← Back to blog · 16 May 2026

What It Actually Costs to Send Two Kids Through a Dubai School: KG to Year 13

The median Dubai private school costs AED 410,880 across the full 14-year ladder from KG1 to Year 13 — and AED 821,760 for two kids. Allow for the 3% annual fee increase KHDA permits and that becomes AED 1,020,732. Here is what's actually in the bill.

The headline number

We have full grade-by-grade fees for 174 of Dubai's 240 schools (the rest don't publish complete ladders). For each, we summed the published fee from KG1 through Year 13. That sum is the all-in tuition cost for one child, in today's AED, before any annual increases.

• Cheapest school with a full ladder: Iranian Salman Farsi Boys School — AED 38,831 per child, or AED 77,662 for two.
• Median school: AED 410,880 per child. Two kids: AED 821,760.
• Most expensive: North London Collegiate School Middle East L.L.C - — AED 1,628,442 per child. Two kids: AED 3,256,884.

The 10x gap between the cheapest and most expensive full-ladder Dubai schools is the largest in any developed-world city we know of. There is no London or Singapore equivalent of paying AED 8K/yr at one school and AED 110K/yr at the school across the road — but in Dubai, that's the actual market.

Compounded with the KHDA fee cap

KHDA caps annual fee increases via its Education Cost Index, which has averaged around 3% over the past five years. The 14-year compounded number is what your bank account actually pays.

By curriculum: a four-band spread

Median lifetime cost varies dramatically by curriculum. Indian schools cluster in the budget tier; UK and IB schools cluster premium and luxury.

The 10 most expensive Dubai schools (full 14-year ladder, one child)

The 10 cheapest (with a full ladder)

Three things parents miss

• Fees compound, salaries don't. A 3% annual fee increase doubles the bill every 24 years. Your salary probably won't. Most expat parents under-budget by a third because they multiply today's annual fee by 14 instead of compounding.
• Year 12–13 is a step change. At many UK-curriculum schools, fees rise by 10-20% when you cross into Year 12. The grade-by-grade fee ladder we have shows it clearly on every school page.
• Extras are 10–25% on top. Tuition is most of the bill but not all of it. Registration (one-off AED 500-5,000 per school), uniforms (AED 2-5K/yr), books and devices (AED 1-3K/yr), bus (AED 7-14K/yr if used), exam entries (Year 11+, ~AED 3-8K), trips. Budget at minimum 10% on top of tuition for state-school-style usage, 25% if you use bus + uniform + trips at a premium school.

Sources and methodology

14-year tuition = sum of published fees for KG1, KG2, and Grades 1-12 at each school, as filed with KHDA and reflected on the school's profile here. Schools missing more than four of those 14 grades were excluded (no extrapolation). "+3% / yr" applies a flat 3% compound from year 0 (KG1) to year 13 (Y13) — the long-run average KHDA increase, not a forecast.

Want the full per-grade ladder for a specific school? Every school's individual page shows year-by-year fees, the KHDA-rated trajectory, and how it compares to its curriculum peers on the fee axis.