Can I afford private school for 3 children?

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We are struggling to make financial decisions about the kids’ school. Our local state school is awful (violence and very poor outcomes)

Our local private school is going to cost us £12K a year per child (staff discount). The fees go up 5% a year.

We have 75K joint earnings, no mortgage. No hefty bills such as car payments etc and a basic UK holiday each year. We also have investments that bring in 25K a year.

Should we just move to a better school catchment?

YABU - you cannot afford this
YANBU - you can afford this

If you have to ask, the answer is probably no. Sorry.

If you get £25k from investments you will have a lot of assets to provide that level of income yearly so I assume you would be ok

Do you have a spare £3k every month after outgoings, necessities and rainy day savings? If yes, then yes: if no, then no.

If you can’t do it comfortably it makes more sense to move to a better catchment

We have about £90k coming in as income split quite evenly between us. Very low mortgage. No other debt.

We live within a mile of two private schools that charge similarly to yours. Due to the proximity we wouldn’t have to pay the bus fees.

We have done the sums and we could only comfortably afford it for one so that means we can’t afford it for any. I’m not displeased about this because I’m more comfortable with them in state schools, but if it was money then it’s still a no.

If you had a mortgage it would easily be no, but I think you are in a stronger position than that as you are mortgage free and have other assets.

It depends how much you want private school but you could take out a mortgage so you are paying for it over say 15 years not 7?

It's not something I would do, but if it is very important to you it's an option.

As soon as a person has to question if they can afford something the answer is invariably no.

If you could you wouldn’t be asking the question.

Starting down the private school route without a significant buffer is a huge risk - as many parent facing fee uplifts due to tax changes are finding.

Some are having to make very, very difficult choices .

No.

Move is first thing to seriously look at.
When we last moved, we only had the youngest to consider. We relocated hundreds of miles and bought the less nice house in the best secondary catchment. It was the right decision.
Yes maybe you could afford it on paper. But you/your partner are restricting career options
My best mate did this for her dc. Was then stuck in a toxic workplace for too long because dc were enmeshed .

Of course you can!

Ok so some answers to the questions. Kids are currently in state primary (year 4 and year 2) and one is in nursery and will start school in September. No plans for state primary for any of them.

The biggest concern really is that my salary is not going up by 5% a year, so we could find ourselves in a situation where the fees go up quickly and our salaries don’t keep up.

Yes we do have decent assets but I don’t think I want to sell them.

Have I even got time to move now? Our house is not ready and would need 6 months of work. Eldest is year 4.

Also, where on earth to move to? How do you even work out where the best secondary schools are? Yes I’m a teacher but I’ve been working in the private sector for such a long time that I’m clueless about state!

How did you work out what was the best school, though? I’m genuinely interested.

Sorry I mean no plans for private for the primary years so technically we could be saving for another 2 years.

That's a very tight budget. It depends how many sacrifices you are willing to make.

We have 3 DC in private school - no discounts - and the sum is eye watering. My entire salary funds school fees only.

Ok so my kids went private and left a couple years ago and I live in a new area and I know what the good state schools are in my area! Ofsted, ‘word on the street’ etc. Even local estate agents will have stats.
£12k/year is very cheap. This coming year prep school fees at my DD’s old school are £28k a year rising to £35k from Y5. For one child.
Surely you can work this out. Look at what you spend every year on whatever. Minus £36k from it. Could you afford that next year? Now increase the cost by 5% every year. What about if your roof needed repairing? One of you lost your job? Or tte school fees are more in line with the average!?
I think one child is doable on £100k. Not three unless you are really wishing to make sacrifices.

If you are going to do it the best solution would be to start now and put 2k into an account each month. Pay all school fees out of the account - that should see you through without ever having to find 36k in a year.

I’ve just asked ChatGPT to calculate the areas near me which offered the best value for money ( plus low crime etc ) which also offer the best performing state schools so this would be my first port of call.

Fees are low but it sounds very unmanageable.

Is the £100k per year after tax?

Can you afford full fees if you lose the discount (eg policy changes/lost job)?

It’s not just the fees you have to account for. It’s the uniforms, sports kit, school trips, driving the kids to friends houses that would probably be further away than kids at the local comp, etc
Annual increases might not stay at 5%, and 5% is more that the average person gets as a pay rise each year.

I may be out a few years as i'm not sure exactly how old your children are but based on the oldest starting secondary in 2028 and with fees going up by 5% each year i calculated the following
Year Cost Number of Children
2028 £14,586.08 1
2029 15,315.38 1
2030 £32,162.30 2
2031 £33,770.41 2
2032 £53,188.40 3
2033 £55,847.82 3
2034 £ 39,093.47 2
2035 £41,048.14 2
2036 £21,550.28 1
2037 £ 22,627.79 1

Sorry! What investments bring in 25k?

One kid sure, two is hard, three probably not

Good calcs but presumably once it drops from £55k a year, one and then two will be in uni so, if OP wants to help with fees and living expenses, the cost to OP will increase to more than £55k p.a.

OP if you want to cash in some of the investments and / or downsize your house you might be able to afford it but just on your income now I don’t think you can.

No you can’t.

A family member of mine had to pull their kid from private due to the VAT increases. The school trips, uniform, & extra activities where a good few thousand on top a year too!

You cannot afford it, move house.

Average local independent day schools often aren’t better than state options nowadays and have poorer teaching standards. The only ones worth shelling out for (unless special circs like SEN) are the top “public” boarding schools.

Move to a better state/grammar catchment.