There are at least 50 universities in the US that charge over $60,000 a year to attend — a serious investment for any degree. And yet, some families begin investing in their children's education even earlier than college.

For the fifth year in a row, we've rounded up the 50 most expensive boarding schools in the US. For the first time, five schools on our list exceed $60,000 in annual cost. Nearly a dozen others are skirting that number.

But what do these increasingly expensive price tags afford students? A number of impressive perks, from iPads for every student to state-of-the-art athletic and academic facilities and, sometimes, tickets into the Ivies.

To create this list, we looked at tuition, room and board, and noted mandatory fees, including one-time fees where applicable, to calculate the total cost for the 2015-16 school year. In instances where the school listed a variety of expected expenditures for books and other required materials, we used the average. (Special-needs schools and daytime-only schools were not taken into consideration for this list.)