Private school fees

jones could you please explain why some children deserve that type of education, but not others?
Poor people are undeserving? (from your FSM comment)

tbtc

I'm sorry I should have worded it better.
Dd fees are paid by gov scheme, we pay a very small amount and she boards.
I think we sound about the same as you tbh and aren't poor compared to many.
However, compared to somebody who could afford multiple or even one set of fees we are poor.
Hence, I said poor.

"This is proof we need more grammar schools to be available"

Why not good comprehensive schools instead? Why just grammar schools?

DD's non selective comprehensive school regularly achieves over 70% A* - C GCSEs including English and maths, and is in the top 10% of all state education for A levels.

This is proof we need more grammar schools to be available , for the vast majority of parents who can't afford 15K Day or 30K Boarding fees .

There are a large number of posters on here, who believe that because the state cannot provide a 'private' school type education for everybody then nobody should have it.

Grammar schools at least give some children half a chance !

I really don't care if the majority of grammar school children are from 'middle class/ income' families. So what if FSM intake are low .

A large number of grammar school parents can't afford private schools yet their children need/deserve that type of education.

Obviously I realise there are kids there whose yearly fees are probably paid by some banker annual bonus, but that's a different world to what I live in!

newlife
We qualified for a 75% bursary for our son for 6th form. We are in no way very poor.
We have a reasonable income, good savings, own our home, have modest holidays and run one modest crappy car, have one other child.

We could not have afforded it w/o bursary, or using our assets, but we are not poor.
The shortfall is made up by a small inheritance and there are other costs which are more due to where he is (lunches, transport and music fees).

Can you afford to pay 16/17 grand every 3-4 months? If not you can't afford it. Private schools are struggling. They can give sibling discount and a few scholarships but they don't negotiate fees.

I only know 1 family with 4 in private schools ranging from pre prep to senior, and the mum doesn't work, and they have live in staff in their £3m house. They go skiing, have at least 2 sunny holidays, have a spare 4x4 (just in case), and the eldest 3 do music, gym, and tons of other stuff. I don't think I can even imagine what the Dad's pay check must be. I'm pretty sure the money is self made and not family money. Oh, and they're lovely people too!!!
That's how you afford 4 in private school!!!!

Yes - if you are in the 50% tax bracket you need to earn double the amount of fees. Ouch.

And don't get me on the subject of the fact that to pay £20k of school fees you have to earn typically £30k to pay for the fees depending on your tax threshold. Not that many will be on lower rate who can actually afford the fees unless like some mums I knew who worked just to pay for a set of fees and their entire salary went on the fees.

Very few scholarships are now 50%. Most discounts are bursaries and are means tested. Some children get both.

Some secondary scholarships can be 50% off
Some schools will offer a bursary too if your income is under £75K
But you need super bright child....

My friend has two sons at Harrow. I nearly passed out when he told me what it cost!!!!

I work at a private school and there is no negotiation on fees. Staff get 50%, 1 sibling 5%, second sibling 7.5%, third sibling I don't know as there aren't any. There are bursaries and scholarships available but these only approximate a tiny % of total fees.

Of the families I know with 4 DC going private:
The fathers (and sometimes mothers too) are City lawyers on £600per hour.
Or have top jobs with international finance companies and banks.
Or their children dipped in and out of state and private (state primary, state 6th form, DC only in private from 11-16yrs)
Or some are on scolarships/ one or two got into freee super selective grammars and the others went private.
Or they teach at the school.
Or wealthy family chip in a substantial amount.

My DC go private, but the families I know with 4 kids all in private are loaded.

Private school is expensive. Times four it's eye watering.

We have three (2 year gaps) and I would like a fourth. First is about to start private pre prep in Sept and the amount we will potentially be paying when all three go is scary. My husband has an exceptionally well paid job in the city and I have - what would be regarded by most of the population - as a very well paid job (full time but currently on mat leave with number 3).

To be honest unless you have an exceptionally highly paid job I don't know how people afford it. Pre prep fees at son's school (central London) are approx £5k a term. Plus extras etc say £20k x 3 is £60k BEFORE TAX. So basically £120k a year of salary going on school fees. £160k if we have four. Fees of top private schools from age 13 are approx £30k pa + extras I believe. The maths on that is frightening.

I was state educated, my husband private (boarded from 7 ) and tbh I do wonder if it is worth the money. We both ended up at Oxford. But then I think what is the point of these crazy jobs if not to provide the best we can.

Treat each child severally, they could get decent scholarships if the get top marks on the exam. How much can you afford? Can you pay for two if two got scholarship. Or would you be looking at separate schools?

We are in the US so slightly different as many schools have fairly substantial financial aid available each year. They offer this to children as part of the school offer. It generally goes to families who would otherwise be completely unable to afford the school and/or is used to increase diversity/attract talented musicians or athletes or very bright children.

In the 4 private schools I have experience of, most people had 1 or 2 children. Most had 2 parents both with very well paying jobs- like a lawyer and a hospital consultant or a financial advisor and a business school professor. Of the families I know with 4 children, in each case one parent was always very senior in finance- ran own venture capital firm or own investment firm.

There is no way a school could survive negotiating fees on a family by family basis. This would mean that one family paying full fees because they didn't know to negotiate is effectively subsidising the education of another family who negotiated. I would remove my children from a school with this lack of honesty and integrity. Financial aid/bursaries are different.

"If you have five you might only pay for three. Fact."

Yes. There are schools which do this. And it's why I recommended looking at Catholic schools because it's rather commoner with them.

They also include it in their published information about fees and remissions. It's not nudge, wink stuff. Because no one family is worth pissing off the whole of the rest of the fee-paying parents in the school.

The only school I've ever heard of that would negotiate fees didn't last long - it turned out that to boost numbers almost all the pupils were paying something different, and in the end the school had to close due to lack of money.

I agree with everyone else; I think that the fees are unmoveable in most cases.

The "extras" can also be astronomic. Last September I had to kit out DD for a new prep school (Y5) and the basics (one blazer, one skirt, one PE shirt) etc came to nearly £600.

I wish you luck, but a friend who did have 4 children at private school was forking out nearly £18,000 a term (£4,000 a term each, plus extras) - which just made my blood run cold. And then multiply that by three terms .....

My dsis is married to a vicar in London and her four DC are all on full clergy fund bursaries.

At my DDs school, lots of parents had well paid city jobs, were doctors, lawyers, accountants, etc and had one, or at most two children. Mostly both parents had well paid jobs. Those who had 3 or 4 children had exceptionally well paid city jobs with big bonuses or were entrepreneurial and owners of very profitable businesses. Some had huge wealth from family businesses through several generations. Others had very well off grandparents who paid the fees. Better to do this than pay massive death duties later on and it is tax efficient. I know quite a few who had 4 children - all at boarding schools with my DDs. Like the Queen they had two, a gap, then another two. They did not need to spread the fees, but it did help with logistics. Ordinary middle class they were not! Moving to an area with good schools would be cheaper!

We can't afford them but we want to. How can it be done?

Get a higher paid job.
Work longer hours.
Save up.

As far as I know, that is how you afford things that are currently out of reach. I want to be able to afford a large house, lots of holidays and a Range Rover. Sadly, I have to accept that I am unlikely to achieve these things!!

Ferrari or Aston Martin: We can't afford them but we want to. How can it be done? Is it true that advertised prices are a 'guide' and that the true prices are established in conversation and garages can be open to this sort of case by case approach? We would like four cars. More than one car discounts are suggested but are they really applied to any great degree? How is 'middle class' (no trolling please I am generalising) England/Wales affording such sports cars?