TL;DR: Ateneo de Davao University passed 100% of its examinees in the 2025 Bar Examinations, topping its bracket nationally in a cycle where the national rate was 48.98% — the strongest published result of any school in Mindanao. Jose Maria College also placed among first-time takers. What is not published: any Davao private school's schedule of fees. Every peso range this page used to carry has been removed.
What Changed on This Page
This guide previously printed an annual tuition range for all twelve schools and a comparison table built from them. Those figures matched no published schedule at any of the schools and have been removed rather than widened.
It also listed PAREF Westbridge as a Davao school. We could not verify a PAREF school in Davao; PAREF's Visayas and Mindanao presence in our directory is in Cebu. That entry is gone.
What replaces them is the evidence that does exist, which for Davao turns out to be unusually good.
Davao's Published Results
The Supreme Court's 2025 Bar Examinations release is the strongest published evidence about any Davao institution, and it is remarkable.
| Bracket | School | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 51 to 100 examinees, overall | Ateneo de Davao University | 1st nationally, 100.00% |
| 51 to 100 examinees, first-time takers | Ateneo de Davao University | 1st nationally, 100.00% |
| 11 to 50 examinees, first-time takers | Jose Maria College | 5th nationally, 92.59% |
| 11 to 50 examinees, overall | University of Southeastern Philippines | 5th nationally, 89.29% |
| National | All schools | 5,594 of 11,420, 48.98% |
Read that first row properly. Ateneo de Davao fielded a cohort in the 51-to-100 bracket — not a handful of candidates — and every one of them passed, in a year when fewer than half of all examinees did. That is not a marketing claim; it is in the Supreme Court's own release.
USeP is a state university rather than a private school, and is included here because a family comparing Davao options should know it is in the same table.
Our best law schools guide has the full bracket tables and explains how to read them.
What this does not tell you. It says nothing about any of these schools' basic education arms, and nothing about the health-science colleges that most Davao families are actually choosing between. Absence from the table is absence of evidence, not evidence of weakness.
The Schools, Without Invented Prices
| School | Area | Type | What is checkable |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ateneo de Davao University | E. Jacinto St, Davao City | Catholic (Jesuit), K-12 and university | Topped its 2025 Bar bracket nationally at 100.00% |
| University of Mindanao | Bolton St, Davao City | Non-sectarian, university | Founded 1946, the region's first higher education institution |
| Davao Doctors College | Gen. Malvar St | Non-sectarian, SHS and university | Founded 1975; affiliated with Davao Doctors Hospital |
| San Pedro College | Guzman St | Catholic (Dominican) | Founded 1956 as a school of nursing; separate basic education campus in Ulas |
| Holy Cross of Davao College | Sta. Ana / JP Laurel | Catholic, K-12 and university | Archdiocesan, founded 1951, multiple campuses, DACS member |
| University of the Immaculate Conception | Fr. Selga St | Catholic, K-12 and university | PAASCU accreditation |
| Philippine Women's College of Davao | Matina | Non-sectarian, co-educational despite the name | K-12 through college, DACS member |
| Assumption College of Davao | JP Laurel Ave | Catholic (Religious of the Assumption) | Part of the national Assumption network |
| Stockbridge American International School | Davao City | International (American), K-12 | American curriculum |
| Precious International School of Davao | Davao City | International, K-12 | International-style programme |
| Jose Maria College | Davao City | Private | Placed 5th nationally among 2025 Bar first-time takers in its bracket |
| Cor Jesu College | Digos City, Davao del Sur | Catholic, K-12 and college | Founded 1959; outside Davao City proper |
Our Davao City directory lists 25 schools in the city, including many that appear on no national list.
Senior High in Davao Works Differently Now
If you are choosing for Grade 11, the question every Davao school guide tells you to ask is obsolete.
DepEd Order No. 017, s. 2026 removed the strand layer. There are two tracks, Academic and Technical-Professional, and inside the Academic Track five clusters of electives: Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities; Business and Entrepreneurship; Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics; Sports, Health and Wellness; and Field Experience.
| Learner | Structure that applies |
|---|---|
| Grade 11 from SY 2026-2027 onward | Two tracks, no strands, five Academic elective clusters |
| Grade 12 in a non-pilot school, SY 2026-2027 | The old tracks and named strands |
| Grade 12 from SY 2027-2028 onward | No strands |
Ask which electives will actually run, because a school is not required to offer everything in a cluster. Our academic strands guide covers the change.
The voucher is worth checking. Section 48 and Table 13 of DepEd Order No. 011, s. 2026, effective SY 2026-2027, set the maximum at PHP 20,000 a year in highly urbanised cities outside NCR and PHP 17,500 elsewhere for Categories A, B and C, with Categories D and E at PHP 16,000 and PHP 14,000. Davao City is a highly urbanised city. The school is paid the lower of its total fees or the cap, and nobody qualifies automatically: Categories A to D file at the private senior high school they choose, and only Category E applies through OVAP. See our SHS voucher guide.
How to Choose in Davao
Ask for the schedule of fees in writing. Nobody publishes it. Ask what is outside tuition and whether the figure is annual or per semester.
Ask for passers and examinees by cycle for any programme with a board exam. Two numbers, three cycles. Every college has them.
For health sciences, ask about clinical affiliation specifically. Which hospitals, how rotations are allocated, and whether placement is guaranteed. Davao Doctors College's hospital affiliation and San Pedro College's nursing history are the two starting points, but the question is about this year's arrangements.
For international schools, ask what credential a graduate leaves with. An American-curriculum diploma, an IB Diploma and a DepEd diploma are read very differently by universities in different countries. Decide the destination first.
Check accreditation at programme level. PAASCU and PACUCOA accredit programmes at levels; a school-level mention is a different claim.
Treat the commute as a cost. The city-centre cluster and the suburban international campuses are different daily propositions. Do the journey at the actual hour before deciding.
Sources
- Supreme Court of the Philippines — Press Briefer, 7 January 2026 (2025 Bar Examinations results)
- The Summit Express — Top Law Schools, 2025 Philippine Bar Exam Results (reproducing the Supreme Court's overall and first-time-taker brackets)
- Philstar — LIST: Top-performing law schools in 2025 Bar exams
- DepEd — DO 017, s. 2026, Strengthened Senior High School Curriculum (official)
- PEAC — Senior High School Voucher Program
- DepEd — DO 011, s. 2026, Revised Guidelines on the Implementation of Expanded Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education (E-GASTPE)
- DepEd — DO 011, s. 2026, full signed order (PDF): Section 33 with Tables 8 and 9 for the categories, Section 48 and Table 13 for voucher amounts, Section 83 for the repealing clause
- SchoolFinderPH — Davao City schools directory
- SchoolFinderPH — Best Law Schools in the Philippines
- SchoolFinderPH — Academic Strands and What Replaced Them
- SchoolFinderPH — SHS Voucher Program Guide
Disclaimer: Bar figures are the Supreme Court's own for the 2025 cycle and describe that cycle only. Where this page says a school publishes no fee schedule, that means we could not find one, not that the school has no fees. Confirm fees, programmes, accreditation and voucher amounts at the source.
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