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.

They can keep their charity status IF state schools can also apply.

£20k per child, 2 children. That would be an increase of £8000 per year if VAT was added. You don’t think that parents would be bothered by that? You think that £8000 is a “bit”? I can guarantee that most private school parents will see £8000 as more than a “bit”.

Br

The report seems quite of its time in talking about 'capacity pressures' in most state schools, when we know that these pressures are rapidly evaporating and the inverse is becoming true.

So it is probably worth seeing if there is more recent work that takes the state school population projections into account in its cost modelling. (I'd also look for one that isn't from an interest group on either side of the debate, if possible.)

I suspect fees will rise the same again next year- teachers wages will need to go up to keep up with state teachers and cost of living is going to get worse.

Really couldn’t give two hoots. I worry more about levelling up and families unable to heat their homes and feed their children.

British boarding school is cheap compared to Swiss board school.

Well, I am comparing to similar medical institutions - no, it won't be the state school system because the buildings are not suited to current educational needs. They have been adapted over the years because of the snobbery value of old but inconvenient buildings with a historical connection.

But, like many pre-20th century hospital buildings, the (high quality compared to today) outside structures could probably be adapted to very acceptable luxury flats

"They can keep their charity status IF state schools can also apply"

I find it utterly ludicrous that state schools pay quite high business rates, have to pay into things like the apprentiship levy and other expenses that private schools are allowed to avoid.

One private school put raising 8k for charity down as part of it's justification for charitable status, my big London comp would have raised that in the first term alone in non uniform days, never mind what the 6th form raised for charity.

Could we also have had reading support to primary schools given by the English department and A level English students as charitable status?

"20k per child, 2 children. That would be an increase of £8000 per year if VAT was added. You don’t think that parents would be bothered by that? You think that £8000 is a “bit”? I can guarantee that most private school parents will see £8000 as more than a “bit”."

As the majority are in the top 10% of earners? Less than 10% of gross salary? An extra 666 a month to find.

It really isn't the big cost to the majority that privately educate as its meant to be.

Nothing they can do will get rid of the unfair advantage they give to the richest few. They need to go or contextualisation needs to be really ramped up.

@hillaryswankfan earning £62k puts you in the top ten per cent. That’s a take home of £3700 per month. £666 is a lot more than 10 per cent!

I do love the stuff about contextualisation too (although it is not really applicable here)

There was a thread here months ago with private school parents bemoaning the fact that Oxbridge places were being unfairly given to students from state schools, and that their children were rightfully deserving. The utterly ignorant stuff that was posted, contextual offers meaning state kids got lower offers ( in more than a decade doing UCAS applications I've never seen or heard this, the uiversities say they don't do it when you talk to them), ideas about moving kids to a state comp for 6th form to get "a better chance" (ignoring the fact that their private school will be the place they sat GCSEs on UCAS) and more.

Using your example, you have to earn £62,500 to be in the top 10% of earners, around £45,000 take home pay. £8,000 is a fair chunk of that. Many private school parents would find £8,000 a large amount of money to find.

Most families have two working parents.

If you can’t afford it you can’t afford it,tough. Join the rest of us. Why are your children more deserving of a private education?

"earning £62k puts you in the top ten per cent."

As an individual, as a household you need more than 100K to be considered top 10% ( using the IFS calculator, a 4 person household and two teens, and a band H council tax for a London borough).

Also, the % of children educated privately only rises to over 10% for the top 5% of households, meaning that they make up the majority.

@LampL1ght As said the 62k figure is for individuals not households.

The GCSE A level music students from one of our local comps come in regularly to run instrumental workshops for our primary kids. The primary kids love it and it fosters a lovely sense of community and partnership.

Quite nice that the school does it more or less altruistically (I'm sure there are some benefits to the teenagers) rather than for a tax break. Though I'm sure the school could do something good with the money from the business rates.

Why are some children more deserving of larger houses, bigger gardens, nicer holidays, extra tutoring, music lessons, extra curricular activities? Plenty of state school pupils benefit from this. Inequality runs far deeper than a small percentage of children being privately educated. No one is more “deserving” of anything.

Being opposed to VAT on fees doesn’t mean I can’t afford it.

@hillaryswankfan well I know loads of households earning £100k that can’t afford it. Not when they are paying £2.5k a month for a three bed semi. Another £3300 per month for two lots of school fees. The figures don’t add up, not if they want to feed their kids!

"Why are some children more deserving of larger houses, bigger gardens, nicer holidays, extra tutoring, music lessons, extra curricular activities?"

You pay Stamp duty and council tax on houses ( and more if they are larger), holidays you pay VAT, music lessons and extra activities also have VAT, and their providers are not given tax breaks because they are charities.

You don’t think that £8,000 would be quite a lot for a family with a gross income of £100,000? I think perhaps some posters on here are slightly more out of touch with the value of money than the private school parents who are often accused of being out of touch.

None of those things cause the unfair advantages that private education does and most are only enjoyed by the richest.

"well I know loads of households earning £100k that can’t afford it."

Which is why the % of children educated only rises to 10% when you get into the 5% of earning households.

But surely all these people you know could actually cut their cloth and live somewhere cheaper? Maybe send to the local state school? Got to be naice areas in the annual mortgage payment is 30k a year.

Stamp duty on house purchases is far less than 20%, as is the difference between higher and lower rate council tax rates. There is no VAT on flights (Air passenger duty is often far less than the equivalent 20%). Private tuition is VAT exempt.

@hillaryswankfan you’ve accused me of denying data, which I haven’t. But you don’t seem to understand that a household income of £100k won’t cover two lots of school fees unless that household happens to be mortgage free.