Why do people think parents who pay for private education are enormously wealthy?

[SheineOn]

Is this just the stereotype?

I went to a school that cost 18k a year (15 years ago). It’s now 24k a year.

There were wealthy people there. But also many ‘normal’ people. At least 40% fell into that category. People who lived on estates, drove modest cars, skipped holidays and ate cheaply.

They made a choice to spend their money on private education. For context, two of my closest friends have dc in private. They live off 450 a month after paying fees. They are not high earners.

Not everyone has endless wealth. Some are just happy to make the sacrifice. I find it strange people don’t seem to get that and makes me wonder how lacking in knowledge you must be to have that view of the private sector.

I accept that not everyone who sends their kids to private school is enormously wealthy and may be 'normal'. But they're certainly not going to be average earners, they're going to be reasonably comfortable/well-off.

The median household disposable income in the UK was £32,300 in 2022/2023. It's highly unlikely that anyone in this bracket is going to be sending their child to private school, to it stands to reason that private school parents will be quite a bit wealthier than average.

They live off 450 a month after paying fees. They are not high earners
They may not be high earners, but they don't live off 450 a month after fees - that's almost impossible without financial help/benefits! How do they afford rent/mortgage, fuel, food, commuting costs, phone, clothes, council tax?

I live in a small town in the NE of England (25,000 population) I don't know a single person who has sent their kids to private school or who went to private school themselves, in fact I don't think I've ever met anyone who has in my entire 35 years. It's generally a working class town with lots of council estates and one or two nice housing estates. Most people work minimum wage or just above minimum wage jobs and it would be absolutely impossible to send a child to private school on that money, no amount of sacrifices would make it possible.

You are in a bubble op.

Quite simply, there is a significant proportion of thr population who work their arses off and still don't earn anywhere near enough to gave £24k to spare for private school. Hell there are people that work their arses off and only just scrape that 24k after tax

Strangely enough we are in the NE. There are 8 private secondary schools in the area.
We send DD private and are obviously not on London wages.

And of course often for more than one child. so £60k, or 90k... or more.

Or paying London mortgages.

Can I ask why you sent her private? Just curious because in my opinion it's an absolute waste of money unless you're a millionaire and it truly is pocket money to you.

Or maybe they have made a sound investment into their DC’s education which enables them to purchase their own house.

If you have a spare £24k a year you are not "normal". That is a minimum of 2 grand a month disposable income.

I don't think everyone sending their children to private school is "extremely wealthy" but they are certainly NOT normal average families and need to stop pretending otherwise. And all this bollocks about sacrificing holidays and cars is just that as well - BOLLOCKS because many people cannot afford either and still couldn't even dream of sending their children private.

Because local state options are poor.
We are comfortably off (not wealthy) and she is an only child. We don't place value in things (cars/houses etc) so we decided to save up and put her in private secondary school. She did state primary because it is a village school and amazing. We will probably do state 6th form.
She is our only child and we have invested in her future financially through savings and now through education
As you probably know funding for Northern schools is lower than elsewhere in England and the NE has some of the lowest outcomes in England.

Sounds like you ate in a bubble. You should broaden your horizons. Education helps with that.

I am not against private fees, but agree with this. OPs argument, and using her brother as evidence is flawed.

£35K is the median household income pre-tax. If DB is a single parent with zero input from other parent, then he is still out-earning the average household.

I suspect partner/ex-partner is also contributing towards their child.

From a state school background, no inherited wealth, but went to Oxbridge and now earning multi hundreds of thousands a year, I chose state school (outstanding by Ofsted). I don’t want my kids growing up thinking they are superior to other people because their parents paid for their education, an attitude I have come across many times especially during my Oxbridge years.
The idea that anyone on average salaries and no family top up could whip up £48K after tax a year to send their 2 kids to private school if they just made a few sacrifices is just laughable, and totally representative of the out of touch attitudes in the private school bubble.
Public school doesn’t even guarantee a good education. My CEO (not British) allowed his two daughters to choose their own secondary school. First daughter chose an outstanding state school. Second daughter chose a public school. He was always commenting ‘what am I paying for?’ about the public school, he rated the state school far higher.
My kids are doing fine in state schools so far. And I’m saving for their future and giving them some great holidays and experiences as well. No sacrifices required.

Anyone who can afford 24k a year for something that isn't essential is wealthy in my opinion.

Opinions are normally based on people's life experiences, and if someone can't afford luxuries and not being in the red at the end of the month, is seen as a good month then it's obvious people will see that as extravagant.

No precisely. That's why we don't have to be wealthy in order to send our child to private.
That's why the term "wealthy" is so disparaging because it means different things to different people depending on each individual circumstance yet is broadly applied as a blanket term to anyone using private schools (whether they are on bursary/paid for by MoD or whatever).

Ok, we’ll sacrifice food and electricity to give our dc the opportunity. This is just like out of touch Tory billshit.

It's 10k over the average wage, so yes! Half of people earn under the average wage, so 10k over means you are privileged!

I think the problem is that wealthy people clearly don't have a perspective about how wealthy they are!

But half earn over 34K. So are half of the country wealthy because they earn over 34K?

£24k is around £30k pre NI and Tax.

I guess if 2 parents, above average earnings & a lowish mortgage, it can be done with just one child.

Would be a struggle though, personally, in this situation, go state and get extra tutoring/music and sport, its what i did and DD turned out fine, despite a less than brilliant Comp.

So agree, not by any means "wealthy" but above average for sure.

Imagine the shock when you find out kids that go to normal schools can get good jobs too 😁 especially if they have good parents who encourage them to do well.

As for the ops question the more I think about it the more silly it sounds if you have a spare 24k to waste on private school you absolutely are wealthy. Nothing wrong with that of course but the unwillingness to admit it on this site is a little weird

How much are the school fees?

Earning 40 or 50k p.a is by no means wealthy, considering inflation has eroded buying power by 20 or 30%, that 40k is peanuts i'm afraid.

The UK has a low wage problem, most definitely.

its very grim when a nurse, in his/her first 2 years earns just 30k.... pays 1200 in parking and 45k of debt.

18K and I work purely to pay the fees.

If you can afford 24k a year then you are wealthy. There are people who earn less than that doing a full time job. Even looking at average salaries by the time you consider tax/ ni/ pension etc you’d d be lucky to take home 24k. From £32. I know quite a few people who have kids in private schools they are all much higher earners, six figures etc. A few farmers with inter generational wealth.

Im sure someone will be along to say it’s not much nowadays but in comparison to us plebs it is a lot more.

What sacrifices would you like a family consisting of a widowed mother, earning £20000 per annum to support her two children to make? Where do you want her to pull the £48000 per year from? Her arsehole? Stop the 'not all PS families are wealthy bollocks'. Yes they fucking are. If you've got 24k to spend on one child's education and multiply that for every child you send them you're well off. It's irrelevant what other sacrifices you're making. If I told you I spent £48k a year on holidays then you'd say I was well off.

I don't have an issue with private school but I do have an issue with idiotic people stating shite like you are doing.