School fees have risen by 19% in the space of 12 months

[Findingfactsaboutfees]

AIBU to think this is outrageous ?! Fees are exorbitant anyhow and in the last 12 months we have had an increase of 19% by way of 2 increases in a 12 month period. Fees per year for the senior school are £16690 per year and do not include state of the art facilities as other local schools do. The junior school fees aren't much less either! This is a school in the north of England. If you are paying for education, where are you based and how much do you pay? I wonder whether it is comparable.

Private education will only be for the ultra-rich if fees continue to rise at the rate that they are. It is unsustainable for most working professionals who are comfortable but not ultra-wealthy! Parents locally have tried to take their children out but can't as there are no state school places to be had within a 12 mile radius. The only other option is home schooling which isn't possible when the parents are working full time. We're not yet at the point where we are thinking of taking our child out of school but hearing the plight of those who are in the process of trying to is worrying. I've always been a labour voter but if they do go ahead with the introduction of VAT, I fear it's going to get even worse.

If you are going to quote someone at least post the whole post so it's not taken out of context

And if that happens, there won't be enough state school places for every child.

In times like this, everyone battles to maintain their purchasing power. We see who has the upper hand in transactions - ie who can impose large price hikes on others.

I guess the school reckons that it has the power to impose this hike. If enough people leave, then they will have miscalculated. If they don't, they haven't.

You might have to look at the pricing power you have in your life and see if you can pass this on to whoever your clients are.

No more pathetic than complaining about the increasing costs of luxury products 😂

My father’s care home fees have gone up 20% in the last 15 months. Self funder paying nearly £70,000 pa. My grandchildren’s nursery has had two subsequent rises of 12%. It’s called the cost of living crisis.

You have a choice. We don’t.

I pray for the day it all crashes. It should be for no one.

People who post comments like this simply have no critical thinking.

What do you think would happen to all the private school children if "it all crashes"? Are the Government going to suddenly build hundreds of new schools, or fund the private schools that already exist?

Seriously, how do you think this would play out in real life?

Are you sure?

Pupil numbers (total) in the UK are forecast to fall by the greater part of a million below current levels by the early 2030s.

The total number of kids in private schools is actually smaller than this number!

I do think that it's good to have private schools there are an alternative, for all kinds of reasons. But the gradual trickle of kids from private to state that we are likely to see over the next decade is unlikely to have much effect either way on state education - either positive or negative.

Wow this thread reads like Twitter - hilarious!

Yes it is, no one has to click onto these threads yet they choose to just to be arseholes.

Of course many local schools won't have places if you decide to move from private. Places won't be saved for this situation. Many people don't get there first choice school or even a local school. Moving from private does not make your situation more important than all these other kids. More money needs to go into state to help the kids already in state. If the need to move your private kid you have to do what every body else has to do. Accept a place at the closet school even if it's 12 miles away, you are not more special than anybody else

Ok, Plumbear

Here is your full quote and I said:

There's always so much bitterness on private school threads. It reeks of it.

Ive just given up my ds's year 7 state school place to send him to private which will free up the place for another child - probably one who isn't in catchment. Aren't I nice?

and the rest...

Im not quite sure what difference posting your whole quote makes??

Suck it up or move your children 12 miles to a state school. Simples really.

Well you have a free alternative if you don't like it.

Poor taste thread, I'm moan baout that those even more privileged that myself are going to take away the privilege others can't afford but I currently enjoy. A bit like moaning the cost of Porches have gone up - buy a ford if you need a car then.

And I'm hoping to for the tax exemption on private schools to be lifted....

That's all true, but doesn't make it any less hard, for anyone. It's not a race to the bottom. It's shit for everyone, including people whose kids are in private school and the possible impact on those kids having to have a massive upheaval.

(Which again - aren't and never would be my kids - I believe in the state system)!

As they should have VAT added!!!! Private education is a LUXURY COMMODITY that the majority of the public can’t afford. If you bought any other commodity then you’re likely to pay VAT unless it’s not essential. Gobsmacked by the privilege on this thread 🥲

It does, however, suggest they are not that common.

I don't think that abolishing private schools would "magically " improve state education. I do however think stripping off the unfair charitable status many private schools enjoy would be fairer. I'd also think that the fewer children attend public schools the more the minds of Tory voters will be focused on improving state education.

Oh you have freed up a place have you 😏 maybe you shouldn't have applied for the place in the first place if you didn't need it. I stand by what I said. If you want to move your private kid don't expect state to keep places available just in case you carnt afford the cost anymore, send you kid the school 12 miles away, many in state already have no choice but to do this.

Private isn't always a luxury commodity. For some people it's cheaper than wrap around care if they work unsociable hours. Others use it because their child doesn't fit in normal schools (either they can't learn or are being bullied). Why should people who don't have the luxury of a state school that their child can thrive at be charged VAT as well as the high costs of private school?

Schools would be rammed but we would no longer have Eton arseholes controlling the system so maybe just maybe the next PM would be more invested in state schools having been to one themselves, and private no longer being an option for their own children?

Yep. 😂

Food is going up, electricity, gas going up, fuel for transport, everything so why not private school fees!

So your privileged position of CHOOSING to send your children to private school has risen by 19%. That's from your comfortable position of being able to afford to make that choice. Its hard but you can easily downscale and hardly notice any hardship.

Now think about the huge proportion of the country who dont have that choice. In fact they are seeing their utility bills, food bills and rent increase by similar numbers and they DO NOT HAVE ANY CHOICE. They need to eat. They were struglling before and now they are having to make choices to enable them to feed their children.

Can you see why you are getting little sympathy?

What I am observing in London and inside the Home Counties now is that several private schools are not just dealing with the cost of living crisis. Several have decided that VAT will probably come and they will lose charitable status so they are actively turning themselves into an exclusive luxury brand like a Rolex or Porsche. They have accepted their customers going forward will be only the really rich so they are actively playing into that.

Many hard working parents who can only just about pay fees who signed up to this originally did not realise this and were therefore conned. These parents should be getting together and asking for meetings with governors and senior management. Then they should be moving to state schools if they do not like what they hear. Local councils will have to provide places and transport eventually. These parents can now afford to pay for 1 to 1 tutoring. The tutoring business is bombing. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing. For example, it helps students pay tuition fees and save if they can tutor on the side.

We may eventually see different types of private schools with markedly different strategies. Those that keep costs low for parents as much as they can like the GDST group for girls (keeping girls safe, focus on pastoral care, costs down etc) and avoid too many bells and whistles going forward and the exclusive types where people are actively encouraged to sign up to an exclusive brand that costs a bomb. Until now we saw more of an arms race on facilities and fees amongst private schools in one area. I think that is going to change and they will start differentiating more to survive. It is important that governors make sure the right heads are appointed and that there strategies are clearly discussed and that existing parents are consulted.

Not consulting existing parents is a big faux pas many top independent schools have recently committed. If you have powerful people in your parent group and lose their support, not a good move.

The terminology you’re using here is imperative: people that don’t have the luxury of a state school that their child can thrive in.

The majority of the UK population have to suffer with education that is hugely underfunded thanks to years of austerity and cuts to public services.

The majority of the UK population don’t have the choice of ditching their state school if their child isn’t “thriving”.

Normal people just have to make the most of what they are given because we don’t have huge privilege behind us.

How is it fair to not tax institutions that are in existence to enable the 1% to perpetuate their wealth (through nepotism) whilst they continue underfunding public services, making it more challenging for anyone to ever escape the poverty in which their born.

Private schools are a CHOICE! A choice in which the majority of us will never dream of.