To wonder how the bloody hell people afford private education for their kids?

[HarderToKidnap]

Thinking about TTC and getting WAY ahead of myself I idly googled the local private schools. Bloody hell!! HOW do people afford this? My DH and I earn 100k between us every year so certainly not poor, but with a mortgage (on a two bed terrace) and other, what I consider to be reasonable, outgoings there is just not a way it could be done. So all these children being privately educated, do their parents earn masses and masses? Or am I missing a trick?

(Incidentally I wouldn't send my kid to private school - comprehensive was brilliant for me and if a child is going to do well they will do well, I believe. Was just wondering.)

There are evidently a lot of what I would consider to be rich folk on MN. 6 in private school?

We live in a 3-bed corner semi with huge garden at front, side and back. It was £110,000 5 years ago. Our mortgage is £550/month. We earn £60k gross a year and are decidedly better off than many of our peers though far, far from rich.
Needless to say, it's oop north.

6-2500 mortgage is 3500

why cant you afford the fees?

:O

My parents live in a nice part of greater London, in a smallish house (4 bed terrace with 2 kids) and earn less than 80k between them, but still manage to spend at around 30k a year on school fees - no foreign holidays, old car...

How can you earn over 100k and not be able to afford it? Admittedly I began private school during the boom, but still.

(The 30k figure is for two of us btw, although Harrow do charge this per pupil

Do you think so, Pixie? We had an annual week in Scarborough when I was at secondary school (I was at private school from 5-18). Other girls had their own lodges in Switzerland. Some got a pound pocket money; others had their own cash-cards. They weren't all mega-wealthy any more than the children at my DC's schools are mega-wealthy. Some are, some are decidedly not.

All these case studies miss the rather obvious point that there are plenty of people in good jobs who could give up various "comforts" and save hundreds, maybe a couple of thousand at most - it wouldn't fund a private-education lifestyle.

It's a luxury item.

Well people either (a) earn it (b) are funded by family or (c) mortgage to the hilt

Option (c) is frankly insane. After 9 years of pursuing option (a) with 8 years to go and then university after that, I'm firmly persuaded that (b) is the better option.

what's wrong with c?

we do C as we want excellent schools and pay for them indirectly through the mortgage

it costs to live near great schools

Oh and I don't think that £100k a year of income is sufficient to be able comfortably to afford two sets of school fees unless your house was fully paid and you didn't have to fund a pension.

Precisely!

I suppose there are sacrifices dh and I could make: give up our 6 year old family car, give up our one £3-4k foreign holiday per year, shop at Lidl instead of Waitrose, give up the dc ballet, swimming and football lessons, cut the Christmas budget from £500 to £200, not go on our annual £120 theatre trip, never go out for dinner or lunch, never go out for evenings out. We could do those things but with the best will in the world thats not going to add up to £30,000 worth of spare cash.

Lol, Quattro. My Dad just bought a Ferrari instead of paying my children's fees. The old meanie.

UQD: so how do you think my DH and I fund it on a 40K income? I am intrigued that you so confidently state that people could give up "comforts" and it wouldn't fund a private education lifestyle (and what exactly do you mean by the 'lifestyle' bit of that phrase? Are you thinking of having to buy a 4x4 to fit in at school? ).

I don't want to say how much I earn, my housing costs and school fees take up 1/2 of my income though, which is OK. Bills are not alot as there's just 2 of us and we are hardly in the house.

UQD- when all your local state schools are National Challenge schools, or in special measures... or in some cases, both... it doesn't feel like a luxury, more a necessity.
Moving is usually an option, but not when you have a very specialised (but not particularly well remunerated) job.

Ooh, cross-posts. I've nearly fallen off my chair again at the idea of spending 3-4K (not £3-400) on an annual holiday. We have probably spent a total of 3K on holidays in 15 years!

I also need smelling salts at the idea of spending £500 on Christmas. I buy things in the sales throughout the year. And, of course, ballet, swimming, football and so on are included in the fees...

Fees for my DCs cost around 13K per year, not £30K. If they were £30K, I agree, we couldn't afford it full stop.

Blimey, and I forgot to faint at the £120 theatre trip. This really is a different world. Yet I have children at private schools.

3-4k on a holiday!

We have not had a holiday yet, I did win free eurostar tickets last year but the feckers never sent them

yup I reckon around 13k is right for round here, too
pass those smelling salts!

well if you didn't alfred you could easily afford those holidays

it's just priorities

2 weeks in the Algarve Vs an education at a school where the GCSE pass rate isn't "aiming for 24%"? Hmm.

It's such a horrible irony that if all (and it would have to be all) of the parents who paid to put their children into private schools were prepared to send them to comprehensive schools, we'd have an excellent comprehensive system.

Sorry, I know that's not what this thread is about, but all of the comprehensives local to me that are thriving have a truly comprehensive intake.

I don't mean to imply that the parents who can afford private fees care the most (far, far from it) and I appreciate that a lot of people aren't prepared to take a 'gamble' on the education of their children for the greater good. Just ruminating, I guess.

I don;t know either, but if you got all your information from mumsnet you woulf think that anyone can afford private education - all you need to do is tighten your belt and really really care about your child's chances in life. That's all it takes!