How do parents afford private school

Not London but I pay half a child on my c70k salary. XH pays the other half. Couldn’t afford more than one child and we have mostly camping holidays or staying with friends/family

Yeah those numbers make me nervous but best of luck to you.

My parents (ie DC grandparents) pay. It's about £15k a year each here, kids have gone private for secondary only.

My parents afford this out of the income from their 2 x NHS final salary pensions - and they have plenty left to spare. Weep for the poor pensioners...

Unfortunately we will not be able to provide the same generosity to our children 😳

My friend is a ģrandparent. She pays the fees. There are so many grandparents paying the fees that the headmaster has a tea party for them each term to keep the money rolling in.

I’d say before bonuses my husband and I bring in about £350k, after bonuses it can be closer to £500k.

We’re currently paying about £60k a year for DD, who is six turning seven. We’ve just found out that we’re expecting twins, so that’ll push the bill up slightly! But DH is also on track for some promotions before our little ones arrive and we have some smart investments.

edited to add the £60k is with all tutors, music, sports, extra curricular activities etc added on.

Forgot to add, we don't spend on much else and we have fairly basic holidays.

I went private myself and so did DH and it was important to us to give our DC the same experience, so we have picked our careers and made investments accordingly.

We earn around £250k between us, also have a large mortgage. DC are teens and have been at private since age 3. We're now paying £60k a year in total. We also have rental income from property and recently my parents have started paying half the fees, they are also paying half the fees for my sister's two DC. But uo until last year we were paying all the fees, so for us it's a mixture of salary, investments and now grandparents.

we live in the south east and even with vat increases I don't know of any regular private school which is £30k. Most were around £6,500 per term for senior school - now £8,000 plus and no can't afford it anymore having to pay in instalments. move daughter to private due to her SEN so glad she is finishing soon - feel very sorry for parents with sen kids with years to go.

For us we have one child and prioritise.

We both have middling incomes part time, so about £100k per year jointly, schools here are around £1500 per month.

We bought a 3 year old car outright which will see us through the next few years which we share. Nursery fees are low as we work part time. We paid off our mortgage at 35/37 as we have a mid size house in an ok area (quiet village outside less desirable town) with low outgoings. Old mortgage payments being saved ahead of child starting to create buffer.

£1500 for us we rationalise as the mortgage we don’t pay (likely to move again but only with £100k mortgage) or full time nursery fees.

Ultimately for us the opportunity for private education is worth the sacrifice of other things. We couldn’t do it with car finance, a large house/mortgage or lots of expensive holidays.

Not everyone is on megabucks but it definitely helps!
My two are both at private school. They both have scholarships which provides a decent discount on the fees and we have a bursary on top of that. My share of the fees is approx £20k per year (I’m divorced) and I’ve just re-mortgaged to fund the fees for the next four years.

Some people have lots of money, and/or lots of help. Housing costs are massively varied which makes a huge difference.
We could afford it easily for one child on our £120kish income, but we have 3 so no chance. Wouldn't even attempt it on an income below £250k.
Always makes me chuckle when some parents mention "sacrifices" like paying off the mortgage first... back in the real world...

Na, remember that 93% of kids go to state school - mumsnet is not representative of the general population!

The people I know who send have good household income and have also had chunky inheritances at some point (presumably reducing any mortgage or being directly dipped into)

important point. I think we would have done it for an only child. Two made it too difficult.

We don’t but seriously considered it.
we could afford but only because my dh has 100k ish salary. Mine is only 40k

We are very fortunate and the mortgage is paid off. Live in the north. Even then it would have meant significant sacrifices eg much less money to spend on holidays and home improvement.

Independent school teacher here - many, many only children in our school. So many afford it probably by having one child only.

So in short, some people make big sacrifices and others are very rich.

No. I know my work is valuable but underpaid, and I have great work life balance. I could earn much more with my skills in the private sector but choose not to.
I'm ok with my choices🤷‍♀️

Lots of grandparents pay/contribute to fees as part of inheritance to reduce estate that attracts inheritance tax. Some children we know have fees paid from generational education trust funds. Quite a lot of the friends of our children (who attend private school) just have parent/parents who both earn very high salaries. My husband’s salary has always paid the school fees as I’m a stay at home mum.

When my DH was alive he earned enough for two kids in private. When he passed I downsized and moved in order to afford it, then my parents died and that helped.
I know a couple people whose parents paid, but most paid from their salary. And yes you need to earn a fair amount to afford it. I think many of those my children went to school with would not be able to finance it now with the added VAT. My DD left school two years ago and fees were £27k then. They are £35k now. Also now I think if it more than half of the parents only had one child in private school (only children, large gap between children etc).

How will you explain to her that her brother got to go but not her?

I don’t have a high income but manage DD’s fees of £18k a year by downsizing to be mortgage free - this is the main one. What I would have spent on a mortgage each month covers fees for 1 child.
I am also always trying to make additional income - taking in a lodger etc. My DD has autism and ADHD and most of the he children at her prep have moved from state to private because their needs weren’t being met. There are many children at the school with siblings in state schools, it’s not flash and most parents are paying from their salaries rather than savings/ grandparents - I know this because it was discussed amongst parents in relation to the VAT added to the fees.
I don’t earn a lot but my earnings are very stable and I have always been a saver and frugal. The school has been a lifeline in keeping DD in education - friends with similar needs in state schools aren’t able to stay in school (emotionally based school avoidance)

We sent one child, household income of £200k x

Varies, I was able to fund a year for DS when we moved and there were no local spaces.it was foundation these and he is autistic so they didn’t really want him. I was working as a midwife at the time and could just do it.

He then got a space at a local state school who were amazing with him.

I could t have funded private long term

My DS is super bright and I am super skint, so he went private on a bursary. DH and I paid about £3K per year total. Best money ever spent, such a wonderful education and experience. What a shame the private schools are no longer charities as it will make it impossible for kids from poorer homes to get access.