SchoolsPrivate schools › King County

Seattle Academy of Arts and Sciences

Private school · Seattle, King County · grades 6-12 · nonsectarian

Snapshot

K-12 enrollment
1,253
SBE-reported, 2024-25
Tuition (top division)
$50,900
2025-26, school-published
Student-teacher ratio
5.6:1
NCES PSS, 2021-22
Teachers (FTE)
194
NCES PSS, 2021-22

Identity and approval

Campus
Seattle Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1201 E Union St, Seattle 98122
Host public district
Seattle School District
Grades
6-12
Religious affiliation
nonsectarian
Coed / single-sex
coed
Accreditation
NWAIS
Website
https://www.seattleacademy.org
WA SBE approval
2026-27 (state-approved private school)
Profit status
Nonprofit

Enrollment

6789101112
146129141233227192185

Enrollment by grade, 2024-25 school year, as reported to the WA State Board of Education.

Tuition and financial aid

Annual tuition
$50,900 (2025-26)
By division / fees
Single rate for grades 6-12.
Financial aid
Over 23% of students receive need-based aid (2025-26); average award covers ~70% of tuition.

Source: the school's own tuition page · aid page, observed 2026-07-03. Tuition changes annually, verify before applying.

Academics

Curriculum
Intentionally no AP courses; honors courses of equivalent rigor; strong arts program.
College matriculation
Publishes college matriculation page; over 90% of graduates attend college out of state.
Washington private schools are not required to publish state assessment results, and this school's internal test data is not public. Unlike the public-school pages on this site, no score comparison is possible here, treat curriculum labels and matriculation lists as the available evidence.

Student demographics

Asian
7%
Black
7%
Hispanic
4%
White
63%

NCES Private School Universe Survey, 2021-22 (the most recent federal collection). Private-school demographics are reported biennially and lag public-school data.

Competition evidence

Known results compiled from public competition listings (National Merit press lists, tournament PDFs, The Blue Alliance). A missing result is not evidence of absence.

Research dossier

Seattle Academy of Arts and Sciences

Independent school on Capitol Hill, Seattle · grades 6–12 · 1,253 students (WA SBE, 2024-25) · nonsectarian coed day school accredited by the Northwest Association of Independent Schools (NWAIS) · everyone calls it SAAS.

The verdict

Your shorthand for SAAS is probably "the big, modern, less stuffy independent," and it is roughly right, but worth unpacking before you pay for it. Big is an understatement. At 1,253 students (WA State Board of Education, 2024-25) and a projected 1,308 for 2025-26, SAAS is Seattle's largest independent school, still growing while its host district shrinks. Less stuffy is also real: no Advanced Placement (AP) courses on principle, no class rank, no valedictorian, and arts required of every student. Do not mistake the informality for lightness, though. The pedagogy is built on performance, meaning your child will speak, defend, act, and present in front of audiences constantly, and graduation requires 120 service hours plus a college-level senior internship. The actual bet at $52,940 (2026-27) is that a transcript with no AP labels, decoded by the school's counseling apparatus, travels as far as a conventional one. The evidence says it mostly does. The kid who thrives here wants the stage; the kid who wants a quiet, credential-stamped, test-optimized path is buying the wrong product.

Researched 2026-07-04. Citations and claim ledger included in the full dossier.

That is the free excerpt. The full dossier covers what the school's own marketing won't: admissions mechanics and real selectivity, all-in cost and aid behavior, matriculation depth, culture and fit signals, institutional health, every claim cited and dated. Unlock it for $9, or get a $29 Research Pass with 3 dossiers included.

The real comparison is against your public options.

Tuition here runs five figures a year, the question is what it buys over the public schools your address already gives you. A $29 Research Pass unlocks score trends, peer percentiles, competition evidence, gifted-pathway detail, and PTA capacity on every public school in the region, plus 3 full research dossiers for the schools on your shortlist.

See pricing

Sources

Weighing private against public?

Get an email when new private-school data or dossiers are published, a few times a season, nothing else.