College prep

A university-preparatory school or college-preparatory school (shortened to preparatory school, prep school, or college prep) is a type of secondary school. The term can refer to public, private independent or parochial schools primarily designed to prepare students for higher education.

In the United States, there are public, private, and charter college preparatory schools and they can be either parochial or secular. Admission is sometimes based on specific selection criteria, usually academic, but some schools have open enrollment. Fewer than 1% of students enrolled in school in the United States attend an independent, private prep school, compared to 9% who attend parochial schools and 88% who attend public schools.

Public and charter college prep schools are typically connected to a local school district and draw from the entire district instead of the closest school zone. Some offer specialized courses or curricula that prepare students for a specific field of study, while others use the label as a promotional tool without offering programs that differ from a conventional high school.

The term "prep school" in the U.S. is usually associated with private, elite institutions that have very selective admission criteria and high tuition fees. Prep schools can be day schools, boarding schools, or both, and may be co-educational or single-sex. Currently day schools are more common than boarding, and since the 1970s co-educational schools are more common than single-sex. Unlike the public schools which are free, they charge tuition ($10,000 to 40,000+ a year in 2014) Some prep schools are affiliated with a particular religious denomination. Unlike parochial schools, independent preparatory schools are not governed by a religious organization, and students are usually not required to receive instruction in one particular religion. While independent prep schools in the United States are not subject to government oversight or regulation, they are accredited by one of the six regional accreditation agencies for educational institutions.

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