How do parents afford private school

It's hard to get an Assisted Place these days because Tony Blair scrapped the scheme in 1997.

We pay from salaries.

Once we sell various shares in 10 years or so, we will set up a family trust to pay school fees for the future generations, with any surplus each year (or if they do not want to send their children privately) being donated to the bursary fund of our daughter’s school. In an ideal world, we will fund a bursary place entirely for a child who qualifies alongside the trust. Her school is amazing with bursaries and the work they do to make the school accessible to those academically able (it’s very selective) but not financially able is really impressive.

No generational wealth here. One DS at private as he has dyslexia and ADHD and state school system was not good for him.

Paid out of salary. DH’s as I’m part time. I think he’s on over £250k plus a decent bonus of twice that. It’s ridiculous really but he does work away and crazy hours (I could not do it).

@Rosealine im amazed how this question comes up so frequently. 300k will probably be lawyer, finance (investment bank, analyst, fund manager type or sales roles) tech. Mostly London/City based salary. It’s decent pay don’t get me wrong but not super high. After tax, school fees, mortgage, lifestyle costs there won’t be loads of cash sloshing about.

In the 1980s my parents (taxi driver and hairdresser) scrimped and saved to pay for my twin sister and I to go prep school for 4 years as advised by our state school who said that they couldn’t keep up with us. Thankfully we are both academically able, were a year ahead and both got assisted places for the senior school at our independent girls school. We are now both lawyers.

It's pretty hard to qualify for assisted places in terms of earning low enough to get a decent discount these days. Plus many who get these places are heavily tutored before & after joining ime which is often ££££

My 4dc were all educated privately since y7 and both my sil's were educated at top public schools (ds's school was also a public school but he was a day boy). My gs will eventually go private - his other grandparents have a family trust which will pay for this.
We paid for our eldest 2dds ( only one school year difference) and it was tough even though exdh was a top earner. I was a SAHM. Both ds and dd3 got bursaries as exdh was made redundant- ds's started at 90% and then became 100%. Dd3 is in year 12 and gets a full bursary. School fees were always a priority for us.

A point that is clear from many people's posts on here but I haven't seen it explicitly mentioned (haven't read every post though) is parental age - many of those who pay for private schooling have been older when their children were born, meaning more time to build up savings before that, and being in higher paid jobs thereafter than they might have been otherwise.

We were the average age-for-first-child when our eldest was born, and decidedly amongst the youngest parents at their schools. We'd saved hard prior to children but my earnings dropped a lot (to zero for several years in fact).

At maximum we were paying about £30k pa after bursaries (two in senior boarding), which came from household income approx £75k (very unevenly split so not "tax efficient") and our remaining savings.

In the 1980s my parents (taxi driver and hairdresser) scrimped and saved to pay for my twin sister and I to go prep school for 4 years as advised by our state school who said that they couldn’t keep up with us. Thankfully we are both academically able, were a year ahead and both got assisted places for the senior school at our independent girls school. We are now both lawyers.

My husband also benefitted from an assisted place growing up in a single parent household (mother a nurse) and is now a senior project director in construction.

My husband and I have chosen to spend a huge part of our combined net pay on paying for school fees for our two children (around £55k a year). Then we pay expenses such a mortgage, bills, childcare etc. We drive a small 10 year old car. We do not have any family contribution to school fees.

Sorry if I’m being nosy but I’m so intrigued to know what your husband does to earn over 300k

To cut a long story short, I went back to work just to pay school fees for our 2. I was a SAHM until our second child started school, we were unhappy with the state school our oldest had been at for 2 years so we decided I'd go back to work and we'd send them private. Fees are 5-6k per term (depends on what year they are in) and I just about make enough after tax to cover that. We live off dh's salary reasonably comfortably and mine just pays school fees.

Some employers pay from relocation packages. I work for a company where we have moved people (especially internationally) and the company is picking up the school fees as part of the employment relocation costs.

I went to private school. My dad had a high-ish income, but it was really generational wealth/inheritance that enabled him to send the 3 of us. I'm so grateful to my parents for the opportunities they gave us.

DP and I have not yet got kids - going to start TTC this year - but I'm hopeful that on our combined income (approx £205k) we can afford it. We plan to pay off our mortgage this year which should hopefully make things easier.

Taxpayers earning minimum wage don’t pay enough tax to cover the cost to the state of educating their own children, never mind anyone else’s. Personally, I don’t have an issue with that, particulary where low paid workers are undertaking jobs to the benefit of society. Likewise, I don’t have a problem with the taxpayer covering the fees of the children of service men and women who dedicate their lives to protecting this country. And I say that as someone who is in the minority of taxpayers who are paying far more in than they take out.

You mean the tax payer (including those who hold down three jobs on minimum wage) paid 95% of your fees when at private school.

No, assisted places ended with the 1997 labour government - those children in the system on them at the time had them until they left school.

No necessarily! Independent schools offer bursaries and scholarships. My friend and her partner are in average jobs but their daughter got a bursary that covered 75% of the fees. Other friends forego things like new cars and holidays to give their children a decent education something that is lacking in many state schools.

Many employers pay the fees. It's a standard part of professional contracts in the UN, OPEC, IAEA and other international organisations. They will pay 80 or 90% of all educational fees for each child up until university level. Usually applies to international schools but it might also depend on the country and native language.

my partner and I earn £130k between us .
school fees have now gone up to £2300 a month with VAT plus we have mortgage and bills coming to another £2700. We sacrifice lots, don’t really have a social life or buy new clothes. drive an old banger , live a frugal lifestyle to be able to afford it.

Where is that?!? Near me £6k a term

They setup trusts to pay the fees. Not sure of the details. And granny.

We will send ours, here it's more around 22 to 25 a year even with vat. We have savings made up of some redundancy payments and then monthly savings of 500 pounds since they were born, in a high interest isa. We now have 120 k saved which covers the first big chunk, we've 2 kids, 1 has special needs and really will thrive in a much smaller and more gentle environment, since his diagnosis last year we are upping saving. He is 9 so we have 2 years of saving to go. My other child is very bright and we've a good grammar nearby so if she wants to go there or the outstanding local comp she can (it'll be her choice, they're both great) or if she prefers the private option we will ensure the money is available to be fair. We don't have the salaries to suddenly pay the fees direct if we randomly made the decision when they turn 11 but we are planners, we've always saved based on potential uni or housing costs, if it is better needed for secondary school, so be it. We are lucky, we earn well and we save a lot and plan a lot. I would never dare describe it as a sacrifice, but we carefully choose what we spend our money on, and since my sons diagnosis this is now our priority

My DD was awarded a scholarship, and we get a bursary too. We pay for the remaining amount ourselves.

I think it's either huge salary,/very successful business or grandparents/family wealth or buseries/scholarship or a combination of above.

I used to work with 2 married colleagues earning around 60k gross between them, they sent their 2DCs to private school that at the time had fees of 6k per term so for 2 DC 36k a year.
The had music scholarships which reduced fees somewhat (but became a source of tension when DC wanted to give up orchestra) and GP paid rest of fees.
Another friends DH has a share in a successful family business and they pay one DCs fees with dividends and her in laws ( owner of business) pay other DCs fees.
Bill and SIL kept remortgaging their house ( at a time when when house prices were consistently and rapidly rising and mortgages were easier to get ) to help cover fees, they had bursaries for kids/ managed to negioate fees/ sibling discount and I suspect also had GP help

I remember lending an ear to a senior who was upset about her tax bill. It was more than my annual salary at the time 😂

It’s just the reality