AIBU to not want to pay £5k for a school trip?

[Lincspeeps]

In short, DD's school are running a trip to South Africa in 2021 - safari, time in Madagascar, trekking, social responsibility work etc.

Problem is, its £4.5k plus spends and optional extras - the safari being one. So, with insurance, visas, inoculations etc it'll be five grand and more.

DD's three best friends are all going and we, at a massive stretch, could probably afford it BUT in reading where they stay etc it just seems like such a rip off. I want her to do something exciting but £5k just seems a ridiculous amount.

She's not spoiled and completely understands the value of money but she'll be devastated if she can't go and I'll feel like a demon by preventing her (she's 15 now, will be almost 17 when trip takes place). I just feel that £5k could be spent in a much better way where travel is concerned - I'm sure you can buy a round the world plane tickets for a couple of grand, for example!!

Help...…..

The other thing you could do is go on a family holiday whilst she's away making that cheaper for you.

For that money she could have a car and a couple of months backpacking. Ask her what she’d prefer.

Absolutely not! 5K is an obscene amount to ask parents to pay for a school trip and these sorts of things are usually just to make the school look good! It rarely benefits developing countries when teenagers pop over to 'help' for a month! Your daughter will probably not even want to go when she's 17! Ignore it. It'll pass.

I am South African and go home once a year to see family. I would not be sending my 17 yr old daughter there on a school trip.
Organised holiday with family, in nice hotels, with careful attention to security, maybe.
This group of teenagers will be a target sadly.

i wouldn't let her go on the grounds of security and the unknown! not to scare anyone but it has to be said, a 13 yr old school girl was raped and murdered while asleep in a hostel bed in France 1996 on a school trip .
so my answer would be NO you don't go anywhere abroad with parents until old enough to decided for herself.

Say no
It's bad value for 1 teenager
And not fair to the family
You all have to share stuff and this is crazy and unfair

should be without parents

It is an awful lot of money, and i know if it were me i too would just about manage to scrape the 5k together, but, i would also see it as a trip of a lifetime for dc and if they were willing to get a small job to say help toward spending money then i would do my best to let them have this amazing experience. Don't jump in with a definate no op sit down and discuss it with dc first to see exactly how they feel about the trip/cost of it all. You say that dc 3 best friends are going couldn't they organise some fund raisers together and split proceeds to contribute I.e car washing, cake stand at local market etc?

My daughters school does the same kind of thing, not a month, but they go to South Africa to do community work for 2 weeks as it is a church school and have links to water aid in remote villages. It is a trip of a lifetime, so I would make a bargain with her, where she does have to contribute something to the cost. Good luck x

My DS school offered a similar trip - £4K for two weeks in Costa Rica. I didn't feel it was good value for money. Neither did most parents and the trip didn't go ahead. (I worked it out as a £2.5k trip)

My only regret is that I didn't find him an alternative trip closer to home. He could have had a very similar, but much cheaper experience in the northern hemisphere.

It would be a no from me - too expensive, poor value for money and not particularly safe. A local school runs these world challenge trips - last year it was India for £3500 plus a further £1000 in jabs. insurances and kit. This summer we went to Cambodia as a family for 2 weeks for £5000 all in. Its a profit making enterprise.

@gwyn26264

“This is about a priceless memory, of being with friends at a transition period of their lives”

At what cost though? The small African child being “taught “ by a wealthy white person. The local tradesman who watches the British teen clumsily try Andy build a house/school?

What does the “priceless memory “ achieve apart from being self serving?

She can have many priceless memories trekking across an African country, employing local guides, using local travel companies etc. Can’t do just as much research and fundraising if she feels the need to get others to pay for her holiday But to do it under the guise of “social responsibility” is just bollocks.

If it's not too late for the other 3 families to pull out you could club your £20k together and plan the trip of a lifetime!

Why on earth would you send your white teenage daughter to South Africa.

I was talking to a South African man (white) in Thailand , and he told me that the situation was very dangerous.

He said that white people had been bad to black people there for so long ,( as we all know that part of history) , and he said that now it is the other way around. That there are LOTS of revenge race attacks, rapes and murders of white people in SA

Also to put the price into perspective.

I got a really nice appartment on air b and b in Eastern Europe for 150 pounds a month.

With that 5000 pounds, you could rent an air b and b appartment in Europe, and take a nice holiday for three years

@Lincspeeps I appreciate its a lot of money but my daughter has this past summer done this trip (or similar) and it was life changing. She has come back a different child, so much more confident, new friendship groups and memories she will never forget. We paid monthly which made it easier and Grandparents contributed towards the monthly and my daughter got a Saturday job in the year leading up to it. I couldn’t recommend it enough x

That’s an awful lot of money!
I’m wondering whether the social responsibility element will be more of a political issue in 2021. Remember the outcry regarding the Stacey Dooley photograph?

Ridiculous. I spent 5k on a 6 month holiday in South America and visited 7 countries.
No way would I support this.

Volounturism is also damaging for local communities especially vulnerable children in orphanages. Plenty of research out there on that. Also if she wants to help the community it would better to donate her airfare and not go.

@Fret2006 she could do a trip herself, for much less. Why pay more to do it with a school?

@AdriannaP yes!

I also spent 5k on a six month tour in India.

I had a great time.

5k for one month for a teenager is insane!

I don't think my lot would ask as they know it wouldn't be possible. I had to tell my middle child no for a skiing trip that cost £1400 as I just couldn't afford it.

@angell84 yes I agree, you could do it a lot cheaper. It was as much about the social side of it and the group of kids she went with. She got so much out of it from that point of view x

There’s a bigger question about schools organising trips which are patently beyond the financial means of most families. It’s such a lot of pressure. We would struggle to come up with half that sum for a school trip and i’d not be wild about my daughter spending all hours working to pay for a trip when she has GCSEs and A Levels to think about.

South Africa is not somewhere you want to be sending your kids OP. Awful country.
My daughter came home with a letter for a similar trip but only for a week a week. It was a firm No from us.

Jeez that’s a lot. My ds is 16 and in year 12 doing A levels and he’s going to NYC for £900 with drama. Nearly 5k is obscene.