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

The RAF paid 95% of our fees when at private school.

That’s a pretty average salary in finance, probably with a large bonus on top of 1-5x salary. Or London law firms. Business owners. Barristers. £300k isn’t even a lot.

• Pensions can be used untouched and can be used for fees on death.
• gifts out of ordinary income for retirees with large retirement incomes.
• trusts set up well before care fees are needed.
• Sale of second properties owned by grandparents
• Grandparents downsizing and gifting capital
• direct gifts made well before death
• putting grandchildren as shareholders in grandparent’s Ltd company

Lots of ways to do it.

We started saving our bonus from when they started primary school (only doing secondary privately).

We funded through a mixture of grandparents, salary and doing without. So glad when they all finished school.

If fees are 60k per year for two kids you need to earn 120k pre tax just to cover fees alone.
So you’re looking at 250k household income to afford it unless you have help or inheritance.

Glad we're through schooling, however we did fund x 2 DD's from our salaries. Both £100k plus, drive old cars and one holiday a year. Worth it is as now both DD's early 20's, working and living independently.

Ah, ok. I thought that they abolished them in the late 90s? I guess I thought they were a good idea, but I'm not really a fan of the concept of private school anyway. So I'd be a hypocrite to support it really.

I don’t know. Good indicator of how unequal our society is when fees are more than average gross salary

I only have 3 friends with kids at private. All paying fees themselves from earned income. In all cases:

• 2 parents both in £100k+ jobs
• over 45 and been on property market for 20+ years
• have not overstretched themselves with property. All still living in 2nd home purchased so not trying to continually move up.

£15k-25k per child (cost depending on year group) and £40k+ if they board. Our children will not be gong 😂

We paid for secondary for 4 in London day schools on a massively lower salary than many on this thread are saying isn't sufficient for paying for more than one child.

In early years pre kids we didn't go mad on holidays etc and channelled all spare money into mortgage. We didn't move to a bigger house when we could have and built up a savings pot to fund the fees not covered by salary. Other outgoings were kept to a minimum but still having an annual holiday each year. The three years where we were paying for 3 sets of fees at the same time were tough but the savings lasted until our endowment (remember those?) paid out which boosted the coffers. It also helped a lot that we were on a cheap tracker interest only mortgage and the low interest rate period exactly spanned the 14 years we were paying fees.

As others have said, everyone's circumstances are different and also spending priorities. For the 17 years of our marriage before the school fees began when we could have spent more frivolously we didn't, because we always had school fees in mind and saved accordingly.

It saddens me a bit to read of all the only children of parents with huge incomes on this thread who have no siblings because of school fees. I realise we would have a lot more now in the way of savings and investments if we hadn't gone the private route, but we still don't require a lavish lifestyle and we have enough. No regrets.

Hardly worth getting out of bed for, right? 🤦🏻

It’s just the reality

I remember lending an ear to a senior who was upset about her tax bill. It was more than my annual salary at the time 😂

I think it's either huge salary,/very successful business or grandparents/family wealth or buseries/scholarship or a combination of above.

I used to work with 2 married colleagues earning around 60k gross between them, they sent their 2DCs to private school that at the time had fees of 6k per term so for 2 DC 36k a year.
The had music scholarships which reduced fees somewhat (but became a source of tension when DC wanted to give up orchestra) and GP paid rest of fees.
Another friends DH has a share in a successful family business and they pay one DCs fees with dividends and her in laws ( owner of business) pay other DCs fees.
Bill and SIL kept remortgaging their house ( at a time when when house prices were consistently and rapidly rising and mortgages were easier to get ) to help cover fees, they had bursaries for kids/ managed to negioate fees/ sibling discount and I suspect also had GP help

My DD was awarded a scholarship, and we get a bursary too. We pay for the remaining amount ourselves.

We will send ours, here it's more around 22 to 25 a year even with vat. We have savings made up of some redundancy payments and then monthly savings of 500 pounds since they were born, in a high interest isa. We now have 120 k saved which covers the first big chunk, we've 2 kids, 1 has special needs and really will thrive in a much smaller and more gentle environment, since his diagnosis last year we are upping saving. He is 9 so we have 2 years of saving to go. My other child is very bright and we've a good grammar nearby so if she wants to go there or the outstanding local comp she can (it'll be her choice, they're both great) or if she prefers the private option we will ensure the money is available to be fair. We don't have the salaries to suddenly pay the fees direct if we randomly made the decision when they turn 11 but we are planners, we've always saved based on potential uni or housing costs, if it is better needed for secondary school, so be it. We are lucky, we earn well and we save a lot and plan a lot. I would never dare describe it as a sacrifice, but we carefully choose what we spend our money on, and since my sons diagnosis this is now our priority

They setup trusts to pay the fees. Not sure of the details. And granny.

Where is that?!? Near me £6k a term

my partner and I earn £130k between us .
school fees have now gone up to £2300 a month with VAT plus we have mortgage and bills coming to another £2700. We sacrifice lots, don’t really have a social life or buy new clothes. drive an old banger , live a frugal lifestyle to be able to afford it.

Many employers pay the fees. It's a standard part of professional contracts in the UN, OPEC, IAEA and other international organisations. They will pay 80 or 90% of all educational fees for each child up until university level. Usually applies to international schools but it might also depend on the country and native language.

No necessarily! Independent schools offer bursaries and scholarships. My friend and her partner are in average jobs but their daughter got a bursary that covered 75% of the fees. Other friends forego things like new cars and holidays to give their children a decent education something that is lacking in many state schools.

No, assisted places ended with the 1997 labour government - those children in the system on them at the time had them until they left school.

You mean the tax payer (including those who hold down three jobs on minimum wage) paid 95% of your fees when at private school.