| 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 224 | 229 | 226 | 209 |
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25 school year, as reported to the WA State Board of Education.
Source: the school's own tuition page · aid page, observed 2026-07-03. Tuition changes annually, verify before applying.
Known results compiled from public competition listings (National Merit press lists, tournament PDFs, The Blue Alliance). A missing result is not evidence of absence.
Independent Catholic school in Tacoma · grades 9–12 · 888 students (Washington State Board of Education, 2024-25) · coed Jesuit college prep, the only Jesuit high school in the South Sound.
In Pierce County the private-school conversation usually starts and ends here. Bellarmine is the default college prep south of Seattle, and its economics explain why. At $21,460 for 2025-26 it costs well under half of Seattle's marquee independents, and it behaves less like a boutique than a broad civic institution. Its aid budget runs past $3 million and reaches over 45% of the student body, 37% of students aren't Catholic, and grade-by-grade enrollment barely moves between 9th and 12th, which is what near-zero attrition looks like. Two things should shape your decision more than the reputation does. First, the Jesuit formation is structural rather than optional: theology runs all four years, and liturgical life includes everyone, whatever your family believes. Second, the school deliberately tightened its culture starting in 2024-25, with a bell-to-bell phone ban and stricter dress enforcement under a new dean, so the kid who wants collegiate autonomy will chafe. The family that fits wants rigorous, structured, values-explicit schooling with big-school sports and arts. The family that wants a secular environment or maximum teenage independence should look elsewhere, because neither is on offer.
Researched 2026-07-04. Citations and claim ledger included in the full dossier.
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