Boarding School Review Blog

Why is social media critical to any boarding school's marketing program? The simple answer is that you must expose your fine school to as many potential new clients as possible. You know what your school offers and are very proud of it. Unfortunately, families with boarding school-age children living a few hours away downstate or in another part of the country will never even hear about your school unless you make sure it is obvious. Not just visible. Very visible.

In 2026, that visibility must extend across search engines, social platforms, short-form video, and the school's own website. Recent research from the Pew Research Center examines how parents and teenagers use platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat, underscoring why schools must understand where families spend time online.

While the following video is entitled 13 Proven Social Media Marketing Tips for Small Businesses & Entrepreneurs, Brian's information is relevant to administrators of boarding schools. After all, your boarding school is a business. Even if you have nonprofit status, your school is still a business.

Thirty or forty years ago, all a boarding school had to do to get the word out about its programs and desirability was to procure a listing in a boarding school directory and correspond with a group of educational consultants you knew could send potential clients your way. The boarding school directories are now all online. This site

This article has been updated to reflect 2026 data and recent developments.

If you have begun to think about sending your son or daughter to boarding school, the transition requires thoughtful planning. Moving from a public or day school environment to a residential school is a significant life change, not just for parents but especially for your child.

You are not simply changing schools. You are changing daily routines, social circles, and levels of independence. In 2026, as more families consider boarding school for its academic rigor and structured environment, preparing your child emotionally and practically is more important than ever.

The following strategies will help make that transition smoother and more successful.

Involve Your Child Early in the Boarding School Process

One of the most effective ways to prepare your child is to involve them from the beginning. Present boarding school as a collaborative decision, not a predetermined outcome.

Students are far more likely to embrace the transition when they feel a sense of ownership. Encourage them to:

• Research schools that match their interests
• Attend virtual or in-person open houses
• Participate in campus tours and student panels
• Ask questions during admissions interviews

In recent years, many boarding schools have expanded virtual engagement options, allowing families to explore campuses remotely before visiting in person. This trend, which accelerated after 2020, remains a standard part of the admissions process in 2026.

Working with an experienced educational consultant can also help families identify appropriate schools and streamline the search. The goal is to

A day school is not an easy enterprise to run because, for one thing, it is dependent on the local economy and demographics. The closing of a major employer or the departure of young families from the area can challenge the existence of even the best-run private day school. In addition to those local conditions, a boarding or residential school is subject to national and global economic trends. Many American boarding schools have 10-20% of their students drawn from outside the United States. An economic downturn or civil strife can choke off the number of applicants coming from abroad. A weak national economy here at home can make it more difficult for parents to afford a boarding school education for their children.

With these considerations in mind, let's look at five challenges facing American boarding schools and some common-sense solutions to those challenges.

1. The natural parental resistance to sending children off to a residential school.

It is hard enough for most American parents to send their children away to college, much less to boarding school. The idea of sending a fifteen-year-old away to a residential high school meets with serious resistance from most parents. There are many reasons for this reluctance, but the primary ones are the high cost of boarding school and the feeling that the local public high school or private schools can do just as good a job of preparing their children for college. There's also a nagging concern that perhaps their son or

Editor's note: In 1957-58 my cousin Peter Denis attended a boarding school in Switzerland. He very kindly answered my questions about his time abroad at school. ~Rob

What prompted your parents to send you to boarding school overseas? Which school did they send you to? How did you get there?

My parents wanted me to improve my French. So they sent me for one year after high school and before university to Ecole Nouvelle de la Suisse Romande, Chailly sur Lausanne, Switzerland. I was the third in a series of five people who had followed such a plan. The idea was to live in the boarding school together with the students doing regular studies. I was enrolled to learn French, which I had already been exposed to over eight years growing up in my hometown of Montreal, Quebec. This Swiss school had a French second language program with dedicated teachers to accommodate students from around the world. The 18 students in my class came from the US, Norway, Sweden, Iran, and Germany, to name just a couple of the countries.

There was no penalty for speaking English, but if you were going to survive, you had to learn French. Once your French was at an acceptable level, you were placed in the regular classes.

I traveled to Le Havre, France, via a Cunard steamship from Montreal. Then I spent five days in Paris