private school costs - can average earners afford these?

[coffeeforone]

On the back of a recent thread taking about very cheap private school it got me wondering. If we pay £1500 per month for nursery fees, as most parents in the area do, can we afford private school long term? The fees mentioned in the thread were so much less than this.

Is it an option to consider if we don't get offered our top 3 choices of state primary and are not happy with the school the LA offer?

Currently looking at schools for DS next September, I don't think any of the parents at DS's nursery are considering private education, and neither are us? But I'm now thinking why not? I have done no research at all on independent school costs, I just thought they were well out of the reach of average earners, maybe I'm wrong?

Fees rise every year

And often are double for high school (bursaries are not to be relied on)

Then there are the extra costs, I was paying £23 extra a day for wrap around care and the then there is the longer holidays

It’s very costly you have to have next to nothing outgoings on an average wage to be able to consider private education for one child. Ignore those who claim they just cut back and put a little aside every month they will have a lot of money spare the average wage plus living costs does not allow you to put a little aside that covers private education (it’s incredible how many at ds’s school are apparently living on the breadline )

I'd rather have them educated in outstanding state provision where they mix with fully functioning children

Would you care to clarify which part of my child does not function due to the fact I pay for her education?

You do realise that many of these ‘outstanding’ schools will be in catchment areas where the property prices have consequently risen so high that only the very well off will be able to afford to live there

It depends on the area. In my old town in the south east, it was nothing like the £15k mentioned here.
Also on their outgoing.

I have known a couple of normal earners and one low earner put their child through private school. But they both only had one child and the low earner made sacrifices for 11 years.

Sushiroller - you can't afford an average private school on over £200k? You must have one hell of a mortgage/previous debts...

You can afford it provided both you and dh make a concerted effort to go for promotions and chase higher pay over the years. It gets more expensive every year (fees increase by 3-5%) and there is a big jump between junior and senior school, with trips (optional) getting more lavish as they get older.

'Show me the money' is a significant factor in whether I take/stay in a job.

@Drabani but if you are 'very poor' then you must have a significant bursary. People on an average income or middle earners, as I think the op might be,won't get much of a bursary so couldn't afford it. So it's not wrong at all- private school is affordable for the very wealthy and the very poor who access bursaries. For everyone in the middle it's a stretch or not possible depending on where the on the scale you fall.

Yes, government funded, we pay on a sliding scale.
I wasn't talking about my dd school though when stating that many average earners can afford fees, if they prioritise. I linked to one school in the next county to us with reasonable fees to some that have been stated.

“ and the very poor who access bursaries.”

Mot bursaries do not go to the “very poor” At a lot of schools the cut off to apply for a bursary is over 100K! And there are very few full bursaries.

you will also have to consider school holiday childcare on top of the school fees.

do private school offer 'free' wrap around (i.e. included in the fees) or do you have to pay extra for that. if you add it all in, it may be a lot more.

it's at least 1k per months. think of how you could use this money otherwise. I really wouldn't through it at private education and it is overrated anyways

The very poor don't receive bursaries unless it's government funded, these are few and far between at certain schools.
It's the wc, mc, and upper class who can afford fees.
Or if you listen to most on here it seems to be only the high earners which me. As I know many wc average earners who access a private education.

We earn just over 100k between us. We can only afford it because we have one child.

There’s quite a bit difference financially if you have 2 x just under 50k earners and 1x 100 k earner. We are the former and are just about managing

I earn £56k and pay for my two children to go to a private school. I am paying £25k per year in total at the moment. However, if they continue to senior school it will be £40k per year and my salary will not cover it (once tax, national insurance and pension have been deducted). Basically I am going to have to go up to full time (I am currently four days per week) and try to find a better paid job. When we started out, school was cheaper than day nursery, but then we had another and then the fees enemy up and up...

*went not enemy!!

I'm pretty sure a recently survey put the average UK wage at £24k per year. If a two parent family earns that each so £48k per year and has only one child then maybe they could stretch to afford it depending on cost of living where they live but for multiple children? No.

My advice would be to start saving now, otherwise you’ll struggle. And feel incredibly guilty if you start off private and have to withdraw.

I pay around £21K per annum for private secondary school for one child. With increases, by the time he finishes I'll be paying more like £25K. I'm a high earner but it's still a big adjustment and killed me, emotionally, for the first year seeing that money going out for what my friends were getting for free - their kids all got into top state schools through luck of the draw; we got a poor school. Uniform not too expensive. Trips - he might go in 1 or 2 if they seem really special.

Personally I’d only consider it for secondary and even then I’d want our household income to be at least 150k to even want to consider it. DP was privately educated and is non plussed about it. We’d rather pay their uni fees and help them with a house deposit.

there is so many variables & it's not really relevant what it cost you 20 yrs ago as fees have increased dramatically.

how many children do you want/have
when & if you got on the housing ladder
what schools you actually like

I have 2 & may have another & have spent a fortune in childcare. I'm not interested in private primary as I have great options near by. Looking at my choice private secondaries they start at 18k in the first yr. That's 58k salary before allowing for anything else.

Fees only go up - NEVER DOWN!! You will probably get a letter each year saying that fees are increasing. Remember also that secondary school private fees are normally even more expensive than primary. Plus don't forget that the school uniform for private schools is normally 3 times the cost of uniform you can buy in a supermarket. Blazers etc are often over £100 - and remember how fast kids grow!!
Also lunches are always extra and often compulsory in private schools - that's an extra £150 a term.

In essence - the fees are only part of the total cost.

Yes, I don’t see why not, in my area fees are 6-8k per term plus uniform, music, trips etc.
But imo it’s only worth it if it’s a great school and a good fit for your child. Also bare in mind that you may have more children, can you afford both? Long term?
I have 2 in PS - one is highly academic and pushy, the other is for less academic arty kids.

you could save the money for a house deposit & uni. That's what my parents did for my siblings & I, they could have paid for private but we went to good state schools & were happy. We got about 200k each towards a property.

We pay £17k a year for DS, now in 6th form. Day pupil.

Childcare during term time was never an issue as he got a bus to school, leaving at 7.15 am and getting home at 6.15 pm.

Lunches are most certainly included in his fees, and he can have dinner too with no extra charge if he's staying late!

There's a great 2nd hand uniform shop too.

We could not afford Boarding fees, and have had to make sacrifices to send DS private - but the alternatives where we are (rural area) are pretty awful.

Yes, you should be fine. We paid 50% of each of our net incomes on childcare for baby number 1. Our salaries then grew but childcare got no cheaper. We had 3 under 4 at one time (paying one lady to look after them at our house as that is cheaper than 3 full time nursery places). School fees are a doddle by comparison (at day schools) as is paying someone from 3 - 6pm to do school collection.

Also I had always known then I would earn more as time went by and we both are hard workers so it has all been fine.

In fact on the same principle that I was managing their school fees I am now funding the twins at unviersity without student loans (about same cost as school fees)

Make sure you pick a good school however as not all fee paying ones are the same as others. We went for the most academically selective we could get them into and that worked very well.

Just read the comment about "fully functioning children" - implying that children in private education are not "fully functioning" . Having worked in state schools as a teacher all my working life - I can honestly say that there are just as many children in the state sector who are definitely not "fully functioning". It's so immature to pick on children in private schools and vilify their parents for making that choice. I would never dream of criticising someone for sending their kids to state school - so what makes it acceptable to do it the other way round. Inverted snobbery is just as bad.