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A university-preparatory school or college-preparatory school (usually abbreviated to preparatory school, college prep school, or prep school) is a secondary school, usually private, designed to prepare students for a college or university education. Some schools will also include a junior, or elementary, school. This designation is mainly current in North America. In many parts of Europe, such as Germany, the countries of former Austria-Hungary, the Benelux and Scandinavia, secondary schools specializing in college-preparatory education are called gymnasiums. There are three types of preparatory schools in the United States and Canada. Some have living quarters (dormitory, dining room) where students reside (known as boarding schools). Most are day schools. A few schools combine the two approaches, such as Fay School and Worcester Academy, by providing boarding school services to out-of-area students and also admitting local students to the day-school programs. Some admit students of only one sex; others are co-educational. Prep schools are selective, academically challenging, and largely independent of state and local control. Parents of top-tier prep school students often pay high tuition fees, and some tuition is comparable to Ivy League university costs (example Brearley School, Spence School, and Chapin School in New York City have tuition of nearly $30,000 a year or over, Middlesex School boasts a tuition of over $40,000). Among the principal benefits of prep schools is a very low student-to-teacher ratio, hence, smaller class sizes than in public schools. The tuition allows schools to hire highly-qualified teachers and retain them in tenure. These schools often have significant endowments financing scholarships permitting demographic heterogeneity. Preparatory schools often place a strong emphasis on sports (see The Ten Schools Admissions Organization, Independent School Leagues or Ivy Preparatory School League). In many private schools students are required to participate in one or more of the school's sports teams. University-preparatory education is also often associated with the preppy subculture.
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