Schools in Albania for foreign children: options and fees (2026)

The law settles the first question: education in Albania is guaranteed to foreigners and stateless persons on the same terms as citizens, public school is free including upper secondary, and schooling is compulsory for every child resident in Albania from 6 to 16. The catch is the language - instruction is in Albanian. Children who arrive young typically pick it up within a year; for teenagers the usual answer is an international school.

The international offer is concentrated in Tirana: American-curriculum schools (ACT's American programme, QSI's Tirana International School), the IB schools (ACT IB, World Academy of Tirana) and the Christian GDQ with English-as-additional-language support. On the coast the list is short: Albanian College Durres is the one school in Durres with a published fee schedule.

Every figure below comes from the school's own published fee document, and the school year of each list is part of the figure: ACD and ACT have published 2025-26 (the next list appears toward the end of March), WAT and TIS already publish 2026-27.

One myth to retire: "an international school in Durres for 2,100 euro a year". The figure appears in none of the five official fee documents checked; the real Durres range is ACD's 3,000 to 5,800 euro.

The fee table never tells the whole story, so take a short list to the visit:

• Which school year is the price list for, and when is the next one published? Two of the five schools are still quoting 2025-26.
• What sits outside tuition: registration, the capital or guarantee fee, transport, meals, uniforms, exam fees. WAT's DP fee includes the IB exam fee; at other IB schools ask.
• How does the school take a child with no English? TIS states it accepts children with no previous English up to about 13; GDQ runs an EAL programme with a 10,000 lek entry test.
• Sibling discounts: ACT's IB programme takes 10% off the second child.
• Waiting lists and entry assessments for the grade you need, especially mid-year.

For the budget around the school, our cost-of-living page prices the family's month city by city, and the where-to-live page compares the towns themselves.