Ben Lippen School

The Boarding Program at Ben Lippen, open to middle and high school-aged students from the United States and around the world, is an international learning community hosting 84 students in on-campus housing, and additional international students in American homes. On-campus boarding students reside in homes surrounding a lake. Each home is staffed by caring houseparents who balance love, encouragement, and discipline.
The Boarding Program at Ben Lippen High School hosts approximately 80 students from around the world. Countries represented include China, Hong Kong, Switzerland, El Salvador, South Korea, Japan, Mexico, Taiwan, United States, and Vietnam. Ben Lippen School offers an alternative to typical dorm life in traditional boarding schools by creating a family atmosphere within contemporary-style houses. A structured environment during the week provides for academic excellence and study. Weekends allow for free time, social events, and sports. On Sunday, all students participate in worship services and small groups at local churches and on campus.
Each of our six resident houses hold up to 14 students, supervised by caring houseparents who are trained to balance love, encouragement and discipline. Our houseparents come from a variety of backgrounds, some of which were once boarding students themselves.
Boarding students attend classes alongside American day students, providing an enriching cross-cultural experience while greatly enhancing the English skills of the international students. Students participate in honors-level courses and many receive college credit through Advanced Placement (AP) and Dual (college) enrollment courses.

We offer an on-campus boarding program that combines the best of both traditional dormitory life and homestay.  Our boarding houses are individual chalets that each have a set of full-time houseparents (a husband and wife) who take care of all of the student’s needs after school and on the weekends including shopping, recreation, homework, etc.  We have two houses for girls and three houses for boys.  Each house has a total of seven bedrooms for students, dual occupancy.  Our boarding houses are situated next to a small lake and provide a safe, quiet atmosphere for study.  Students also have great opportunities to interact with their peers and experience a happy social life.  Our boarding program offers the structure and consistency of a dormitory with the warmth and care of a homestay program.

Our admission process requires the following:  completed application, two years of transcripts, English test score (TOEFL, TOEFL Jr., IELTS, SLATE or ELTiS), Skype interview with me and family bank statement (per SEVP requirements).  We require the equivalent of a 50 on the TOEFL for grades 9 and 10, 60 for grade 11.  We will accept similar scores on the other exams listed above.  Following acceptance, we ask for a tuition deposit and then we will issue the Form I-20.  Ben Lippen School does provide ESL courses for students who have not earned an 80 on the TOEFL.  We also provide a special ESL Bible class for first year students, TOEFL prep class and a special World Cultures and Georgraphy ESL class.  Ben Lippen international students are asked to take the TOEFL exam one time each semester until they earn an 80 or higher.  We provide transportation to the TOEFL exam on Saturday mornings throughout each semester (TOEFL test center is about 10 minutes’ drive from our school).

1.Online Application – Click here for the online application. A $100 (USD) non-refundable application fee is required in order to submit the online application, and separate references from an English teacher and Math teacher are required before the application is considered complete. Links to the English and Math teacher reference forms are within the online application.
2.Transcripts – Submit transcripts (unofficial is sufficient) documenting the student’s most recent three years of schooling.
3.Bank Statement (International Students Only) – Submit a bank statement showing the funds necessary to cover the cost of at least one year’s tuition. This is required for student visa eligibility.
4.English Proficiency Testing (International Students Only) – Applicants for Grade 6 to Grade 8 are not required to submit a TOEFL iBT score.  Applicants for 9th or 10th grade must submit an official TOEFL iBT score of 50 or higher.  Applicants for 11th grade must submit an official TOEFL iBT score of 60 or higher and applicants for 12th grade must submit an official TOEFL iBT score of 70 or higher.  TOEFL iBT scores must be submitted to Ben Lippen School before an acceptance will be offered.  Please use the Ben Lippen TOEFL school code (3307) for Ben Lippen to receive an official student test score page.  Ben Lippen School does NOT accept IELTS, SLATE, SLEP or TOEFL Junior test scores.
5.Interview – An interview with the boarding program director is required.  The interview can be done face to face when possible or using a video chat application such as Skype or WeChat.
6.Deposit – A $3,000 deposit is required in order to confirm enrollment before Ben Lippen School will issue the Form I-20.
 

We have 14 AP courses including Chemistry, Physics, Calculus AB, Calculus BC, Statistics, Art, English, and History.  Ben Lippen also offers an Honors Diploma for students who would like to graduate with honors.  Dual enrollment classes are offered through Columbia International University (www.ciu.edu) with whom we share our 400-acre campus.  There is a small additional fee for dual enrollment courses. 

Ben Lippen’s challenging college prep curriculum prepares students for the academic rigors of higher education, with 100 percent of students being accepted to college.

The class of 2015 received over 6 million dollars in renewable scholarships to some of the finest colleges and universities. Recent graduates have been accepted to Harvard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Washington University in St. Louis, University of Southern California, Duke, Boston College, University of Washington, Syracuse, Washington University in St. Louis and Penn State.