The School in Recent Years
Tuition is $19,200 for the 2012–2013 school year, not including student activity fees. Tuition charges do not cover the entire cost of the education of a student, and this "deficit" is met by the school's endowment. The Washington Post estimated Punahou's endowment to be $174M; Bizjournals and CBS News put it at $180M, and Business Week recently claimed it as high as $501M (possibly including non-liquid assets, though trulia.com shows private land values in lower Manoa Valley exceeding $1M/.1 acre, making Punahou's 76 acres worth at least $760M). Although this figure is high among U.S. private schools, Honolulu also has Iolani School with a comparable endowment (twice the endowment per pupil), and Kamehameha Schools has a $5B to $9B endowment (30 times the endowment per pupil). (Maui has Seabury Hall which has twice the endowment per pupil, but is a much smaller school).
Summer school academic classes, training in music and dance, and sports camps are offered at all grade levels (K-12). Courses include Recycling through Art ($500, grades 3-5), Chess Tactics ($250, grades 3-12), Language of Hawaii ($200, grades 7-8), Self-Defense ($175, grades 9-12), and JROTC Leadership Camp ($75, grades 9-12). With modest fees, Punahou's summer school is able to serve a broad population of island children.
In a recent study of the class of 1979, 8 had degrees from Harvard, 3 from Princeton, over 30 from Stanford and UC Berkeley (in roughly equal numbers), and 23 (total) from Ivy League schools. 16 had Ph.D.'s (see Punahou School alumni). Degrees were also obtained from Tufts, Williams, Wesleyan, MIT, CalTech, Mount Holyoke, Rice, Harvey Mudd, Georgetown, and Northwestern. Three went to the Sorbonne, and others to elite art schools like Cranbrook Academy of Art, and music schools like the San Francisco Conservatory. Many athletes were recruited into elite athletic programs, especially at West Coast schools like USC, UCLA, and Stanford. Although none attended from the class of 1979, Punahou's graduating classes have a long history of sending students to Yale and West Point as well (see Punahou School alumni). Schools throughout California, Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Arizona, and Nevada are also popular among graduates, and many students choose to attend local schools like the University of Hawaii and Chaminade.
The class of 2012 had 30 of the state's 70 National Merit Semifinalists.
Punahou's Presidential Scholars were graduates of the classes of '64, '66, '70, '71, '75, '78 (two members), '79, '82, '84 (two members), '85, '86, '91, '92 (two members), '93, '95, '96, '98, '01, '02, '04 (three members), '05, '06, '08, and '11.
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