How do parents afford private school

[Tonnnnnn]

Around here private school fees for secondary school are around £30k per year.

What sort of salary is required to fund two kids at private school? I am assuming both parents need to earn around £100k mark or one parent needs to earn £250k.

Even then, mortgage, holidays etc.

Aside from a few high paying industries ( banking, law) most places would t pay this much unless you were senior, and there are thousands of private school places around London.

Wonder if people are using their salaries or if it’s family
money paying for the fees

DT’s went to a private school in London from ages 4-18. We paid the fees from our salaries.

The same people who then Moan about how broke they are on Mumsnet with "only" 100k a year income.

Parents pay it (the child’s grandparents) for the ones I know who go private school.

For us it's salary.

Dh is a high earner and I'm a not so high earning lawyer.

But the costs have gone up massively since ds started and DH got made redundant last year and had to take a lower paying role.

Whereas before we didn't really feel the cost we now do and I can't wait for ds to leave.

We're not sending DD as I don't want to commit in such uncertain times.

Othe parents I know pay from bonuses, remortgaged the house or earn a fortune. I know one family with 4 kids so circa £9k a month on school fees alone.

I guess it’s maybe reflective of the area you live in, so as you’re in London I think the inflated fees are a result of the typically higher salaries. We’re in Birmingham and a secondary place fee is closer to £20k per year which we could comfortably afford on a joint salary of £110k without impacting mortgage payments etc. It’s something we could have sustained with one child but with a second now on the way we’ve ruled it out - one child, yes. Two, definitely not!

According to some research nearly 50% of fee paying parents receive help from family, generally grandparents.

Most people I know who's kids go to private schools have funded it from inheritance, or the grandparents pay.
One friend chose to only have 1 child so they could send him privately so from 2 decent professional salaries that's quite achievable, particularly as they lived in a fairly cheap area.
Another friend who's put 2 kids through private school has a DH earns megabucks (they have 3 houses sort of money)

Have generational wealth. Have super high salaries? There used to be assisted places where poor kids could go to private schools for free. But that stopped ages ago I think.

I think grandparents paying fees is not unusual. My friend's child goes to an expensive private school, they are not high earners but the child is very bright and won a 90% scholarship. There are quite a lot of scholarship children at the school so it's more socially mixed than some might assume. Another friend has 3 children in private school but the school is at the cheaper end of the scale when it comes to private school and they live in modest house, old car etc.

We looked at sending our children privately. It was £36k for both to attend. We earn £100k between my partner and I, take home pay of £5000 a month between us. We have no overseas holidays, drive 15 year old cars and do not live luxuriously at all, but we couldn't afford the £3000 per month it would have cost us. That would have been my entire take home salary and part of my partner's, leaving us not enough to cover basic bills. As it is, we could afford to send one, but not both.
You have to be earning a huge amount to pay fees of £30k per kid as well as afford a mortgage, council tax, utilities, childcare etc.

My local independent school charges £4772 per term for the senior school including sixth form. Junior is £3816.

If you're being asked to pay more than double that, find a different school.

Some people do just earn a lot of cash

I know that works some people but it's true

In some families the grandparents are paying, or there may be a family trust fund specifically to pay for education.

In some families, both parents are high earners and they can afford the fees comfortably there's plenty of people who think that £80k is a pretty low salary.

In some families their earnings are more modest but they live very cheaply in order to afford fees.

Some people start saving when their kids are born and use state for the first 3-7 years then switch to private using 50% from savings and 50% from income.

Some people get bursary support.

Family money/inheritance. I have seen many many trusts set up with the intention of paying grandchildren’s (and beyond!!) school fees.

We pay from salaries for our child that goes to a private school. We don’t send them there through choice, but due to the state school being wholly unprepared / unwilling to support their SEN needs. Their siblings are at state. Our joint salaries are £250k. I think a lot of kids are funded by grandparents / inheritance. It’s money really well spent in my opinion. If only we could afford to send all 4 kids.

Care to share salaries? Sorry for being nosey

My child’s grandad pays one third. We pay the rest from salaries.

We pay from our salaries but DH earns over £300k

Family money, especially if generations have been to same school. Granny will often leave money in will for it. I went to a private school, it was great. But my own children’s state experience is vastly better…more varied, heaps of opportunities. I’d not pay it even if I could afford it. Just my opinion.

Well private schooling in England has always been dominated by wealthy people hasn't it. So property wealth / land ownership/ trusts / generational wealth account for a lot. Plus if it's what their families 'do' they will prioritise, borrow, or are gifted money for fees. Some people would do anything to avoid state schools. I even read about someone paying fees by running an Onlyfans site but I imagine that's much frowned upon by the old money crew!

DH a doctor and me Global Corporate Finance Director

Ds fee for sept have just been released they are £8800 plus vat per term. Its insane!

Lots of people I know just spend it on fees rather than other stuff. If I didn’t have an huge mortgage , expensive hobbies and holidays I could spend that on schooling. I just choose not to. It is a lot of money after tax now , so it’s not really affordable for most on a monthly basis ( especially if multiple kids )

Definitely also people with one child making the decision to have no further DC in order that they can afford private education.

For us it's work pensions. We use those to pay school fees and live off dividend income.

We don't have a mortgage, so we just need money for living expenses.

We live by the seaside so don't tend to go on a lot of holidays, just city breaks.

School fees are our priority so we make sacrifices in other areas.