Would you be comfortable paying the fees in this situation?

[Gro2]

One DC. 150k left on mortgage. Can save 2,400 a month. School fees are 20k a year (will obviously go up). Just under two years until school starts.

Parents pretty well off but have never offered to pay. I think they’d help if stuck though.

What do you think? It’s not a debate about the merits of private school, just an economical one!

What age is your child? I wouldn't do it to start a child age 5. It's too long a slog and a long time for other costs like expensive house maintenance to crop up.

But if I had a child struggling at secondary and wanted to move them then I would as you'd only have 4-5 years to get through.

If your child is young I'd do state for the early years of primary and save the full fee for four years to provide a cushion.

I'm not anti private school but I think starting a child in the private sector if you are not certain you have the funds to see them all the way through is foolish. Moving state to private is fine, the other way is bloody hard.

Teacher in the indie sector here: a lot of our parents really struggle to pay school fees, both juniors and seniors. They are parents who feel state ed isn’t right for their kids and parents who have removed their kids from state schools for a number of reasons.

I would say, if you’re not 100% sure, find out about primary options near you. Do they have values you share, what’s the OFSTED report like, meet people who have kids there already and find out what they think.

If a primary sounds right then send your DC there. At any point, you can pull them out and (spaces permitted) put them into the indie sector. You just need to find out the same sort of things for the indie primaries/preps. What are their values, what can they offer your DC and so they share your values etc.

It’s common at my school for pupils to join us in Year 6 so they transfer more easily into Year 7. They come from state and usually slot in easily. Doing something like this would allow more years of savings and give you greater security for taking on school fees.

Forget primary, save as much as possible for secondary. I would want more of a buffer but it depends on your dc & other options. Don’t rely on your parents to help you out.

School fees tend to rise by more than inflation each year - and there are many hidden extra costs. If you’re not sure, then it is a no.
You mention your parents have not offered to help - so you can’t factor them in. My parents always wanted to treat all their grandchildren equally so would not have chipped in for fees for only one.

Have you considered state for primary. In so many places it's just not worth the money to private because state provision is so good. That a good few extra years of saving.

If you cant afford private school without your parents help then you shouldnt do it. If your lical state school.isnt cost effective it might be better value moving to an area eith a better state school in catchmemt, this is what we did and kids did really well plus we had money to live

I'd save as much as possible now and revisit in 18 months - presumably you don't need to make a decision till then. Have a proper look at state primary options as you may be better planning for private secondary instead of primary plus secondary.

That’s a good point actually … do you have siblings OP? And do you plan to have more DCs?

Not enough info.

what is the state alternative like?
how much is your house worth/do you need to stay there for job reasons?
if you lost your job are you in an industry where it e would be (relatively) easy to get another one?

Thanks for all the suggestions and thoughts on this!

To add more context, DC has a property on trust (circa 250k today’s value). They will get this when they are 25 so I am not too concerned with uni fees or house deposit as this should ensure there are options for them.

We live pretty well with saving 2,400 a month. We go on 2-3 holidays (nothing mega flash!), go out and do things most weekends. We don’t feel stretched in that sense but then we are not the sort of people to spend on expensive cars or clothes and so on… no judgement on that it’s just not our thing!

So it wouldn’t impact it day to day but I suppose my main fear is the fees escalate even more. We have factored in them escalating a bit more than inflation but if there was another hike like the 20% vat that’s already happened then it would be a bit grim to sustain.

In terms of pension, not great, we pay in via our employers. Last I checked mine was coming out at 22k a year (in the future value) so I do need to top that up

1K is not a lot of wiggle room when your child is in private education, the uniform, extracurriculars, the trips…. All add, the fees will inevitably increase as well.

Could you consider investing this money for your child, or an ISA to cover the cost of higher education, house deposits, starting a business.

@JokerOfTwo I did update the thread to say they have a property on trust for them when they’re 25. If that wasn’t there I would definitely think I needed to focus more on house deposit etc for them

@Octavia64 owe about 40% of the house. Overpaying at the moment. I think I would get another job but i suppose you never know do you

Sorry missed your update, truly though if it’s something you very much want to prioritise for children I’m sure you’ll make it work

@Wishihadanalgorithm thank you this is so helpful