Good to know
Good to Know
- Bucharest is generally more affordable for international schooling than comparable Western European capitals, though top-tier schools like AISB and Cambridge School of Bucharest can still exceed EUR 20,000/year for senior grades.
- Budget for extras beyond published tuition: application/registration fees, school-bus transport (especially if the school is in Voluntari/Pipera but you live centrally), uniforms at British-curriculum schools, and exam registration for IGCSE, A-Levels, or IB — realistically add 10-15% on top of the headline tuition figure.
- Some schools quote fees in EUR for non-resident families and in RON for Romanian residents (e.g. AISB), so the currency you're billed in can depend on residency status, not just school choice.
- Several established schools (International School of Bucharest, Deutsche Schule Bukarest, Olga Gudynn International School's exact figures, Verita) do not publish full fee schedules publicly — get a direct quote before budgeting.
- For families wanting an IB pathway specifically, AISB, Cambridge School of Bucharest, Olga Gudynn International School, and Bucharest-Beirut International School all offer some stage of the IB (PYP/MYP/DP).
- Start the international-school search 3–6 months before your move if possible — popular schools and popular year groups (especially primary) can genuinely fill up and form waitlists, and priority is given to returning families and siblings before new applicants.
- Confirming a spot and paying any deposit quickly matters: many schools give only about two weeks to sign the enrollment contract after acceptance before offering the seat to someone else.
- If you're arriving mid-year, ask upfront about a late-enrollment administrative fee — at least one major Bucharest international school charges roughly EUR 1,500 extra for enrolling after the school year has already started.
- Homeschooling is not something you can simply declare in Romania — the only well-documented, lower-risk route is enrolling your child with an accredited foreign 'umbrella' school and keeping enrollment documentation on hand, since informal homeschooling without such enrollment has led to at least one prosecuted case.
- Don't expect an established in-person Bucharest homeschooling co-op the way you might find in some Western cities — support is mainly through a national association and online/Facebook groups rather than a local physical community.
Schools And Curricula
American International School of Bucharest (AISB)
- Location
- Pipera Blvd, Voluntari, Ilfov County (northern Bucharest, near Otopeni)
- Age Range
- 2 to 18
- Extra Fees
- One-time application fee (~EUR 200-250) and a registration/'capital' fee (historically up to EUR 3,000 for the first child, reduced for siblings).
- Notes
- Founded in 1962 by the U.S. Embassy; the oldest and largest international school in Bucharest, with a historic US Embassy governance link.
Tuition
- Period
- per year
- Range Low
- €11,150
- Range High
- €23,830
Curricula
- International Baccalaureate (IB) - PYP, MYP, DP
- American/International
Cambridge School of Bucharest (CSB)
- Age Range
- Early Years to Sixth Form (roughly 3-18)
- Notes
- Accredited as a British School Overseas (BSO) and a member of the Council of British International Schools (COBIS); also recognised by the Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in Pre-University Education (ARACIP).
Tuition
- Period
- per year
- Range Low
- €12,900
- Range High
- €21,397
Curricula
- British National Curriculum (Early Years to Sixth Form)
- IB Diploma Programme (IB World School)
Questfield International College
- Age Range
- Kindergarten through Middle School; High School added from 2024
- Notes
- Offers families a choice between a Romanian-track and an international-track line of study.
Tuition
- Period
- per year
- Range Low
- €8,050
- Range High
- €12,650
Curricula
- Romanian national line
- International line (Cambridge-aligned)
International School of Bucharest (ISB)
- Location
- Sector 3, Bucharest
- Age Range
- 2 to 18
- Notes
- Around 750 students representing roughly 40 nationalities; English is the language of instruction.
Tuition
- Period
- per year
- Range Low
- RON 43,286
- Range High
- RON 98,914
Curricula
- Cambridge International Curriculum (Primary & Secondary)
- IGCSE
- IB Diploma Programme
Verita International School
- Notes
- Attracts students from over 30 nationalities and is noted for strong English as an Additional Language (EAL) support for children transitioning from non-English school systems.
Tuition
- Period
- per year
- Note On Pricing
- Specific published tuition figures were not found; general Bucharest international-school tuition bands (roughly EUR 5,500-14,000/year) are the best available estimate.
Curricula
- IB Primary Years Programme (PYP)
- IB Middle Years Programme (MYP)
British School of Bucharest
- Age Range
- 3 to 18
- Notes
- Operates as a British School Overseas; instruction is entirely in English.
Tuition
- Period
- per year
- Range Low
- €10,000
- Range High
- €14,000
- Note
- This range covers primary years only; secondary fees (including the IB Diploma years) are published as higher but an exact upper figure was not confirmed.
Curricula
- British National Curriculum
- IB Diploma Programme (Years 12-13)
Olga Gudynn International School (OGIS)
- Age Range
- 3 to 19
- Notes
- Around 900 students of diverse nationalities; accredited by Romania's Ministry of National Education and authorised by the IB for the Diploma Programme.
Tuition
- Period
- per year
- Range Low
- €5,800
- Range High
- €13,500
Curricula
- IB Diploma Programme (authorized IB World School)
Bucharest-Beirut International School
- Age Range
- 2 to 17
- Notes
- Operates as a day school with door-to-door bus transport across the Bucharest metro area.
Tuition
- Period
- per year
- Sample Point
- RON 33,263
- Note
- Figure shown is the published annual rate for the Preschool/Nursery-2 (age 2) tier only; a full fee range across all grades was not available.
Curricula
- Romanian bilingual division (ARACIP-recognised)
- IB (PYP, MYP, DP)
- Cambridge International
SEK Bucharest International School
- Notes
- Part of the global SEK International Schools network, a Spanish education group with over a century of history.
Tuition
- Period
- per year
- Note On Pricing
- Specific published tuition figures were not found in available sources.
Curricula
- Spanish SEK curriculum
- English-medium instruction
Lycee Francais Anna De Noailles
- Notes
- One of the largest international schools in Romania, with trilingual instruction in French, English and Romanian; part of the AEFE network (French state-supported schools abroad) and has operated in Bucharest for over a century.
Tuition
- Period
- per year
- Note On Pricing
- As an AEFE (French government-subsidised) school, fees are understood to be substantially lower than IB or British-curriculum competitors, but an exact current published figure was not confirmed.
Curricula
- French national curriculum
- French Baccalaureate
Deutsche Schule Bukarest
- Notes
- Founded in 2007; the only school in Romania that fully follows the German curriculum through to graduation.
Tuition
- Period
- per year
- Note On Pricing
- School does not make fees public.
Curricula
- German national curriculum
- German International Baccalaureate (Abitur)
King's Oak British International School
- Notes
- Founded in 1994, one of the longest-running international schools in post-communist Romania; accredited as a British School Overseas; located closer to central Bucharest (Greenlake Residences, Petre Aurelian) than most competitor schools.
Tuition
- Period
- per year
- Note On Pricing
- Specific published tuition figures were not found in available sources.
Curricula
- British curriculum through IGCSE and A-Levels
- Spanish also offered as a language of instruction
Bucharest Christian Academy (BCA)
- Notes
- Described as the only fully American international school in Bucharest with a Christian educational philosophy.
Tuition
- Period
- per year
- Application Fee
- €700
- Note On Pricing
- Annual tuition itself is not published.
Curricula
- American curriculum, taught from a Christian worldview
Homeschooling
- Legal Status In Romania
- Homeschooling occupies a genuine legal grey zone in Romania rather than being clearly legal or clearly illegal. Romania's national education law does not list homeschooling as a recognized educational pathway; a 2002 legal reference to home education applies only to children unable to physically attend school, and a 2010 attempt to legalize it for all children was blocked. Romania's newer pre-university education law (Law 198/2023) redefined the education system without addressing homeschooling, continuing the ambiguity.
- Romania Wide Advocacy Organization
- The Romanian Home-Schooling Association (homeschooling.ro), founded in 2002, is the main national body that has lobbied for full legal recognition of homeschooling and provides guidance to Romanian and expat families navigating the umbrella-school route.
- Practical Mechanism Used By Families
- The workaround most homeschooling families (including expats) actually use is enrolling the child with an accredited school based outside Romania — a UK, US, or South African 'umbrella' distance school — and presenting a certificate of enrollment to Romanian authorities on request; if the umbrella school is accredited, the child's studies are recognized by the Romanian state without further hurdles.
- Risk And Enforcement Notes
- Compulsory schooling applies up to roughly age 14–16 in Romania, and parents who withdraw a child from the system without a documented alternative can face legal exposure under the Penal Code provisions on obstructing access to education. There has been at least one widely reported case of parents in Bihor county convicted (a suspended sentence) for improperly removing children from school without a valid umbrella-school arrangement — a reminder that informal, undocumented homeschooling (as opposed to proper umbrella-school enrollment) carries real legal risk.
Bucharest Specific Community
- Documented Local Co Op Found
- No
- Note
- We could not verify a specific, documented Bucharest-based homeschooling co-op, meetup group, or physical resource center. What exists and is documented nationally is the Romanian Home-Schooling Association plus informal, described-as-small online forums and Facebook groups that connect homeschooling families across Romania, some of which include Bucharest-area members. Families relocating to Bucharest specifically for homeschooling should expect to build community online/nationally rather than relying on an established local in-person co-op.
International Bilingual School Enrollment
- Intake Pattern
- Most Bucharest international schools run a September intake as their main entry point, but rolling admissions are available year-round for families arriving mid-cycle.
- Waitlist Reality
- For the most popular schools and year groups — particularly in the primary years — waitlists genuinely form, and schools maintain priority categories (returning/re-enrolling students, siblings of current students, and in some cases specific nationality or corporate-sponsorship priorities) ahead of new general applicants. Early application gives a real advantage: a family applying in spring/early summer has materially better odds than one applying in August for a September start, even with equally strong records.
- How Far In Advance To Apply
- Education advisors covering Bucharest recommend starting the school search and application process three to six months before your arrival date, especially for the most sought-after year groups.
- Re Enrollment Deadlines Matter
- Existing families are usually asked to confirm re-enrollment for the following year on a fixed deadline in winter (one well-documented example: AISB sends re-enrollment invitations in early February with a February 15 completion deadline) — missing this can open a seat to a waitlisted new family.
- School Landscape Relevant To Applications
- Bucharest's international/bilingual schools split roughly into three groups: English-medium IB/Cambridge schools (largest expat draw, most developed new-arrival admissions support), national-community schools (French lycée, German school, Spanish-curriculum SEK), and newer bilingual Romanian-English private schools. Most cluster in the northern districts (Sector 1 and Sector 2).
- Fee Currency Note
- Tuition and admin fees at most Bucharest international schools are contractually denominated in EUR and billed/paid in RON converted at the National Bank of Romania (BNR) daily rate, so the RON figure above is an approximate conversion of a EUR 1,500 fee and will shift with the exchange rate on the actual payment date.
Typical Application Steps
- Inquiry / campus tour: initial contact via an online inquiry form or email to the admissions office, followed by a scheduled visit (this is the standard first step at schools such as AISB).
- Submission of application with academic records, references and (for older children) an assessment or interview.
- Assessment: for young children this is often an informal play-based observation rather than a formal interview; for older students, expect academic testing, a teacher/headteacher reference letter, and sometimes a language-proficiency check.
- Decision: schools notify parents of Acceptance, Conditional Acceptance (with specific conditions and a timeframe to meet them), or Not Accepted — with an option to join a waiting pool if the family remains interested.
- Enrollment confirmation: accepted families typically sign enrollment/parent-conduct agreements online and must return a signed contract within about two weeks, or risk losing the place to a waitlisted family.
Late Or Mid Year Enrollment Costs
Administrative Charge for Enrolling After the School Year Has Begun
- Cost
- RON 7,620
- Note
- At least one major Bucharest international school (AISB) charges an additional administrative fee for students who enroll after the academic year starts.
Required Documents Typically Requested
- Last two to three years of school reports/transcripts
- Letter of recommendation from a current teacher or headteacher
- Proof of language proficiency where relevant (especially for non-native English speakers entering English-medium programs)
- Parental passport(s) proving Romanian residency status; for 'international student' classification, the applying child generally needs to hold the same foreign passport as the parent
- Birth certificate and, where applicable, prior special-educational-needs documentation
AI-generated estimateData refreshed July 2026
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Data last updated July 2026 · Verify anything important.