To ask how you afford private school fees

[Elephantslovetofly]

We have a young DD, and although it's a while away yet we are thinking about school. The area we live in does not have a good local school, and we are considering an independent school for her

Disclaimer - I went to a private school and for what it's worth had a great education. I enjoyed being there and did well in exams. I believe my parents decided to send me there also because of a lack of a good local state school. I might have done fine at a state school, but will never know I guess

We are probably 45 min drive from the school I went to - further than is ideal. DH doesn't mind driving her there if we decide to send her there though (if she is fortunate enough to get a place)

The issue is whether we can afford it. The fees are about £9k per year for junior and £12k for senior. Assuming we therefore need to find £1k per month for fees

My cheeky question is this - if you have a child at private school, what does your household earn and how difficult is it to find the money each month to pay the fees? Our income is about £60k, and at the moment I don't think we can do it (along with our other current expenses). Wages might go up a bit before we would need to start paying, but if this is always going to be a pipe dream i'd rather get over it now

I know we could move closer to a good state school, but am exploring my options at this stage. Don't really want to move, as we have a good house here and are settled

Thanks for reading

The other thing to consider is if your child has a learning issue, even if only mild. The private system will insist upon private additional support, private assessments from educational psychologists etc. this can double the fees.

My 15 year old nephew goes to a school that is £6,500ish a term (average for Sussex) but my brother has to pay a further £2000ish each term on top. My nephew is dyslexic, but not really badly.

My brother has 2 sons and both went to private school. The eldest is 22 and bright. It never occurred to him that he would have a child that would academically struggle. The younger boy was diagnosed when he was about 8 with dyslexia although before than they knew something was up.

Mainstream private schools are not very good for children with learning support needs. Or they can be if you have unlimited budget!

Dh and I are on about 55k per year between us (both of us have taken pay cuts so that we can spend more time together as dh used to work abroad).

Whilst on good wages dh saved for school fees coupled with my redundancy package we can afford to send dd private plus the fact that we have no mortgage. Not sure we could afford it otherwise.

I went to private school throughout. Mostly paid for by my grandparents. Can't say it helped academically but I had some great extra curricular opps. DH and I had this debate with friends recently because we have chosen to double our mortgage payments to buy a house in a nicer area rather than pay for private. I think it gives DD a broader life with people from all walks of life, but in a nice community in a rural village with school and friends on her doorstep and the house will be a long term investment.

It sounds awful but I would also worry about DD being judged for not having big house/flashy stuff. Not everyone at school had money coming out of their ears but most had big houses in nice areas.

In answer to the original question. Our family income is a lot, my dh earns nearly £100k so brings home £5000 a month. But after after our mortgage, utility bills, commuting (to London) bills and car bills there isn't enough left to pay for private school fees for 3 children.

School fees where we live at Senior (11 onwards) are about £6k per term, so about £18k. However, all the additional costs would make the costs around £22k per year per child.

£66k per year for all 3 children. We can't afford it - that is more than our income.

We could afford it for 1 child, or 2 if there was a large age gap. However, we would have to change our lifestyle dramatically. Our children have days out a few times a month, each do 2 things after school a week, have tutors etc.

Also, the children I know who do go to private school are ALSO privately tutored too. Especially so at Senior level and around their GCSEs. You need to factor that in.

OP will not earn all that much more quickly if she is at the top of the registrar pay scale ( assuming 1A banding) now. A first year consultant earns £75,000 but pays 13.5% pension as well as Tax and NI, take home is about £3700 and this is likely to fall....

I'm amazed at the cost of some of these schools! I assume those of you with nearby schools charging around £20k per year are London/South East based...? I guess we are lucky our nearby schools are cheaper!

I agree puppymouse . My cousins parents scrimped to send her to private secondary and she has always said that she felt very much the poor relation. Her friends all had multiple holidays abroad, designer clothes, latest gadgets, lived in huge detached houses etc. They could afford extra curricular hobbies that my cousin could not. I went to state school and we both ended up with similar a level results, both went to uni and ended up on similar salaries. I don't see how the sacrifice her parents made has afforded her any more opportunities than I had

Our household income is more than the OPs but I know we would struggle with private school fees. I am lucky that I live in a nice area with a few excellent state schools to choose from. I would prioritise moving to a good area over paying for her to go to a private school miles away as I think this is of more long term benefit. You can then research where has the best state schools when deciding where to live. I would also never sacrifice my families standard of living in terms of holidays, extra curricular activities etc as I don't think it's worth it.

It's probably worth looking at the proposed new consultant contract if your not planning a GP career. Current plans are to reduced starting salaries to £65 and make it very hard to increase from there. Although defending on speciality and personal preference I appreciate there's always private work.

Make sure you choose a good private school. My nephew has just left with very mediocre GCSE grades and no pass in English...

Although people often quote private schools as being great because of the small class sizes, I have found that where we live the class sizes in most private schools have dwindled to the point that socially it's a claustrophobic environment. People just can't afford it generally and this brings its own problems.

I've decided to move my dd to a state school after 8 years in all girl private schools. Academically I can't fault the school but it's not a good recipe for her mental health.

It's just something to bear in mind - remember that the school you went to will have changed.

We have considered private schools a few times. Our household income from all sources is £30k. Ds has grandparents with money (but more golf club than Monaco) and a couple of local schools that do big bursaries, plus choir school options which can be cheap for a while. But I felt it was all too much knotted together with string and blue tak. Dh had to leave private education at 14 when his parents ran out of money. It's perhaps unfortunate that the people I know who had both private education and financial troubles in their backgrounds all have such severe mental health issues. I also wondered how enthusiastic grandparents would REALLY be about a £15,000 bill every year, and also felt concerned about relationships with our siblings and their children. So we have put a lot of time and effort into his education and into the school. I may say that he does notably better in subjects where we keep our noses out

I get regular emails and newsletters from the school, they had certainly done some upgrading and have new subjects that weren't available when I was there. It's also much more ethnically diverse, which is great. Very much a Caucasian place when I was there

I do think about her having friends with much bigger houses etc. Ours isn't tiny but is clearly not a £600k detached. We are not really into big expensive holidays, we prefer cottages in rural England. I've been very fortunate to be well travelled (with parents as a teenager) so don't feel desperate to go abroad every year. We also have access to family/friends holiday homes (again in UK) so can have low cost holidays that way

What I find interesting in such threads is people saying in passing that 'it's important for the DC to have a good education'. This implies of course that they wouldn't in state schools which is complete nonsense. I suppose if someone pays all that money (for something they could get for free and would potentially be excellent quality too) they have to justify the expense....

92% of people go to state schools so don't expect most people on here to be in favour of private schools. I went to private schools only as do my children and they are very good value and definitely worth it, particularly if you were educated in private schools yourself. Some of the figures quoted on here are very high. In or near London Haberdashers juniors are £13k a year. people bandy around these £20k a year figures but plenty of good private schools eveni nthe SE are more like £13k or even £10k. My siblings' children (my sibling is a doctor - consultant) are at one of the best private schools in their area near Leeds and the junior fees are just under £10k.

i think you'll regret it if you don't pay fees. I woudl try to address the issue of the low earning or almost stay at home but not very well husband. What can be done abot his income capacity? Eg if he can drive the child to school surely he could take on work as a uber or other taxi driver as clearly he can drive.

Why send a child to private?

To give them a better start in life? To earn more? To have smaller classes ?

Sending a child to private does not mean they will instantly go to uni (so more costs) and then earn tons

I know several children who went to state and now earn £100k plus as adults in their 20's

What I don't get is why terms are more exp as they get older? Are the teachers paid more ?

I am a bit [hmmm] about people judging you with regards your house etc and not everyone sends their dc private just to get a better education.

Private schools are very mixed these days. I know many people who work hard and wouldn't be considered rich who send their dc private. It is a matter of choice.

blonde of course it's not a done deal, but the facts are clear.

Privately educated young people are over represented on the most selective courses at the most selective universities.

They then go on to be over represented in many industires, including law, finance, publishing, media, business, academia, politics, science, medicine.

45 minutes is a long journey to and from school. That would be too far for us.
Do you plan on having more children and funding them all through private school? Our income is bigger than yours, but we have 3 children and definitely couldn't afford to send them all privately.
We pay for music and dance lessons that cost a fortune and wouldn't be achievable with school fees too.

'Eg if he can drive the child to school surely he could take on work as a uber or other taxi driver as clearly he can drive.'

Well user, if things ever go tits up for you, you can always make a living as an ESA Work Capacity Assessment assessor.

Many private schools currently have charitable status. I think they're likely to lose that over the next 10 years or so. The public just won't stand for it (quite rightly). Result will be increase in fees

If you can afford it, I think it's best to move to an area where the state schools are better. Yes, you will pay a premium for that, but you may recoup that in future, as and when the house is sold. By contrast, if you pay school fees, you won't get that back

I think that's highly unlikely just.

Each successive government has looked at it and discovered that it will be horrendously difficult to unpick, resulting in the closure of some financially robust schools (due to how they own their buildings etc).

Also, the fee increase would be about five hundred quid a year per child.

DH will likely take on more work once DD goes to school. Financially it makes more sense for him to do the bulk of the childcare and avoid nursery fees. Given my unpredictable work hours it will also suit us for him to be around for pick ups etc

Don't want to give too much away but complications post delivery mean we are more likely to just stick with the one child. If we were planning more than one this question wouldn't even come up, as there is no way we could afford to send two

Even Jeremy Corbyn is not proposing the demise of charitable status.

More's the pity.

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/Jeremy_Corbyn/11898450/Jeremy-Corbyn-prepared-to-strip-private-schools-of-their-charitable-status.html

I'm surprised they suggest the fee increase would only be approx £200 per child, if private schools lost their charitable status. I assumed it would be far higher than that