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

A massive percentage of parents at DD’s school had very generous grandparents paying the DC’s school fees

I know some ‘normal’ families that have sent their child to private school. Both only have one child, small mortgages, older cars and don’t go away on holiday unless camping etc
One of their parents works in a state school and due to ever increasing class sizes, reducing budgets and poor pupil behaviour decided that private school was a better option if they could stretch themselves to it.
The other family when the child was preschool the Mum was the stay at home parent, which they could afford but she then returned to work part time specifically so she could pay private school fees as her DH wages wouldn’t stretch that far.
In our area for lower key stages it’s just under £4000 a term.
We have 3 children and no way could we afford to send them to private school. We have fairly local grammar schools which one of our children attends as they wanted to take the 11 plus. My other children attend usual state schools, I’ve noticed a big difference in class sizes, behaviour etc at the school they have attended since the oldest went there and now the youngest does.
If I could afford it I would definitely send our youngest to private school, he is a little behind and the smaller class sizes etc of private schools would possibly help him to thrive.

We send our DC and have an income of £200k. It costs £27k a year. We are considering pulling DC out and just paying for tutoring. They are in private because state failed us on SEND and our DC would probably be a non attendee by now if they were in state. I hate doing it and not using state and resent that ALL our money goes on this at the moment after mortgage and bills

If Grandparents pay how does that work in terms of inheritance tax/deprivation of assets?

Genuine question, neither of our families have any money so not an option for us but am curious!

When my DC started at private school, I was earning about £38k per year. DC earned about £80k. They were both educated privately age 3-11, one is now in a state grammar and one in a private secondary.

I now earn £140 to £160k (depending on bonus) and DH earns around £90k. It would be tight if they were both in private secondary as the fees have increased significantly over the past 12 months AND we have a big mortgage (which also increased significantly after the Truss debacle).

Private school for grandchildren is specifically an allowable expense when considering IT/deprivation of assets.

And meant to say, we pay out of income. No significant inheritance or family wealth. My mum left me around £20k when she died and my dad was a low earner and now survives on a state pension only. In fact, it’s me who has to supplement his income from time to time.

I only know a few people who send their kids to private schools, and they are high earning couples(anaesthetists, consultants, lawyers etcetera). I couldn’t afford it on a teacher’s wage and none of my close friends have children in private schools.

We put our 4 thru middle school private prep so 'only' 4 years each 7-11 crossing fingers to pass 11+ (and then paying £££££ on top for 11+ tutors) in a state grammar school area. 3 out of 4 passed - the one that didnt stayed in private until GCSEs and then went to the grammar for 6th form. Our house price has always been inflated due to being in state grammar catchment area and has had another boost due to the VAT increase but we bought it realtively cheaply and extended it over the years.

The one who did private thru secondary said that the state grammar was far superior teaching when they went at 6th form.

The hardest time was when we had 3 at private and employed a full-time nanny for the youngest. We both worked full time in relatively highly paid roles to spin those numbers over that financially draining period. Glad its all over now.

We pay from salary, we have one earner but the salary is twice the figure in the OP. No family help or inheritance. We have substantial assets (built up from scratch and paid for from salary) although we don't use them to pay fees, but it gives us reassurance that we'd be fine if anything happened to our income.

We are in London and school fees are high. We have 2 dcs in prep, currently paying £24k a year. Most families at the school have one or two high earners, earning similar or more (in professions like law, finance and tech). There is no open discussion about fees though and no one has spoken of grandparents paying for fees. None of them seem to be making sacrifices - everyone is always jetting off on overseas holidays (including us), and most dcs have lots of hobbies and entertainment.

@HausofHolbein I totally agree it's worth it. And yes, all those long hours of work are also a sacrifice....

I'm a teacher at a private international school abroad and my children went to the local state school.The money I see every day at work is insane. Most parents are obviously not employees, come as a couple in extremely expensive cars to collect the kids after obviously being on the beach or lunch out or whatever. I earn less than €20k pa and I won't lie - I do wonder where does their money come from? How do they afford it, especially when some have 3/4 children? I know its absolutely not my business but fuck I'm curious.....!

I'm so curious to know what kind of sector pays £300k, twice the Prime Minister's wage! Could you say, even vaguely?

Financial planner here with children in prep school. Half the people I look after have fees paid for by grandparents and the other half pay for it from their own income. I have everyone from an uber driver who drives 16 hours a day to pay for it tp people in the law, finance and trades. There is a huge range of backgrounds, some hard working new money and others more in the inherited wealth space. Many people I look after literally cut out absolutely everything in order to be able to pay the fees. Nurses and other allied health professionals earning £40k plus a loot of overtime. It really depends on how much you value education and how hard you’re willing to work and sacrifice in order to pay for it.

Same. We stopped at two because we can't guarantee to afford private education for three.

We’re doing primary, it’s going to be £21k for them both in total next year, they’re bright so on track for scholarships for secondary. We don’t have fancy cars, don’t spend money on clothes/hair/nails haven’t been abroad in 2 years, so we’re saving elsewhere. We obviously have decent money coming in from our salary, but we’re prioritising spending it on their education.

What do you mean an allowable expense? I’m not following.

We have 1 DC in private school, and we both have relatively senior roles in the Technology sector, with a combined income around £350k. But our private school is closer to £20k than £30k, which makes quite a difference...

1 child - 1 salary - re-mortgaged! No holidays - old car - scrimp on everything- he left school a couple years ago and very successful!

2 DC’s in private school with fees approx £20k p/a per child and we pay from salaries, no inheritance or grandparent help. Both earn approx £120k each. We have a fairly low mortgage and didn’t over stretch property wise. We are all very happy with the school and feel it’s great value.

They’ve been killed by VAT

Where I live (not London) DS’s fees are £16k. Will rise to £20k in secondary. We moved him last year, age 10. DD will go age 12 for secondary only. Between us we earn £175k. It’s very doable for us with just 1 DS there. We’ll have 3 years of double fees which I have savings for.

That’s just not feasible for many people if you’re looking at top schools and/or live in more expensive areas. Even my 8 year old’s fees are £25k per year.

Banking? Tech? Fin tech? Senior consultant level doctor. That sort of thing. These salaries do exist

Why are you asking? Quite a goady thread.