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 could believe no rent or mortgage, but no council tax? Our council tax is over £200/mth, gas & electric is £100, water is £70.

Not that it matters, my wages are less than £24k!

I do think your sense of average can change the more you earn and tends to be more based on your circle

so true @Crikeyalmighty

Dsd (privately educated) solemnly told me the other day that "everyone gets given a car for their 17th birthday"... Err no they don't not in the real world

And he pays for her housing, food, birthdays, Christmas, outings, clubs AND his own?

What about a sibling? Because most people have 2 children, not 1.

You have no idea, your thread verges on embarrassing for you.

He must live in a squat to be able to afford housing, food and bills with £800 per month.

Oh no, he clearly doesn't. Either you're lying and omitting information or you're misinformed.

FWIW OP, I hear you. Yes, it is a privilege to make these choices, but for those middle earners if thats the choice they want to make, surely its a good one?!

Many working families use the Private system, a lot for wrap around care to continue working full-time, 3 cooked meals a day included (Not sure what PP is on about paying for lunches?!) If wrap around care wasn't included, a lot would have to cut back their hours and input less into the economy to have more time at home.

It baffles me the terms such as "tax breaks" being used... we would be the only western country to tax education if Labour have their way. Did you know gambling is VAT exempt too?! Maybe they need to tax gambling first before taxing kids education.

The only thing Labour will do by bringing in VAT is create a bigger "elitest" gap. Those who are super rich will continue to put their kids in SS, those who are just managing will have to remove their kids and try and find SS places (even though there isn't many so Gov would have to pay for private travel further afield). These 'supposed' savings will not come to much, not to mention increasing Gov spending for the 1000s of Military families who use Private Education for stability for their kids (which is paid for by the Gov).

Not sure why it is always a race to the bottom these days...

So 2 of your closest friends have £450 left after paying all bills eg mortgage, gas, electric, council tax, water, food etc or have £450 to pay all of the above bills? There is a huge difference.

Not every parent is paying full fees and not every school is an Eton or a Harrow. The majority of SEN-specialist education is in the private sector and fees are paid by the local authorities and charities.

Targeting private school parents simply makes private education more elite and puts it out of the reach of even more British parents.

Bring the state sector up to standard, then more parents will use it.
The way to do that is not to use gimmicky middle-class-student-politics ideas, but to address the reason why the state sector has been haemorrhaging teachers.
Labour started on the right track by promising to reform Ofsted and the current punitive inspection regime.
What happened to that promise?

Oh my gods, no one cares, cry more.

I am getting so tired of these threads. They continuously make private school parents look stupid using words like 'sacrifice' and implying that those who don't privately educate aren't balancing their books properly and that all it needs is a bit of careful budgeting.

We privately educate. We made choices because we could but we still have the awareness that we are massively privileged to be able to afford to make those choices. For our two, in our area at secondary school, it needs net annual income of around £70k. That is a vast amount for most of the population. Money that most could only dream of. That's not bragging, it's fact. Pretending anything else is the height of stupidity.

I can't say I am thrilled about the idea of an extra 20% on a personal level. On a national level though, I think it is a good thing.

Lots of people spend this on a year’s worth of holiday though, for some reason they don’t face the same judgment than private school parents do. Or the assumption that they can easily spend 20% more.

We send our kids to private school now, but I used to get this from my MIL and SIL. Oh it’s about choices etc!! I was like it’s not about fucking choices you have to earn the money. Now DH and I do, we don’t have a big house or a big car (those are the things we’ve compromised on) but with out a doubt we are privileged!! Hugely privileged to earn enough to send our kids to private school.

Yes I shop in Lidl, yes I drive an old car, yes I know people who earn the same and send their kids to state school and live in bigger houses. They too are extremely privileged.

No amount of me shopping in Lidl was going to raise the £30k I pay in school fees for my two kids.

It was our jobs, promotions the careers we chose that helped. I don’t come from privilege my dad was a bus driver my mum worked in Sainsbury’s, I worked hard ar school.

What pisses me off about this policy is that it’s not going to make money it’ll cost money and mess up the state and Independant sector. It’s ill thought out.

Because it's an enormously expensive hobby to send your kids private, particularly if you have more than one kid, and apart from school fees there's all the extras, clubs, school trips, sports equipment and god knows what.

That's why.

Just looked at fees for local private school, just under £10000 per term. Forces bursary , for example, is 20% so you’d still have to find nearly eight thousand per term. It isn’t even one if the top schools, just a local private school.

I get that not all private school parents are millionaires, and alot are ‘ordernary people’, but they aren’t un-wealthy either. A terms pay is the same almost as a years minimum wage pay, especially if you include all the add- ins (uniform, meals, transport etc).

Targeting private school parents simply makes private education more elite and puts it out of the reach of even more British parents.

It appears that many parents didn’t have a problem with elitism until it impacts them as they are too poor to afford the proposed VAT. Now the elitism is a big issue!

Define "lots of people" in this context please?

18k on a year's worth of holiday!

Some people may do, sure, but not lots of people.

Frankly if private education isn't "elite" what the hell are you paying for? It can't be exam results. I got my 10 A- B GCSEs and 4 A grade A levels for free on the state.

But then my parents made sacrifices to be able to afford my school uniform and lunches.

Lots of people spend this on a year’s worth of holiday though, for some reason they don’t face the same judgment than private school parents do. Or the assumption that they can easily spend 20% more.

Why are you equating holidays to education? There will be parents who spend 18k a yr on holidays who also privately educate.

😂this post doesn’t make the point you think it does.
In your eyes you are sacrificing 24k of spending on holidays, perhaps a fancier house, car etc. but you don’t realise that for a lot of people shopping at Aldi, watching every penny isn’t a lifestyle choice so they can afford private school. Even doing that puts most people nowhere near paying for private school. The fact you can trim your budget and have 24k a year to pay for private school makes you extremely privileged. I get you probably don’t feel rich because you have this huge expense but you have chosen that. I wouldn’t feel sympathy if someone had overstretched themselves for a fancy house and I think it’s just the same. You’ve committed to something you can’t really afford and are now moaning your actually not wealthy but the truth is your not feeling wealthy cos you are spending 24k a year on school

This is so true. Elitism only a problem now they can’t afford it.

@MademoiselleRose ”Lots of people spend this on a year’s worth of holiday”

I don’t know a single person who spends anywhere near £18k.

But anyway, I don’t think anyone is being criticised for spending their money however they like.

It’s the handwringing and bleating that they’re “just hardworking” and “not that well off” when they might have to cut back a bit on their luxury that annoys people!

Bring the state sector up to standard, then more parents will use it.

The vast majority use it already…

If somebody is paying £18k a year on holiday they aren't on an average or below average wage.

Some people will be able to afford £18k in holidays as well as £18k in school fees. Some will need to choose one or the other. Doesn't change the fact that private school is for the above averagely wealthy - it shouldn't be controversial to state that fact! Yes, I'm sure there are a few exceptions.

OK lets throw a majorly controversial comment out there. In it's original form, VAT was for non-essential items, hence why it was on things like eating out and certain pre-prepared foods and not on basics like vegetables. milk and bread (we will ignore the women's sanitary products issue here). NON-ESSENTIAL items.

So who should it not be charged on private education - can someone come up with a good argument of private education being an "essential" item when 93% of parents don't use it?

Because having a spare £24k is not 'normal' that's a lot of people's yearly wage!