Pennsylvania Private Licensed School Bond
Overview
Pennsylvania spells out its private licensed school bonding in the State Board of Private Licensed Schools' regulations: 22 Pa. Code section 73.54 requires each school seeking licensure or registration to submit a bond with a minimum face value of $10,000, and directs that the bond amount increase by $10,000 for each $500,000 or portion thereof of the school's gross tuition income, up to a maximum bond of $100,000. The bond protects the tuition paid by students, and the Board — housed within the Pennsylvania Department of Education — is the authority the bond runs to.
Who Needs This Bond?
Schools regulated by Pennsylvania's State Board of Private Licensed Schools need this bond as part of licensure or registration — the trade, career, and business schools that operate under the Private Licensed Schools Act rather than as public institutions or degree-granting colleges. Both new applicants and schools maintaining existing licenses must keep the bond on file at the amount their gross tuition income requires. If the Board's application materials direct you to file a surety bond, this is the regulation-based instrument they mean.
What is this Bond For?
The bond exists to protect students' prepaid tuition. If a licensed school closes before delivering the instruction students paid for, or otherwise fails in the obligations the bond secures, the bond provides a fund from which affected students can be made whole. The scaling formula in section 73.54 ties the protection to the school's size: the more tuition a school collects, the larger the bond must be, up to the regulatory cap. It is a student-protection guarantee, not insurance for the school's own losses.
When is it Required?
The bond must accompany the school's licensure or registration submission and remain continuously in force while the school operates under the Board's oversight. Because the required amount is a function of gross tuition income, schools should revisit the calculation as enrollment grows — a school crossing another $500,000 increment of tuition income owes a correspondingly larger bond at its next filing, until the $100,000 maximum is reached.
Where Does it Apply?
This is a statewide Pennsylvania requirement under 22 Pa. Code Chapter 73, administered through the State Board of Private Licensed Schools within the Department of Education. It applies to covered schools wherever in the Commonwealth they operate, with a single uniform formula — $10,000 minimum, stepping up $10,000 per $500,000 of gross tuition income, capped at $100,000 — rather than county-level variation.
How to Buy Online
Click 'Buy This Bond Online' on this page and the secure surety portal opens in a new tab. Have your school's gross tuition income figure handy — it determines where your bond lands on the regulation's $10,000-to-$100,000 scale. Complete the short application, review the documents, and pay online; your executed bond is ready to file with the Board.
Why Bond Titan?
Bond Titan is powered by The Southern Agency, a licensed surety agency, and the exact bonding formula on this page is cited in the Official Sources section below to the Pennsylvania Code itself, so you can verify the figures on the Commonwealth's official publication site. Then complete your purchase online in minutes and keep your licensure filing on schedule.
Official Sources
The requirements described on this page are verified against the official sources below.
- Bond minimum face value of $10,000; increases of $10,000 per $500,000 (or portion) of gross tuition income; $100,000 maximum: 22 Pa. Code §73.54 (Bond) (verified July 16, 2026)