1
Clearwater Academy International Inc.
Clearwater·Pinellas County·Grades PK-12·~323 students
Accepts scholarshipsCo-edAffordable
Tuition$15K/yr
TypePrivate
Students~323
TAMPA BAY
Best Independent (non-religious) Private High Schools in Tampa Bay
Independent rankings of Independent (non-religious) Private High schools in Tampa Bay, built from director interviews and verified data — never from school payments.
138 schools indexed0 director-verifiedUpdated this week
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AdmitCompass tracks 138 private high-level schools in Tampa Bay. Annual tuition ranges from $8K/yr to $55.7K/yr, with a median of $12.5K/yr across schools that publish a number. Tampa has the highest concentration with 32 schools, followed by Clearwater (15). 74 of these schools accept Florida Step Up / FES scholarships — roughly 54% 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.
Showing 10 of 138 Tampa Bay schools
- 2Delphi Academy Of Florida
Clearwater·Pinellas County·Grades PK-12·~279 students
Accepts scholarshipsCo-edAffordableTuition$12K/yrTypePrivateStudents~279 - 3Dream Academy Schools
New Port Richey·Pasco County·Grades K-12·~178 students
Accepts scholarshipsCo-edAffordableTuition$10K/yrTypePrivateStudents~178 - 4Livingstone Academy - Seffner
Seffner·Hillsborough County·Grades KG-12·~172 students
Accepts scholarshipsCo-edAffordableTuition$12K/yrTypePrivateStudents~172 - 5Safety Harbor Montessori Academy
Clearwater·Pinellas County·Grades PK-09·~165 students
Accepts scholarshipsCo-edAffordableTuition$17.4K/yrTypePrivateStudents~165 - 6L.i.f.t Academy
Clearwater·Pinellas County·Grades KG-12·~160 students
Accepts scholarshipsCo-edAffordableTuition$15.3K/yrTypePrivateStudents~160 - 7Solid Rock Community School
Tarpon Springs·Pinellas County·Grades KG-12·~151 students
Accepts scholarshipsCo-edAffordableTuition$16K/yrTypePrivateStudents~151 - 8Autism Inspired Academy
Clearwater·Pinellas County·Grades PK-12·~110 students
Accepts scholarshipsCo-edTuition$24K/yrTypePrivateStudents~110 - 9American Collegiate Academy Llc
Zephyrhills·Pasco County·Grades KG-12·~96 students
Accepts scholarshipsCo-edAffordableTuition$16K/yrTypePrivateStudents~96 - 10Acton Academy Palm Harbor
Palm Harbor·Pinellas County·Grades KG-12·~91 students
Accepts scholarshipsCo-edAffordableTuition$12K/yrTypePrivateStudents~91
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.
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Frequently asked questions
What's the average tuition for high schools in Tampa Bay?
Across the 138 schools on this list, annual tuition ranges from $8K/yr to $55.7K/yr, with a median of $12.5K/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 Tampa Bay?
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?
74 of the 138 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?
Fortress Christian School is the smallest with 1 students; Icon Preparatory School is the largest at 691. 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.
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