Top 10 most Expensive Private High Schools in America: tuition fess will shock you

At some of the nation’s priciest private schools, annual tuition can run higher than the cost of a brand new car.

Of course, those tuition dollars pay for extensive programming, state-of-the-art facilities and top-notch educators.

Parents who can afford it (and those lucky enough to qualify for financial aid) almost unfailingly say it’s worth it.

We’ve rounded up the 31 most expensive private high schools in the U.S., looking at day-student tuition and excluding schools that were boarding-only and special-needs.

Price tags at most schools jumped substantially from last year, and for the first time one prestigious academy’s tuition topped $40,000.

Methodology: Rankings are based on tuition for daytime-only students in grades 9 through 12 for the 2011-2012 school year. Boarding-only schools and special-needs high schools were not included.