North Yarmouth Academy will launch a boarding program near its campus in Yarmouth to start the next school year.

The private college-preparatory school recently purchased a building at 350 Route 1 and plans to house four faculty and staff members and approximately 45 high school students there. The boarding program will have a soft opening this fall, offering boarding to 15-20 students.

“For several years, NYA has explored various options for student and faculty housing, however, the ideal space never presented itself until now,” Head of School Ben Jackson said in a news release.

“Given its size, setup, proximity to campus and Yarmouth village, this facility has everything we need to deliver a dynamic student experience,” he said.

NYA has offered a homestay program for domestic and international students for the past 25 years and will continue to do so. The program averages between 15 and 20 homestay high school students per year, limited by the small number participating families in the area and student preferences for on-campus housing options, the school said.

In the long term, NYA expects to maintain a homestay population of eight to 10 students in addition to 45 boarding students. At least one student will switch from the homestay program into the dorms this fall, said NYA Director of Marketing and Communications Kristi Belesca. Of the 16 homestay students this academic year, 12 are international students and four are domestic students.

Following the launch of the boarding program, NYA is looking to increase its marketing to international students. Representatives have already made trips to Brazil and Vietnam, according to Belesca. She said the school’s ideal ratio of domestic and international students in the boarding program is 50-50.

“We’re hoping to have a combination of domestic and international students, and so that’s going to shape the community as well,” said Belesca.

NYA was founded in 1814 as a coeducational day school and operated as an all-male boarding school from 1961 until 1976 before converting back to a co-ed day school.

“I am excited to be able to offer boarding once again at NYA, and I am eager to welcome domestic and international boarding students to our campus,” Jackson said.

The school has over 400 students from pre-K through 12th grade. Tuition is $37,560 per year for non-boarding high school students and will be $64,500 per year for boarding students.

Belesca emphasized how NYA’s locale is a strong selling point for students outside of the area, especially compared to other private boarding schools in more rural parts of New England.

“One of the things that we were thinking about is what a unique opportunity it is to be in the village of Yarmouth, where we’ve got restaurants and shopping and public transportation and the beach, and we’ve got so much right here,” she said.