuse — pricing spread varies more across the four schools. Tier 3 is the widest of all, because "mid" covers everything from solid academic schools at the top end to barely-private schools at the bottom. Tier 4 is the broadest and lowest, with the most schools we don't track yet. The horizontal width tells you how much price variation exists within a tier; the vertical position tells you the absolute level. ## Annual fee is not the real cost The annual fee posted by a school is roughly 65–75% of what you'll actually pay over the year. Add capitation/development levy ($500–$2,000 in Tier 1, ₵1,500–₵5,000 in Tier 2–3), books and stationery (₵800–₵4,000 depending on stage), uniforms (₵1,200–₵3,500 for the first set), school transport if used (₵800–₵2,000/month), lunch (₵400–₵1,200/month), and extracurricular activity fees (variable, ₵500–₵3,000/term). A Tier 2 school advertising ₵35,000 annual fee actually costs a family closer to ₵52,000 once everything is factored. Tier 1 ratios are even steeper in absolute dollars. Always ask for the "all-in" fee structure before committing — most schools will provide it on request. ## Curriculum: which one and why Four curricula compete in Accra. British (IGCSE/A-Level) is the most established and the most portable — A-Level credentials get recognized everywhere. American (AP/SAT) is dominant at the international tier and increasingly popular among Ghanaian families targeting US university admission. International Baccalaureate (IB) is the academic prestige choice; only three schools offer the full Diploma Programme in Greater Accra. Ghanaian (WAEC) is universally available and the cheapest path; it's also the only path for university admission to public Ghanaian universities like Legon or KNUST. Most Tier 2/3 schools offer "blended" — Ghanaian curriculum supplemented with British-style methodology. The right choice depends almost entirely on where you intend your child to attend university. ## When to apply Tier 1 schools open admissions in August/September for the following September. The genuinely oversubscribed ones (GIS, Lincoln, AIS, Galaxy) often have six-year waitlists for Reception and Year 1 — if you're thinking about a Tier 1 school for a future child, register interest before the child is born. Sibling priority typically guarantees admission, but the eldest child has to make it in first. Tier 2 schools are more accessible but the better ones still require applications 12 months ahead. Tier 3 schools generally have rolling admissions and accept applicants within weeks. SHS-stage admissions across all tiers are tighter than KG/Primary; transitioning a child mid-stage from a Tier 2 school to a Tier 1 SHS is the hardest application path in the system. ## Boarding versus day About 30% of the schools we track offer boarding, all of them in Tier 2 or below. Tier 1 schools are exclusively day schools — expatriate families don't board, and the academic intensity is built around home-supported study. Boarding fees typically add ₵15,000–₵30,000 annually for full board to the day-school baseline; weekly boarding (Sunday night through Friday) is ₵8,000–₵18,000 less. Boarding makes economic sense for families outside Greater Accra: the alternative is daily transport from Cape Coast or Kumasi, which doesn't work. For Greater Accra families, boarding is usually a parenting choice rather than a logistical one — and an expensive one at scale. ## Methodology We track 15 schools across Tiers 1–3 in Greater Accra. Schools are included based on having published, verifiable fee structures and being at minimum 10 years old (filtering out brand-new and unstable institutions). Fees are confirmed annually in August/September from school websites, admissions offices by direct request, and Ghana Education Service registries. Where a school publishes a fee range (e.g., $4,800–$8,500), we display the range; the median is computed against the midpoint. Year-over-year deltas compare the current academic year's fee against the same stage and currency in the prior year. Tier 4 schools are not currently tracked; expansion to ~50 mid-tier and budget schools is planned for Stage 3. --- Source: accra.cool. View the live interactive version at https://accra.cool/schools Attribution: accra.cool desk.