Has anyone re mortgaged to pay for Private School

[Justdowhatyouweretold]

DD is 9 our local schools are not amazing, however we have a good girls school nearby.

I think she will do well there but we can't really afford it. Fees are £15K per year.

We thought that if we borrow £50k on our mortgage we could pay the rest. We would still have more than 50% equity in our house.

Has anyone else done this?

Your mortgage will increase of course. And the school fees will be just the start of the extra expenses.

But I understand why parents, especially with just one child, might choose to do it.

We considered a drawdown mortgage when our DD got accepted into a boarding school in England. We looked into it but realised we could have bought a house instead and the results weren’t that great so decided to keep her at her own school.

I worked with someone who sold and downsized as they weren’t happy with the state schools they were offered and felt private was their only option.

Yes we remortgaged to put our daughter through an independent school from year 7 onwards. She loved it and had a very different experience to some of her friends who went to the local comps.

Have you looked at what the fees are in the senior school? If you have to mortgage to pay even part of the younger years, I can't see how you'll afford senior. Don't forget additional expenses such as ski trips abroad and more.

Financially, it makes much more sense to buy in a good state catchment - then you also have the house at the end.

Sorry but you can't afford private school imo if you have to get into debt to pay for it.

You need to factor in at least a 5% increase in fees each year and a big jump in fees when your child reaches secondary school age. The cost of uniform, school trips, clubs etc also needs to be factored in.

To be honest if you are needing to borrow to pay some fees from outset it's probably going to be quite a risky approach.

You'd do better to sell your home and buy somewhere in the catchment area of a very good state school, if you don't already have one where you currently live.

We did, so we've had over 8 years now of fees and have three years left, but the thing we factored in was our rising wages, business growth and income, so when we have spare we overpay the mortgage and even after the first 3 years would of been able to afford the fees, but had the capital tucked away.

You can pop the 50k into premium bonds etc, you know it's there and safe and with your loan to value ratio I'd be doing it again.

You can also use your ISAs and other tax benefits. With rates being so low it's cheaper than a loan.

It's quite a normal thing to do

Sorry but you can't afford private school imo if you have to get into debt to pay for it.

I used to work in a private school, a lot of parents can't really afford it.

No, but I would have been mortgage free years ago without school fees, it's not really much different to what you are thinking of doing.

I would far rather move.

I would rather be financially stable- surely it would put your family in a precarious position.
I'd move, and spend the cash enriching her life in other ways.

We remortgaged -twice- to pay for school fees my kids are now grown up , we still have a huge mortgage while our peers have no mortgage. In hindsight they would have probably done just as well in a state school , but who knows

Unless you have an amazing house or are tied to the area for work reasons, I'd move to where the better schools are.

We nearly got to this stage but fortunately ds1 is hopefully going to a good state now.

What my DH's family did and something you may consider is speaking to the school and asking if they would discount if you pay several years at once. It's a big gamble - if your kids very unhappy I'm not sure what you could do - but my in-laws saved a lot. When dh got to sixth form the school tried to say that the arrangement had ended in fifth year but fortunately mil had paperwork to prove it was for the whole whack.

At many schools students on lower incomes can request part scholarships. If it’s not a selective you can also get massive discounts if you pay from now until secondary - this would protect you from further price increases down the line.

I would invest it in tutors. I have 2 at private school and it’s not just the fees it’s all the extras

I haven't remortgaged, but our school is around £15k and yes uniforms are expensive. But apply and ask about scholarships, some reduce fees up to a third, some more if the child has a desirable 'skill'. Second hand uniform is reasonable and trips are manageable as we know in advance and save accordingly. The extras are well worth it for me.

Ps some schools offer means tested bursaries as well. The fees are really reduced in those cases.

Can you do it & afford the additional repayments without making major sacrifices elsewhere so she realises? If she was to find out, the pressure could be immense.
My mum took out a loan to pay a year's rent upfront so I didn't have to change school during my GCSE years. That was a major pressure as I was very aware of the sacrifices she was making for me.

Thanks for your thoughts.

We have a fairly good income (£80k a year between us) but we seem to live within that and have quite a few commitments for the next few years (nice cars on lease etc).

If we can borrow some up front we can cut our commitments over that time and will make it easier long term. We are also likely to receive an amount of inheritance at some point in the next 10 years or so.

There aren't any good state schools nearby but we live in the best area. So moving isn't an option, plus we have so many friends in our village etc.

She is in a brilliant small primary in our village but the secondaries are rubbish and massive.

I retrained for this reason. My 4DC in private school cost us 12k a year due to staff reductions instead of 80+.. With my salary, the savings are very good, plus school holidays.

(My employer also paid my training, but that's not always available)