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

Taxpayers earning minimum wage don’t pay enough tax to cover the cost to the state of educating their own children, never mind anyone else’s. Personally, I don’t have an issue with that, particulary where low paid workers are undertaking jobs to the benefit of society. Likewise, I don’t have a problem with the taxpayer covering the fees of the children of service men and women who dedicate their lives to protecting this country. And I say that as someone who is in the minority of taxpayers who are paying far more in than they take out.

I went to private school. My dad had a high-ish income, but it was really generational wealth/inheritance that enabled him to send the 3 of us. I'm so grateful to my parents for the opportunities they gave us.

DP and I have not yet got kids - going to start TTC this year - but I'm hopeful that on our combined income (approx £205k) we can afford it. We plan to pay off our mortgage this year which should hopefully make things easier.

Some employers pay from relocation packages. I work for a company where we have moved people (especially internationally) and the company is picking up the school fees as part of the employment relocation costs.

To cut a long story short, I went back to work just to pay school fees for our 2. I was a SAHM until our second child started school, we were unhappy with the state school our oldest had been at for 2 years so we decided I'd go back to work and we'd send them private. Fees are 5-6k per term (depends on what year they are in) and I just about make enough after tax to cover that. We live off dh's salary reasonably comfortably and mine just pays school fees.

Sorry if I’m being nosy but I’m so intrigued to know what your husband does to earn over 300k

In the 1980s my parents (taxi driver and hairdresser) scrimped and saved to pay for my twin sister and I to go prep school for 4 years as advised by our state school who said that they couldn’t keep up with us. Thankfully we are both academically able, were a year ahead and both got assisted places for the senior school at our independent girls school. We are now both lawyers.

My husband also benefitted from an assisted place growing up in a single parent household (mother a nurse) and is now a senior project director in construction.

My husband and I have chosen to spend a huge part of our combined net pay on paying for school fees for our two children (around £55k a year). Then we pay expenses such a mortgage, bills, childcare etc. We drive a small 10 year old car. We do not have any family contribution to school fees.

A point that is clear from many people's posts on here but I haven't seen it explicitly mentioned (haven't read every post though) is parental age - many of those who pay for private schooling have been older when their children were born, meaning more time to build up savings before that, and being in higher paid jobs thereafter than they might have been otherwise.

We were the average age-for-first-child when our eldest was born, and decidedly amongst the youngest parents at their schools. We'd saved hard prior to children but my earnings dropped a lot (to zero for several years in fact).

At maximum we were paying about £30k pa after bursaries (two in senior boarding), which came from household income approx £75k (very unevenly split so not "tax efficient") and our remaining savings.

My 4dc were all educated privately since y7 and both my sil's were educated at top public schools (ds's school was also a public school but he was a day boy). My gs will eventually go private - his other grandparents have a family trust which will pay for this.
We paid for our eldest 2dds ( only one school year difference) and it was tough even though exdh was a top earner. I was a SAHM. Both ds and dd3 got bursaries as exdh was made redundant- ds's started at 90% and then became 100%. Dd3 is in year 12 and gets a full bursary. School fees were always a priority for us.

In the 1980s my parents (taxi driver and hairdresser) scrimped and saved to pay for my twin sister and I to go prep school for 4 years as advised by our state school who said that they couldn’t keep up with us. Thankfully we are both academically able, were a year ahead and both got assisted places for the senior school at our independent girls school. We are now both lawyers.

It's pretty hard to qualify for assisted places in terms of earning low enough to get a decent discount these days. Plus many who get these places are heavily tutored before & after joining ime which is often ££££

@Rosealine im amazed how this question comes up so frequently. 300k will probably be lawyer, finance (investment bank, analyst, fund manager type or sales roles) tech. Mostly London/City based salary. It’s decent pay don’t get me wrong but not super high. After tax, school fees, mortgage, lifestyle costs there won’t be loads of cash sloshing about.

No generational wealth here. One DS at private as he has dyslexia and ADHD and state school system was not good for him.

Paid out of salary. DH’s as I’m part time. I think he’s on over £250k plus a decent bonus of twice that. It’s ridiculous really but he does work away and crazy hours (I could not do it).

We pay from salaries.

Once we sell various shares in 10 years or so, we will set up a family trust to pay school fees for the future generations, with any surplus each year (or if they do not want to send their children privately) being donated to the bursary fund of our daughter’s school. In an ideal world, we will fund a bursary place entirely for a child who qualifies alongside the trust. Her school is amazing with bursaries and the work they do to make the school accessible to those academically able (it’s very selective) but not financially able is really impressive.

It's hard to get an Assisted Place these days because Tony Blair scrapped the scheme in 1997.

I remortgaged just for GCSE’s due to bullying in his state school. It’s a struggle and I can’t get rid of the lodger like I wanted to. However, it’s been a huge positive for my son.

He is definitely the poor kid though 😂

Our 7 year old goes to prep school. It’s not that expensive and costs us around £1100 per month. We earn approx £7000 per month between us and we have one child and a low mortgage of £550. We choose to spend our money on that but it’s not overly tight. We live in a modest area, with a band D house. It is from wages though so if we can’t work we can’t continue…

@InveterateWineDrinker I meant bursary places with heavy discounts. Some schools give you 10% off if you earn 120k but that doesn't really make it affordable. One of my friends dds has got a 75% discount for a London day school but their income is such that it will be a struggle to find the 25%.

Ds got a 90% bursary in years 7 and 8 and 100% from year 9. I really think he benefited from going there as he is ASD and was being bullied at his state school. Dd3 would probably have done as well.at state school but felt that as her 3 siblings went private she should too. She has always had a 100% bursary. I coached them both for their entrance exams myself - we applied to 2 schools for ds and he was given a place at both.

Stop saying it's not a lot. I work in a senior role in banking. £300k would not be sniffed at and you'd need to be senior to earn that. Yes, a lot of people would laugh in the face of £100k being a lot, but once you start getting over £180k, you're really into MRT territory and you'd be in a highly responsible and stressful role. In my experience that translates across to finance generally and also law. Obviously investment banking is a different kettle of fish but they're not paying the small fry £300k there either!

It isn’t the 24 year-old analysts that are putting children through private school though, is it. It’s implicit in the context of the discussion that we’re talking about senior members of staff - directors, MDs, partners etc. Among this group, in those professions, £300k is not a very high salary. But in general it is of course a high salary.

I moved to find a job with a 200k salary and perks like subsidised canteen and free barista coffee
hours are long.
stress is high
i mostly love it but worry iN case it all gets too much.

DH works full time too but not at the same level.

we don’t have a cleaner
we don’t have gardener
we don’t have a nanny
we drive battered old cars
DH fixes and mends
we buy 2nd hand. House / garden / stuff as well as Clothes from eBay vinted charity shops etc
Every day shop in Aldi and Lidl
grow our own
DH hunts
we don’t holiday every year and when we do it is camping or to stay with friend or family.
we certainly don’t pay for sky TV

we do have Netflix and Disney but considering stopping that too
inherited furniture!
we rarely go out to th theatre cinema or for dinner

we just need to get thru the next 10 years
currently only 1 in private. Would struggle to have both there.

DC1 doing really well. Such a relief. After failing / being failed in state.

DC2 will need same support but am hoping to get a lodger to help out and hoping for a a Few more years of bonuses to create a buffer

we don’t have family money but we both went to British public schools and were shocked at the state of state school when DC1 started.
Lucky for DC2 we moved before they started school. And this primary is far superior to the outstanding school in a posh area that DC1 started at and nearly ruined him.

so no. It’s not easy.
I’ve taken Out a few new credit cards to pay school fees over the last 3 years. When there was a shortfall.
just hope I can keep working long enough to sort out my retirement once kids are on their own 2 feet.

No. I literally said £300k would be pretty senior in most FS and that is correct - I have the benchmark data! I know the market rates. Not the c-suite at Barclays, no, but most other places. There are very few places, even in FS, where £300k would be pocket change and suggesting that is just a bit cringe to be honest.

My husband moved to Singapore to pay for the school fees. We too always wondered how people afford independent schools, but tbh it’s a stretch for everyone we know. However, we really had no choice. My eldest needed SEN support which the local secondary school told us they couldn’t support. My dh is now in Dubai, which is a bit closer and better in terms of time difference. But I’m still left raising all 4 kids on my own 4/5 of the year. The difference between state and independent in our area was so profound that we decided to send all 4 of the kids to independent schools, where they’re now very happy and thriving. This decision has been a massive sacrifice for us, but the right thing to do for our family and children.

You decided to broaden the discussion out to ‘FS’ to make your point but PP was clearly talking about specific roles within FS: investment banking, fund management, City law. Amongst THIS group of professionals, at a level of seniority where one would be putting children through private school (so age 40+), £300k is not a high salary. IB MDs, PE partners, law partners etc. typically make 7 figures, you should know that.

Not the point of the thread but I’m another one who feels like a total loser reading all this. I have a degree and an MA and earn £43k, more than 10 years after graduating and after a few promotions and career pivots. My husband earns £31k.
We too work hard and make “sacrifices” like driving old cars, not having expensive holidays, buying second hand and doing without cleaners/gardeners/nannies, (lol at those things being a sacrifice, that’s just normal life to most people). Yet we still couldn’t ever afford private school.
Then there people saying £300k isn’t much (wtf) and that jobs paying £100k are ten a penny. Where? London? Which companies?
I’ve never ever seen a job advertised with that kind of salary, or heard of anyone earning that much where I live (Scotland), except for people in CEO/director-type positions or doctors (consultants). Every job advert I’ve ever seen, even for quite senior positions, tops out at about £50-£60k. Even jobs in IT, finance and law that are thought of as lucrative don’t pay much more than that. But clearly some people are somehow earning more, because there are private schools here that are full. I’m not bitter (even though I sound like I am), I just want to know your secret!

My mum's next door neighbour sends her son (7) and daughter (10) to private school, she won the lottery and was able to buy the 800k house outright. The school isn't too far I had a nose at the fees 25k+ seem to rise every year!

I wish I had her luck!