1
Livingstone Academy - Seffner
Seffner·Hillsborough County·Grades KG-12·~172 students
Accepts scholarshipsCo-edAffordable
Tuition$12K/yr
TypePrivate
Students~172
HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY
Best Independent (non-religious) Private High Schools in Hillsborough County under $20K
Independent rankings of Independent (non-religious) Private High schools in Hillsborough County, built from director interviews and verified data — never from school payments.
14 schools indexed0 director-verifiedUpdated this week
Not sure which fits your child? Take the 2-minute match quiz.
Get your top 5 matches — ranked by grades, budget, location, and your child's strengths.
Grade level
Affordability
Verified
AdmitCompass tracks 14 private high-level schools in Hillsborough County. Annual tuition ranges from $8.3K/yr to $17.7K/yr, with a median of $11.0K/yr across schools that publish a number. Tampa has the highest concentration with 8 schools, followed by Brandon (1). 8 of these schools accept Florida Step Up / FES scholarships — roughly 57% of the list — so families using state-funded scholarships have real choice here.
Private schools on this page set their own admissions criteria. Most ask for a school visit, prior records, and a family interview; competitive K and 6th-grade entry points often fill 6-9 months before the start of school. Every school is re-verified through direct outreach to admissions teams; data is refreshed on a 180-day cadence and timestamped on each profile.
See also: Scholarship-friendly, Tuition-Free.
Showing 10 of 14 Hillsborough County schools
- 2Center Academy-riverview
Riverview·Hillsborough County·Grades 04-12·~89 students
Accepts scholarshipsCo-edAffordableTuition$15.5K/yrTypePrivateStudents~89 - 3Lee Academy For Gifted Education
Tampa·Hillsborough County·Grades PK-12·~83 students
Accepts scholarshipsCo-edAffordableTuition$17.7K/yrTypePrivateStudents~83 - 4Beach Park School
Tampa·Hillsborough County·Grades PK-12·~75 students
Accepts scholarshipsCo-edAffordableTuition$12.9K/yrTypePrivateStudents~75 - 5Linabean Academy 2 Inc
Tampa·Hillsborough County·Grades PK-12·~38 students
Accepts scholarshipsCo-edAffordableTuition$10.5K/yrTypePrivateStudents~38 - 6Interactive Education Academy
Valrico·Hillsborough County·Grades 06-12·~31 students
Accepts scholarshipsCo-edAffordableTuition$11.5K/yrTypePrivateStudents~31 - 7Brilliant Microschools
Brandon·Hillsborough County·Grades KG-12·~270 students
Co-edAffordableTuition$8.3K/yrTypePrivateStudents~270 - 8Harmon Prep School
Tampa·Hillsborough County·Grades PK-10·~126 students
Accepts scholarshipsCo-edAffordableTuition$8.3K/yrTypePrivateStudents~126 - 9Community Montessori School
Tampa·Hillsborough County·Grades PK-9·~123 students
Accepts scholarshipsCo-edAffordableTuition$8.8K/yrTypePrivateStudents~123 - 10Bridgemont International School
Tampa·Hillsborough County·Grades 07-12
Co-edAffordableTuition$12K/yrTypePrivateStudents—
How we rank these schools
Built relationships, not scrapers. AdmitCompass ranks schools using a composite score that blends four signals: enrollment size (a proxy for stability and program breadth), tuition reasonableness within the local market, freshness of our most recent verification, and a small bonus for schools with full admissions detail published on their profile.
Public data comes from the Florida Department of Education (FLDOE), the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), and each school's own admissions pages. The information that actually matters to most families — acceptance rates, deadlines, what a director cares about — comes from direct interviews with school directors and admissions coaches across our active markets.
We do not publish scoring weights or per-axis thresholds. That keeps the moat intact: the rankings reflect actual conversations with people inside schools, not a formula anyone with a crawler could clone. Every profile is re-verified on a 180-day cadence, and the "last updated" date is timestamped on every school page.
Frequently asked questions
What's the average tuition for high schools in Hillsborough County?
Across the 14 schools on this list, annual tuition ranges from $8.3K/yr to $17.7K/yr, with a median of $11.0K/yr. Many schools offer financial aid, sibling discounts, or accept Florida Step Up / FES scholarships — check each school's detail page for current aid policy.
How competitive is admission to private schools in Hillsborough County?
Selective private schools review transcripts, teacher recommendations, an admissions test (ISEE or SSAT for grades 5-12), and an in-person visit. Acceptance rates vary widely — some schools accept nearly every qualified applicant, while top-tier programs admit fewer than 25%. Apply 9-12 months ahead of the start date.
Do these schools accept Step Up / FES scholarships?
8 of the 14 schools on this page accept Florida's Step Up For Students / FES-EO / FES-UA scholarships. That covers most or all of tuition for income-eligible families. Each school's detail page lists the specific scholarship programs accepted.
What's the smallest and largest school on this list?
Extraordinary Student Education Inc. is the smallest with 6 students; Brilliant Microschools is the largest at 270. Smaller schools tend to offer more direct teacher contact and tighter community; larger schools usually have more elective and extracurricular breadth.
Is this list updated?
Yes. We re-verify school data on a 180-day cadence through direct contact with admissions teams, plus cross-checks against FLDOE, NCES, and published school sources. Each school profile shows the date of its most recent verification.
Related lists
Adjacent searches families often run from here.
See your child's personalized match
Our 2-minute quiz factors in grades, budget, location, and goals to surface the best-fit schools from this list.