Laurel Springs School

Laurel Springs is a premium-priced, secular, accredited private online school.

Last updated: 2026-04-24 · Every Homeschool Editorial Team

At a glance

Method	Online academy (self-paced + teacher-led + The Academy gifted cohort)
Worldview	Secular
Grades	K-12
Formats	Digital, online live class
Cost tier	Premium
Parent intensity	1
ESA-common	Yes
Accredited	Yes, WASC and Cognia
Website	laurelsprings.com

Our scoreboard (1-5)

Criterion	Score	One-line reason
Academic rigor	4	Strong AP and honors catalog; The Academy adds symposium and research components
Ease of teaching	5	Teacher-led; parent is sponsor, not co-instructor
Content quality	4	Mature online pedagogy
Flexibility	5	Rolling enrollment, year-round start dates, pacing options to accommodate touring and training
Value for money	2	Premium tuition
Worldview scope	5	Secular; usable across all worldview families
Visual/design	4	Polished, professional, not flashy
Support resources	5	Dedicated college counseling department; 1:1 support model; flexible pacing infrastructure

Who the publisher is

Laurel Springs School holds accreditation through the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) and Cognia. Laurel Springs has reportedly graduated more than 6,200 students since founding and serves families in over 100 countries.

The core pedagogy

Laurel Springs offers three distinct program tracks. The standard track is a flexible teacher-led program with rolling enrollment and self-paced options, designed to accommodate the family that needs to start mid-year or compress a course into a different window than the traditional August-May schedule. The Academy is a selective gifted-and-driven cohort program for grades 6-12 with weekly live workshops, a Symposium research component, competition support, and heightened college counseling. International and summer programs add further options.

Signature mechanics. (1) Rolling enrollment and flexible pacing. A family can enroll in September, January, or July; accelerated students can complete a course in less than a semester, while traveling students can extend beyond the standard window. (2) The Academy as a program-within-the-program. Selective entry, additional live components, competition and research emphasis, effectively a gifted cohort for families willing to pay the surcharge. (3) Dedicated college counseling department. Laurel Springs staffs a substantive college-counseling operation that handles NCAA eligibility, selective-college applications, and specialized documentation for gifted and athlete students.

Graduation requirements follow a standard college-prep pattern with 24-28 credits typical, depending on the track. The diploma is fully accredited and widely accepted by US and international universities.

What they do exceptionally well

Flexibility that actually works in practice. In our assessment, Laurel Springs has operationalized flexibility. Rolling enrollment, multiple pacing windows, extensions for travel, and a student-services team that understands a young gymnast's training schedule or a teen actor's filming season, these are real infrastructure choices.

College counseling as a serious department. The school staffs college counselors who work with students individually on selective-college admissions, NCAA Eligibility Center paperwork, and scholarship applications. Laurel Springs treats it as a distinct function. For families applying to selective universities, this is substantive.

The Academy as a coherent gifted track. Academy students engage with a Symposium research component, competition preparation, and a cohort of similarly-situated peers. The published outcomes, 47% of Academy graduates admitted to US colleges and universities with acceptance rates below 25%, are self-reported and not independently audited, but the program's structure is visibly different from a standard online school.

What they do poorly

Pricing is the barrier. At $7,200 to $17,250 per year depending on grade level and program, Laurel Springs is, in our assessment, priced at the top of the secular accredited online market. Families without ESA support, significant income, or a specialized reason to pay private-school prices (student-athlete scheduling, performer travel, gifted-cohort need) will find the cost hard to justify against competitors at half the price.

Not faith-integrated for families wanting that. Laurel Springs is secular and offers no worldview-specific track. Families wanting a Christian, Catholic, Jewish, or classical-tradition framing must look elsewhere.

Standard-track instruction is less live than some families want. While The Academy adds weekly live workshops, the standard track is primarily asynchronous with teacher feedback on submitted work rather than daily synchronous class meetings. Families wanting live classroom-style instruction may prefer BYU Online High School's Semester Live or Ensign Peak Academy's Learning Communities.

Who it fits / who it doesn't

• Pick Laurel Springs if: you have a student-athlete, performer, or competitive participant whose schedule cannot accommodate fixed class times; you have a gifted learner who would benefit from the Academy's selective cohort and research focus; you are targeting selective college admissions and value integrated college counseling; your budget or ESA can absorb $10,000+ annual tuition; you want a secular accredited program with AP courses.

• Skip Laurel Springs if: your budget does not support premium tuition and you do not have ESA coverage; you want a faith-integrated program; you want daily live synchronous classes rather than asynchronous work with scheduled faculty support; you want a small-cohort experience where teachers know every student (Laurel Springs is larger and less cohort-tight than boutique competitors); you are satisfied with standard-rigor online coursework and do not need the Academy or college-counseling infrastructure.

Cost honest assessment

Full-time annual tuition as of 2025-2026 runs $7,200 to $17,250 depending on grade level and program, with The Academy program at the upper end and standard elementary enrollment at the lower end. Wikipedia's entry cites an average full-time enrollment cost of approximately $11,000 annually. The school offers sibling discounts, pay-in-full discounts, and loyalty discounts; these combine to bring an effective price into a more accessible range for multi-child enrolled families.

Compared to BYU Online High School at roughly $4,320 per year for a full Semester Live load, Laurel Springs is roughly two to four times the cost. Compared to Ensign Peak Academy at $2,340 to $2,730 for high school Live, Laurel Springs is four to six times more expensive. Compared to Oak Meadow (Portfolio track enrollment from roughly $1,800 to $5,600 depending on level), Laurel Springs is similarly positioned at the upper tier. The premium pricing buys a specific combination of flexibility, college counseling, and gifted-cohort infrastructure.

A realistic all-in family budget for one full-time Laurel Springs high-school student runs $11,000 to $17,500 per year; a family with two elementary students can run $14,400 to $20,000 before discounts.

ESA eligibility notes

Laurel Springs is approved on most state ESA marketplaces that fund accredited online private schools, including Arizona ESA (up to $7,000/year), Florida's Step Up For Students, Utah Fits All, and West Virginia's Hope Scholarship. Because Laurel Springs is secular, it typically passes restriction tests in states that limit religious-school funding. The challenge for ESA-funded families is typically not eligibility but cap. Laurel Springs' premium tuition can exceed state award caps, requiring families to supplement with out-of-pocket funds. Families in lower-cap states should verify whether their award will cover the specific grade level and program track they're enrolling in before committing.

Alternatives

• BYU Online High School, a family would choose BYU over Laurel Springs when they are comfortable with the faith-friendly (LDS-oriented) context and want full-time accredited online at roughly 40% of Laurel Springs' cost.
• Stanford OHS (Stanford Online High School), a family would choose Stanford OHS over Laurel Springs when they want a university-affiliated gifted-cohort program with seminar-style live instruction and are prepared for more selective admissions and higher academic intensity.
• Oak Meadow Portfolio, a family would choose Oak Meadow over Laurel Springs when they want Waldorf-inspired, less-screen-dependent pedagogy with accredited credential support at a lower price point.

How we verified this

Our editorial team reviewed Laurel Springs School's published pages at laurelsprings.com, including the homepage, School Profile, and Why Laurel Springs pages. Tuition range was sourced from World Schools' 2025-2026 Laurel Springs profile and cross-referenced with Wikipedia's stated average. Accreditation claims (WASC, Cognia) are from the school's own published pages. Prices and program details verified April 2026.