Seattle Academy of Arts and Sciences (SAAS) is one of the five secular independents in the Seattle elite peer set — alongside Lakeside, Overlake, Eastside Prep, and University Prep — and the urban one. Founded in 1983 by trustees, faculty, and parents starting with 72 students, SAAS now enrolls roughly 1,300 across grades 6-12 on a tightly packed Capitol Hill campus that occupies most of one city block on 12th Avenue.
Among the five-school peer set, SAAS is distinguished by an explicit "culture of performance" that requires participation in performing arts — dance and vocal music among them — and a curriculum that omits the AP track entirely in favor of inquiry, presentation skills, and project-based work. Outdoor expeditions in the Cascades and abroad are a structural piece of the program. The school is generally regarded as the most arts-forward of the secular Seattle independents and the most urban; Lakeside and UPrep are wooded north Seattle, Overlake is suburban Eastside, EPS is suburban Eastside, Bush is Madison Park residential. SAAS feels more downtown than any of them.
In September 2025, SAAS opened a new five-story Upper School building on 12th Avenue — designed by LMN Architects, built by BNBuilders, around 100,000 square feet across 38 learning spaces — consolidating an upper-school program previously distributed across older converted commercial buildings. Tuition for grades 6-12 is $50,900 with about 23% of families on financial aid.
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