School costs beyond tuition in Dubai, 2026–27

Most families first pay a deposit that is later deducted, then buy the uniform, books and, at many schools, a laptop or tablet. Of the 210 sheets, 188 list a uniform and 113 list books as required supplies.

The deposit is not an extra. The registration deposit (the sheets' enrolment fee) of up to 10% of tuition is deducted from the first term's fees, so it holds the place rather than adding to the year. The steps, the AED 500 application fee and the refund rules are in Applying to a Dubai school.

Three things worth asking the school before you buy:

• whether the uniform shop is on site or an outside supplier;
• whether the book list can be bought second-hand;
• which device the school requires rather than suggests.

The school bus is the largest cost beyond tuition and the most common: 200 of the 210 sheets list transport, at a typical AED 5,500–9,225 a year. It is an optional service on every sheet that lists it, so a family that drives or lives within walking distance pays none of it.

What school websites add. The sheet gives one range per school; the price you pay usually depends on where you live and whether the child rides both ways. Two examples, in the schools' own words:

• Dubai College: «Bus fees for 2026-2027 are: AED 2,500 per term both ways, and AED 1,320 per term one way» (school buses page, read 22 September 2026).
• Dubai Modern Education School prices its 2026/2027 buses by zone: Category 1 two-way AED 7,100 and one-way AED 4,260; Category 2 two-way AED 7,350 and one-way AED 4,410 (transportation page, read 22 September 2026).

Some sites also list small extras around the bus: a child seat, a replacement bus card, a charge for stopping the service mid-year. Each school's page on this site shows its transport lines under Website, as the school states them.

Which schools run buses from your area is a different question from the price. The area pages answer it: Al Barsha, Dubai Marina, Downtown Dubai, Palm Jumeirah.

Every line here is optional on the sheet, so the yearly total is yours to set. The most common is extracurricular activities, listed by 166 of 210 schools at a typical AED 300–3,000 a year.

Overseas trips are the one line that can rival the bus. They are offered, not required, and schools usually announce them a term or more ahead, so they can be planned for or declined.

Two lines on the sheets concern children who need extra help, and both have the widest ranges on the page: «Learning Support Assistants» at AED 2,500–40,000 (99 schools) and «Special Needs Support» at AED 3,000–34,000 (96 schools). The spread is wide because the same label can mean a few hours a week or a full-time assistant for one child.

Exam board fees have no AED figure

Every 2026–27 sheet prints the same line for exam board fees: «Board Examination (As charged by the examination Board itself with no extra charges)». So IGCSE, A level, CBSE or IB entries are paid at the board's own price, and this site has no market figure for them. If your child is in an exam year, ask the school for last year's amounts.

Families arriving from countries where schools ask for a debenture or a building levy often ask whether Dubai schools do the same. On the 2026–27 Fees Fact Sheets the answer is short: no sheet uses the word «debenture», «levy», «building fund» or «bond», and 5 of the 217 schools with a sheet on this site list a one-off charge that only new students pay.

Source: KHDA Fees Fact Sheets 2026–27, every year group; each school's page on this site prints the line under Fees, opened from its name. None of these sheets says whether the charge is returned when the child leaves, so the sheet does not tell you; ask the school.

Debentures

Among the school websites this site has read, one describes a debenture scheme. Jumeirah English Speaking School's admissions page said, when read on 22 September 2026, that it is «currently accepting Personal Debenture applications for limited waiting list places for Year 9 2026/27», and that it «can continue to accept applications from Corporate Debenture holders and Emirati Nationals for all year groups (except Years 10–13)».

Quoted from the school's admissions page, read 22 September 2026: jess.sch.ae/admissions-at-jess (opens in a new tab)

The passages read give no sum, and the school's 2026–27 Fees Fact Sheet carries no debenture line; its page on this site shows its admissions terms under Admissions.

A personal debenture is held by the family, a corporate one by an employer. The terms are the school's own, so ask what is paid, what is returned and when.

Deposits, and the words «non refundable»

The deposit lines are the same on every sheet, because they are KHDA's rule: a registration deposit, which the sheets call the enrolment fee, of «Up to 10% of the tuition fees non refundable & deductible from the 1st term fees», and a re-enrolment fee of up to 5% or AED 500, whichever is higher.

The sheets say «non refundable», but KHDA's Registration and Refund Policy, effective 23 March 2026 and revised 31 July 2026, is the later document and the one that governs. The deposit is refunded if you give notice at least 60 calendar days before the start date, and kept with less notice. The full refund rules are in Applying to a Dubai school.

On deposits the same policy says, on page 7: «Apart from the registration or re-registration deposits, schools cannot ask for any additional payment to guarantee student enrolment and re-enrolment.» That sentence is about holding a place.

The one-off charges above are a different kind of line: they are fees KHDA publishes on the school's own Fees Fact Sheet, as mandatory fees for new students, not a payment to hold a place. If a school asks you for a one-off sum that is not on its sheet, the question to put to it is which line of its Fees Fact Sheet the payment is.

Get the refund terms in writing

The policy also says, on page 13: «All fees for services beyond core tuition must be clearly itemised, with their refund terms communicated to parents in writing before payment is made and reflected in the parent-school contract.» None of these sheets prints refund terms for its one-off charge, so before paying one, ask for its refund terms in writing and keep the reply with the contract.

Take a Year 5 (Grade 4) child at a school charging the median 2026–27 tuition for that year group, AED 34,871. Adding the required lines at their typical prices, the year costs about AED 36,900 to 39,900 without a bus, and AED 42,400 to 49,100 with one.

How to read it: the second row is uniform 500–1,200, books 500–1,000 and a device 1,000–2,805, all required; the last is extracurricular activities. A school with higher tuition has a higher deposit and often a higher bus price; one with books in its mandatory fees already counts them in KHDA's total.

To do the same sum for a school you are considering, open the cost planner: it takes one school and one starting year group and adds up tuition to the last year. Transport, uniform and the other lines are not in it yet, so add them from the school's own sheet.

If an employer pays part of the fees, What tuition leaves out in the allowance guide lists what an allowance usually does not cover.

The sheet lists what the school charges, not what it gives back. Discounts are on Other school costs too, and some costs are outside the sheet altogether.

• Discounts. The sheets name the kind of discount, and the 210 schools' sheets show how common each is: school employees at 161 schools, siblings at 146, corporate at 66. Who qualifies and by how much is the school's decision; see Discounts and Sibling discounts.
• Exam board fees are paid at the board's price, with no AED figure on any sheet.
• After-school care, holiday clubs run by outside providers and meals from outside caterers are not sheet lines at most schools. Where a school offers them, the price is in its own terms, not on the sheet.
• One-off charges and debentures are covered in One-off charges: 5 schools print a new-student charge, and no sheet mentions a debenture.

For anything you cannot find on the sheet, ask the school in writing, and ask for the refund terms at the same time.