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.

@DrPrunesquallor i would have thought that those 160,000 on bursaries will be disproportionately negatively affected if fees go up too much. Lots of schools use current year incomes to help pay for these.

Same mentality brought in Brexit 🤯

" by providing a blanket judgement then you are indeed stereotyping."

No blanket judgement though was there? The terms "most" and "the majority" suggests that there are exceptions.

5000 children getting a full ride does not need an over 1bn tax break ( and possibly more) the majoirty of which benefits the most well off.

:"Privilege is bought everywhere, private school or no private school."

But you don't get tax breaks for buying privileges elsewhere.

" I would love it if I felt my child would thrive in our local school but I know that he wouldn't because they don't even offer the sports he plays as part of the curriculum (hockey and cricket)."

Your child might thrive in a state school but you have made the assumption that he won't and are trying to use this to justify your reasons for buying privilege. Its fine, you can say, I prefer private education because it gives my child access to more than he would get in state and he likely to have better educational outcomes.

But you don't need a tax break for it.

Yes absolutely.
But if they loose their charitable status then they won’t be charitable anymore.

Who knows what will happen to University fees as they have charitable status too.
Plus special schools and so on.

But lets be honest, the vast majority of people sending their kids to private schools do live in the catchment areas of good schools, the vast majority of private school students come from families who are in the top 10% of household income, lets not pretend that they don't also live in nice areas

I'd say this is a fairly blanket judgement based on no knowledge of individual circumstances. Just being in the 10% doesn't give you any information or context. 20% of those at private school have an SEN diagnosis for instance. You have no idea why some people make these choices.

But you don't need a tax break for it.

Where is my tax break? I've already paid tax on my school fees. It is the school who have the tax break by having charitable status.

Fair enough. I wasn't really disagreeing with you, just adding the bit about Independent schools being run by a board of trustees. So not really the same as a for-profit business like, say, a supermarket. But still has to balance the books.

"i would have thought that those 160,000 on bursaries will be disproportionately negatively affected if fees go up too much. Lots of schools use current year incomes to help pay for these."

First where did you get 160,000 on burasaries? Only 16% get funding ( using the UCL data) and that means that its about 98,400.

Over 50% of students who get funding are paying more than half the fees. The majority of the money allocated for financial assitance goes to non-means-tested academic scholarships, and discounts for staff, siblings, and offspring of senior armed forces personnel and clergy.

Under half of it goes on means tested benefits, but many of those in higher income brackets are still getting the benefit of this as incomes that can count as being eligible can go as high as 140, 000 a year.

Pretending that burasries and scholarships are charitable anyway is poor, the scholars have to meet conditions ( often higher than the paying students) for grades and more and enhance the image of the school (results, sport, music), attracting more fee paying students.

"I've already paid tax on my school fees. It is the school who have the tax break by having charitable status."

You don't pay VAT, that's a tax break.

You don't think that is reflected in the fees they charge?

Steep! Ouch

@hillaryswankfan will your children be paying VAT on their university fees?

It's funny how the narrative changes at university.

At school - 'I would have loved to send DC to the state school, but it was over run by feral specimens, they would be bullied and learn nothing'

At university - 'how dare they give contextual offers - DC have worked sooo hard and deserve the grades they get as much as the child who went to the state school and got the same grades'

Why wouldn't you just move to an area with better schools? I know that possible for everyone, but if you have enough money to pay fees then surely you could afford it?

Found this article by The Good Schools Guide
You may find it of some interest OP

"I'd say this is a fairly blanket judgement based on no knowledge of individual circumstances."

You are again ignoring the term "vast majority", the vast majority are leading lifestyles that you would associate with those in the top 10% ( and higher) of incomes. There is no "blanket" about it.

The point about SEN? Private schools are more likely to send students for diagnosis ( paid for by parents) than state schools due to the extra money available. Private school students are more likely to get extra time etc too.

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/feb/10/independent-school-pupils-more-likely-to-get-extra-time-in-exams#:~:text=The%20research%20suggests%20that%20one,learning%20disabilities%20such%20as%20dyslexia.

I

"Who knows what will happen to University fees as they have charitable status too."

They actually do things for that status though, it isn't a tax break for privilege.

What are you talking about ?

who mentioned contextual offers for uni?

Im talking about fees

@hillaryswankfan my DC’s school does plenty for their charitable status.

It doesn't work like that. We could not afford to move anywhere. We bought our house 10 years ago and to buy something similar would be outside of our affordability. We live in a relatively deprived area and the price of our house has not risen to the same level.
We also have two older children in local schools as well as family locally including an elderly relative who I have some caring responsibilities for.

@hillaryswankfan re SEN - no matter about the numbers being sent for assessment , my DC was assessed by professionals using empirical standard tests - that had to meet the JCQ guidelines and levels to get extra time.
if my child had been at a state school I could have paid for the same private assessment.
it is a real shame if state schools don’t make the number of referrals they should and fail
some of their pupils but I don’t think this is any m. different to say paying for private speech therapy etc or dyslexia diagnosis which is open to anyone that can afford it - state or private.

So does ours
Last year ours was over 2million to the community but PP doesn’t know any true facts about any private schools.

Sure you’re not implying that professionals in their sphere are not doing the assessments objectively

As someone who works in the tax arena, the VAT on fees will not be extended to uni fees for a number of reasons. The vast majority of research done by universities is classified as charitable work for instance. There’s not just one section of legislation where they either add or exclude educational fees for VAT. It’s more nuanced than that.

I was just checking how much it costs now to go to the private school I went to - it's about £14k boarding / £9k day per term. Then there is a list of extras, including £40 per session learning support and £11.90 per hour for special access arrangements for exams 🤯