How Many Boarding Schools Does Indiana Have? The Answer Depends on What Counts

Culver on the banks of Lake Maxinkuckee

INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana has at least five operating high schools with residential students: four private schools and one public academy. The smaller figure of two, sometimes found in boarding-school directories, counts only Culver Academies and La Lumiere School.

It leaves out an Adventist boarding school, a Catholic school with residences for international students, and a state-supported residential academy in Muncie.

The price gap is striking. For the 2026–27 school year, Culver lists tuition, room and board at $69,500. An Indiana resident at the public Indiana Academy for Science, Mathematics, and Humanities pays no tuition and a standard $2,700 annual room-and-board fee, with assistance available. Two other schools do not publish a current boarding price, making a complete price ranking impossible without quotes from their admissions offices.

School and website

Residential cost

Academic standing and brief description

Culver Academies⁠, Culver

$69,500 for 2026–27

No. 1 among Indiana’s private boarding high schools in Niche’s 2026 ranking. A grades 9–12 school combining college preparation, leadership programs and residential life.

La Lumiere School⁠, La Porte

$61,215 for a domestic boarding student in 2026–27; $64,188 for an international student

No. 2 in the same Niche ranking. A small, independent grades 9–12 boarding and day school emphasizing scholarship, character and faith.

Indiana Academy⁠, Cicero

$16,550 for tuition and boarding as listed by Niche; the school does not publish a confirmed 2026–27 price on its admissions page

No. 4 in Niche’s private boarding-school ranking. This grades 9–12 Seventh-day Adventist school offers dormitory living and a Christian education. Families should request a current price before relying on the directory figure.

Indiana Academy for Science, Mathematics, and Humanities⁠, Muncie

$2,700 in room and board for an Indiana resident in 2026–27; $0 tuition. Need-based assistance can lower the fee.

A public high school on Ball State University’s campus for high-achieving students. Its residential students live in Wagoner Hall. Because it is public, it does not appear in Niche’s four-school private boarding ranking.

Marquette Catholic High School⁠, Michigan City

Boarding price available on request; its published $10,500 day tuition is not a boarding price

No. 3 in Niche’s private boarding ranking. Marquette offers college-preparatory, honors, Advanced Placement and dual-credit courses. Its international program has separate residences for young men and women.

The academic ranking needs a qualification. 

Niche ranks the four private schools in this order: Culver, La Lumiere, Marquette Catholic and Indiana Academy in Cicero. That is a composite boarding-school ranking, drawing on several factors and reviews; it is not a direct measurement of student learning or a comparable academic rank for the public academy in Muncie. Both Culver and La Lumiere receive an A+ overall grade from Niche, while Marquette and Cicero’s Indiana Academy receive an A.

For parents, the practical answer is therefore five identifiable residential high schools, with different admissions models and very different prices.

A family comparing them should ask each school for a written, current total that includes required fees and should distinguish the published sticker price from an individual financial-aid offer.

Marquette and the Cicero academy require particular care in any price comparison because a verified current boarding charge is not publicly posted alongside the other schools’ 2026–27 rates.