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Original poster

School fee hike - freaking out slightly

290 replies

wingingthings · 20/03/2023 20:49

I'm under no illusion that we haven’t been very lucky to be able to send our 2 children privately. However, we've done this without foreign holidays, new cars and making sacrifices- we shop at Aldi etc. Choices we've made happily and it's been fine. We also worked on the basis of 5% inflation each year. We just got the fees increase letter of 12.5%. I'm freaking out as this pushes us very close and will still have another 5 years to go. Curious as to others experiences this year??

OP posts:
2kool4skool · 20/03/2023 21:31

if Labour get in you can add 20% VAT

PuttingDownRoots · 20/03/2023 21:24

What year?
Would it be less traumatic to consider moving this year rather than halfway through gcses etc?

HockeyJock · 20/03/2023 21:18

lightand · 20/03/2023 21:13

Dare I question whether they may come down at some point, as they have less chance now of getting students into top universities?

No help though to the OP.

Show quote history

I don't think schools will reduce fees to attract more business, as their running costs have to be met. They're more likely to go out of business.

Some schools will have reputations or facilities that mark them out from the rest, or are in areas where options are very thin on the ground, and they will be ok, but mediocre private schools must be feeling the heat at the moment as everyone feels the cost of living pinch and parents question whether the perfectly good free option done the road would be so bad after all.

CanIAskAnotherStupidQuestion · 20/03/2023 21:14

BrieMine · 20/03/2023 21:09

Forecasts say inflation should reduce so hopefully it will be short lived, but historically we've just come through a sustained period of unusually low inflation, we're going to have to get used to it for a while at least.

Once those school fees go up, they ain’t going down again.

But I t it means they might be 12% this year, 8% next year, 5% the year after, which would be better than 12% per year from here on.

lightand · 20/03/2023 21:13

BrieMine · 20/03/2023 21:09

Forecasts say inflation should reduce so hopefully it will be short lived, but historically we've just come through a sustained period of unusually low inflation, we're going to have to get used to it for a while at least.

Once those school fees go up, they ain’t going down again.

Dare I question whether they may come down at some point, as they have less chance now of getting students into top universities?

No help though to the OP.

HockeyJock · 20/03/2023 21:13

I think absolutely everything is going up, and private schools will be paying vastly more for food, energy, resources etc than they will have anticipated too. They could probably do with increasing fees by more but will be playing a balancing game of getting more out of you without pushing it so far that numbers fall. The issue is that even if inflation slows, at best the increases will be online with inflation but with this increased price as the starting point.

(Of all the people we know sending DC to private schools, they all claim they're making sacrifices like not having new cars and foreign holidays. The rest of us don't have those things either, nor the disposable income to spend on private schooling. Invariably, they do have pretty nice lifestyles, holidays and cars too!)

CheckSock · 20/03/2023 21:12

BrieMine · 20/03/2023 21:09

Forecasts say inflation should reduce so hopefully it will be short lived, but historically we've just come through a sustained period of unusually low inflation, we're going to have to get used to it for a while at least.

Once those school fees go up, they ain’t going down again.

Oh no, I wasn't suggesting anything will come down, only that hopefully the rate of increase will slow.

Original poster
wingingthings · 20/03/2023 21:11

BrieMine · 20/03/2023 21:09

Forecasts say inflation should reduce so hopefully it will be short lived, but historically we've just come through a sustained period of unusually low inflation, we're going to have to get used to it for a while at least.

Once those school fees go up, they ain’t going down again.

Yep!! This is the worry and each percentage increase on that higher amount is tougher still Confused

OP posts:
Hoppinggreen · 20/03/2023 21:10

Day school Yorkshire, 3%

BrieMine · 20/03/2023 21:09

Forecasts say inflation should reduce so hopefully it will be short lived, but historically we've just come through a sustained period of unusually low inflation, we're going to have to get used to it for a while at least.

Once those school fees go up, they ain’t going down again.

CheckSock · 20/03/2023 20:59

I don't have experience of school fees because I work in a state school, but i do the budgeting and everything is coming in 12%+ up on last year, whereas for the last 10 years budgeting an increase of 3% has been plenty, so I'm not surprised by the increase.

Forecasts say inflation should reduce so hopefully it will be short lived, but historically we've just come through a sustained period of unusually low inflation, we're going to have to get used to it for a while at least.

FacebookFun · 20/03/2023 20:55

This reply has been withdrawn

The OP has privacy concerns and so we've agreed to take this down.

Original poster
wingingthings · 20/03/2023 20:55

BrieMine · 20/03/2023 20:53

Day school or boarding? We’ve budgeted for 8% but I suspect it will be closer to 12.

Day school

OP posts:
AnotherNewt · 20/03/2023 20:54

It's always rate of inflation plus a bit.

The 5% rule of thumb is a reflection of how long we've had low inflation

BrieMine · 20/03/2023 20:53

Day school or boarding? We’ve budgeted for 8% but I suspect it will be closer to 12.