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...…..

Also, I wouldn’t go to SA if it was free. Too many horror stories.

If you can afford it then do it . 5k is not a lot for a month incl flights,Accommodation and food plus some supervision.
Sounds fab.

A friend of mine went to South Africa and lived in timber cabins with good food supplied free and they looked after monkeys plus went on small safaris all thrown in. The cost was £2400.00 for her and her son, for 10 days and included flights and transfers. 5K is a rip-off.

Alternatively (and I hate to bang on) children can do Duke of Edinburgh. By the time they're 17-18, they're leading groups of younger children on expeditions. They have to pack and carry their own stuff, camp and cook.

I simply don't believe children become any more resilient and acquire extra special skills through faux helping poor people in developing countries than they would if they fended for themselves in Wales. Trying to cook in the pissing rain is a great resilience builder. Even better, they're not exploiting people to have their learning experience. Win win.

Is it a world challenge type thing? I went on one to Honduras and saved up myself over the two years. It was the best month of my life, I learnt so much about myself and grew so much in terms of independence and leadership. I think you should be encouraging her to go and save up herself.

It gave me a lifelong love of travel, and some of my happiest memories. It's not a 'school trip' it's a month long expedition.

I'm going to go against the grain a little here.

£5k is masses. I could not afford it. However, ds1 does have the opportunity to go on a shorter school sporting trip to somewhere equally far flung (but not SA) also in 2021, at a cost of £2k. Think rugby tour type of thing.

The destination is somewhere that I will never get the chance to take him. I can't afford for myself and three children to go long haul anywhere. But I can afford to save (and he will have to contribute too) so that HE can go. We will have a camping holiday that year in Cornwall or something instead of the cheap package to Spain that we've had sometimes before. Other dc will get the opportunity to go as they get to the same age.

But that's only £2k vs your £5k, and somewhere a damn sight safer than South Africa.

@Boshmama did it cost you 5000 pounds?

Nope nope nope. That's too much.

Especially with what a PP said about South Africa's current situation definitely not and in that case the school are nuts even planning it as does any of the people involved in the planning know the current situation there? I know its 2 years off but still, this sounds very poorly thought out.

A colleague of mine is struggling with a similar decision. Her son's school is doing a trip to China next summer for about $5,000 USD. She's a single mum, she really can't afford it and would be much better off saving the money for uni in a few years. But her son really wants to go. It's a tough spot.

I agree with @Boshmama

When I went in 2004 it was £3500, which is the equivalent of about £4850 now, mostly earned on my £3.93 per hour wages and babysitting. @OrchidInTheSun we also had to pack, carry, camp, shop, budget and cook.

The cost of voluntourism like this is deliberately inflated as part of the structure - not for greed but to ensure that the important causes they find out about during the trip get some genuine funding rather than just being gawped at.

It's not a bad thing to do but I think it's a terrible idea to just pay for it for her instead of letting her fundraise. You could effectively offer to pay half by doing a matched funding deal that every pound she receives through her own efforts with bake sales etc, you will match with your own donation. If you don't think she can combine fundraising with GCSE revision then she should do the trip in a different year. South Africa isn't going anywhere and these opportunities will always be available.

Sorry I forgot to add that south Africa is incredibly dangerous and I can't understand why the school chose it

Teacher gill

Crazy money! And as pp have said, it must exclude quite a few people who are on lower incomes. Our school trips were things like ski - ing in France, nowhere near as much money. I would be tempted to go in & have a chat to the organiser

That is crazy, and thank you to @Flowery for the sobering link about voluntourism.
Excellent post @OrchidInTheSun. Couldn't agree more.

It's obscene for schools to put this sort of pressure on families, on students, on friendships. Do they not know how manipulated parents feel when faced with the double whammy of 'socially responsible' and 'all my friends are going'?

In 2006 it cost about £4k and was worth it. I'm not from a high earning family, but I saved and worked and it was definitely worth it. It's not the same as a school trip though - only about 12 pupils from my year went, so no one felt 'left out' or excluded because it was completely optional and taken in the summer holidays

Sounds like the school is making a profit off the trip or is the extra money you pay to cover for staff going ? Sorry not read the other comments

My 1st thought was: DAFUQ????

Then I read the comments and I thought: DAFUQ????

It's five THOUSAND pounds. Just no. Absolutely not, not unless she gets a job to help with the costs.

Regardless where and how long it is it is still just a school trip.

Jesus H Corbett. How the other half live!

What the flip. Thats a lot of money. Yes it would be an amazing thing to do but its 5k. Id save up and get her driving lessons and a very nice car for instead. There will be alot not going she wont be the only one

DS’s (state) school offered similar.

I would have supported him to go IF a) he really wanted to and b) gave me a realistic plan of how he would fund it. The idea isn’t that parents just cough up, the fundraising and planning is all part of the experience.

—thankfully— DS did not meet my criteria!

My niece went to a different country in Africa on a similar very expensive school trip and did not enjoy it.
She stayed with a family and they were very protective of her & seemed terrified that she might come to harm and kept her in during the evenings- she was bored.
Like most posters have said I think that it's irresponsible of schools to offer these trips that price out most families.

Don't do it. Please please listen to others. South Africa is not safe. I would know as I left due to violence especially targeted against women. I would never recommend sending your child there. I hate going back and do so under duress but I miss my family terribly. I know how to use a 357 magnum effectively and the family home is like fort Knox. Even with all the panic buttons, safe rooms, private security companies they still get you. I was 15 when someone broke into my house with an axe and I had to run for my life, 21 when I was hijacked at gunpoint fearing being raped and or killed. You don't ever recover. I refuse to take my children there. It ain't paradise but the closest you will ever get to hell.

My school did a World Challenge trip back in 2010 and it was a ripoff back then too, anyone can see that for a mile off. 5k to go camping? For 5k you could have a luxury island holiday in the Maldives, and actually help the local economy!

I would have never dreamed of asking my parents to pay for this.

At 17 I went on a girls holiday to Lanzarote for £270 (which I saved from my Saturday job, £3.57p/h). Now that was good memories!

My son's at a school with trips costing that amount. State school, grammar. Lots of loaded types have kids there. He knows we cannot afford that sort of money.
Our elder son went through the same thing.
They both seem fine with it and none of their friends from the school could afford the trips either.

My eldest did this and came back with a real perspective on life outside his admittedly middle class background. We got together with other parents of children on the trip and helped our children to fund raise most of the cost, on the basis that most of the trip was designed to help build a school in Kenya. They built the latrines. Our children sold stuff at boot sales, did lots of sponsorship activities, contributed through part time jobs, held raffles, all small stuff but over 18 months it mounted up. The self funding was a hugely important part from my perspective.

What about the local builders who didn't get the jobs?
Why does anyone think British teenagers are any good at building work?