To ask if you have DC in private school, what your combined income is?

[ponderingthisthing]

We're sending DD to an independent school starting reception as the school has a very good reputation and we think DD will be very happy there.

We're not rich though and our combined income pre tax is about 100k, which I know for most people would be too low a threshold for them to consider private school. However, we'd rather that we offered her the best that we could afford in terms of education in place of expensive holidays, for example.

So AIBU to wonder what your combined income is if you have DC in private school?

If we're one of the more modest families there, will it impact the experience in any way, even at primary school sort of age?

I pay around 36k for dc ( senior school
) earn 150 plus won’t specify exactly much because it is not liked on here 😂

We are on the same combined and couldnt afford it. Is DD your only? Will be almost impossible without savings surely?!

Oh I’m terms of will there be a difference. It sort of depend on school and area I think.
My DC1 went to independent primary and DD1 is in state school.

In terms of materialistic stuff I found state school much more judgemental and keep up with the Jones than sons private.
The only issue is maybe when it comes to other costs if your already spread thin with fees will you be able to pay for additional
Costs ?

Need to factor in fixed expenditure not just combined income, e.g large mortgage

Combined, about 20k
dd is a boarder.
No impact for being one of the poorer families, there are many of us.

@FilthyforFirth I think it depends on circumstance doesn’t it when DS was junior I paid around 20 k for private school with 100k that would leave 80k
Which is enough to live on but then you need to take in to account
Mortgage costs etc and everyone will have different priorities

Will she be your only child? We looked at sums for 2 on a much higher gross income and it was just too big a sacrifice. 50k ish for 2 school fees plus extras is £100k pre tax income. It would be too much pressure to stay in jobs/worry of redundancy. We felt we could do have a better impact by augmenting tutoring as needed, supporting hobbies and travel las a family

Disposable income is more relevant surely?
Seriously, you are an adult you've worked out your budget.

I think you will be fine with one child. Fees increase each year in the region of 2 to 6%. Don't worry about the experience being different because of how much you earn. Everyone's experience is different depending on all manner of things.

Yes good point. I have a 4 bed detached in the SE so my mortgage is sky high. I guess someone with a smaller/no mortgage and lower living costs could just about manage.

We have 1k of monthly mortgage roughly and school fees are around yearly 13k for pre prep, so maybe not as high as some other schools (fees going up in higher years).

We do have a younger DC who is a baby. We anticipate that financially we will be better off down the line and I can take on some extra freelance work if needed.

You earn 100k between you and you can't research and work out the budget?

@DrSbaitso

You earn 100k between you and you can't research and work out the budget?

What? I'm not asking if we could afford it, I'd already said that we're sending DC to private school. Read the original post

Depends on your local schools I’d think - where I live private schools seem to be very mixed in terms of parental income and often paid for by grandparents.

I probably shouldn’t comment as my 3 DC attend state schools. But, you’re obviously not being unreasonable to consider it and if you don’t plan on more DC then I would think it would be manageable dependant on where you live and other outgoings.

I don’t think you can assess by what others do since your circumstances will never be identical.

Is your 100k gross from two salaries or one since that makes a difference to the next household income.

In general work with net figures not gross. Gross is just misleading.

Assuming it’s one salary that would be £66k net or £5.5k a month. Only you know your outgoings and whether you can afford school fees (and the hikes) out of that. What I would say is that at our school (midlands based and average in terms of fees from what I understand), there arent many families where they don’t have two well paid salaries and many also have grandparent assistance. So they’re more likely to have an income upwards of £150k.

@FilthyforFirth

We are on the same combined and couldnt afford it. Is DD your only? Will be almost impossible without savings surely?!

Do you have a high monthly mortgage? And how much are private school fees in your area?

We have a baby too.

Me and ex looked at private for ds1 we had 90k between us before tax, plus we both lived with partners who worked so our housing costs were cheaper, and we had grandparents who offered to contribute. We decided it was too much of a risk and he went to a brilliant state school instead and we used the money on travel, hobbies etc.

Only you can decided if you can afford it.

I'm not asking if we could afford it, I'd already said that we're sending DC to private school. Read the original post.

Oh right, so you did. In which case, I REALLY can't see the point of the question, but I guess you must have one, so I hope you get whatever answer you want.

But the kids won’t know who earns what and so as long as you can pay for everything then I’m
Not sure why their experience would be impacted

A point about expensive holidays etc...

Many people assume that my sister and I were privately educated. We weren't. We went to every learning-orientated club going (first aid, archaeology, history, French etc), and sports too - riding and fencing. And every single weekend we'd spend a couple of hours in the library. Apart from the riding, I'd say all of these activities were cheap.

And holidays included low budget travel to Europe, seeing first hand the things we learned about, and travel around different parts of the UK, lots of castles, stately homes etc.

This isn't some sort of superiority contest, I'm just saying that there's no need to sacrifice everything to provide your kids with rich educational experiences. If you're worried about the expense, you can absolutely afford a great supplementary education with your kids rather than private school.

@DrSbaitso well you're free to move on if you don't get the question, rather than typing away bashing others for asking. You didn't even have to open this thread in the first place as the question is clearly stated in the title.

Our combined income is 80/85k but I'm on track for a promotion in the next year to eighteen months which will take us over a hundred and that's without any increase in DHs salary. We've worked out we can afford private prep (my raise will cover it and we'll maintain the lifestyle we have currently) and the grammar schools here are excellent, top ten nationally, so hopefully DS will get in, if not we will afford secondary but there will be some luxuries sacrificed. However we have a ford and a Citroen , we don't wear designer clothing etc, we holiday a couple of times a year but nothing super extravagant (saw a thread the other day about spending 50k to go to Disney world!) and have no debt other than our mortgage which is only around 200k at this point, so it depends on your expectations in other areas too.

Oh and DS is and will always be an only, definitely couldn't afford two sets of fees

[quote ponderingthisthing]@DrSbaitso well you're free to move on if you don't get the question, rather than typing away bashing others for asking. You didn't even have to open this thread in the first place as the question is clearly stated in the title. [/quote]
I will, don't worry.

But now I see how invested you are in what others think, I think I see why the question of what everyone else earns at private school matters to you.

Good luck...