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.)

On loco parentis? I use alot of medical terminology, latin would have been helpful.

Ds enjoys it so I don't mind. He will take fencing lessons from September (which are included as part of the fees), there's reading groups, debating etc. It would cost a fortune in travel etc if he did these outside school.

Because Latin and fencing are really useful in the real world ....

. On that basis all primary school children should be taught greek

They used to be!

Fencing's great fun. He doesn't go to school just to learn maths/english/science etc.

Footballs more fun though ....

Na, he has flat feet and he's hypermobile so football isn't good for his joints/ligaments.

We just have to afford it for our Ds1 due to special needs. Tried state school and it just didn't work.It does depend on the area you are living in and the standard of the schools. However the first public school we tried was an absolute waste of time and they put us all through a lot of unnecessary stress and angst.I did successfully sue them though

If your household income is £100k you should be able to afford it.

If you have a massive mortgage that takes your income then that's a choice you've made and you'll be the eventual financial beneficiaries of having invested heavily in property.

Well it's harder when you are relying on income as you will always worry that if you lose your job/one of you loses their job then your children's education will be disrupted.

We send our 4 kids to the local village school and it's lovely. We have no decent secondary though and it's a tough decision with 4.

We do have a combined high income, but for 4 kids we would have to pay at least 6k a month in school fees, GASP, that is a lot of money for most people. And yet I know of people who do it, they must be in very high earning jobs indeed...!

I would only be comfortable doing it if we had 10k coming in, which we don't. I would always want to factor in one of us losing our job because unfortunately this is a reality especially these days!

But I guess if we had 1 or 2 children we could and would do it comfortably. I would never do it if it would mean financially bankrupting us tbh.

At the moment we are saving so that if it came to it in a few years' time, we would have at least 1 child covered all the way through - that's probably one other way people do it!?!? (or move - believe it or not though it would almost cost the same to move near a decent secondary school, even with 4 kids!)

Viviandarkbloom I know the point you are making, when I got to Uni from comp it was a mix of results from private, grammar and state. What you have to look to before though is the fact that many of these private school kids in Uni got there through intense preparation and little bit of networking.

My exP's sister got 3 E's at A level and still got into her choice of Brunel once the head of Warminster school had had a little word with the Dean of Brunel. I was shocked, but that's the way of the world. How many kids at Oxford and Cambridge come from Tipton Comp? The are majority private - Eton Harrow being on the leader board. This is why some families sacrifice everything to give their children an easier start in life.

A few people have quoted MOD kids, but you get a subsidy if your child is boarding only, you don't get cheap private school for the sake of it. The idea is continuity of education through boarding. If you just put your child in a day school you get nowt. Believe me, my son is a pad-rat. (Army kid).

A couple of my friends children are at private school, they are not what i would call rich.

if that is true mrsincommunicado someone must try and investigate, there are enough journalists on here to do that.

or if not, who shall i write to?

We can afford it without a dent in the family budget.

DH makes a London IT salary and we were never big spenders when I was working full time, so there is money there. We live a pretty boring lifestyle day to day, 2 bedroom flat (nice area though), don't do a lot of activities or wear expensive clothing, DH has gadgets but the "biggies" i.e. TV and stuff is the same stuff we bought when we got married 12 years ago. We spend our money on school fees and travelling.

However, when we move home to Oz in September DS will be attending a State school and I am sure our mortgage will appreciate the extra 9,000quid a year.

I think private primary schools are a waste of money. Here private day secondary schools are about 10k a year including school bus.
Having fewer kids and living in a cheaper house makes it more affordable. If good state schools and a child who isn't easily led or struggling at school then staying with state schools is a no brainer.

remember only 7% of children in this country are at private school - a really small %.
very few people can afford it.

Harpsichord is quite correct and that figure is only a national average too. And in many regions of the country it's far less. Have a look at this:

Private school data by area

Sorry that data is 4 years old but it is the most up-to-date I can find. If anyone has a more recent reference I would be grateful.

By redllamayellowllama Fri 25-Jun-10 23:14:47
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

I would ABSOLUTELY agree with that, having spent quite a bit of time inside different schools over the last three years. The choices of parents to send their children to private schools DO affect the standards in the state system to a very significant extent ime.

That's interesting. Here in Scotland private ed varies hugely be area as well, with private Ed common in Edinburgh and much rarer in the rest of the country. The prep school/private primary school thing is rarely done here with most of the kids in private secondary schools just going to their local state primary unless you are really minted/ have more money than sense.

They never admit it, though. You always get this "how would sending my sweet, sensitive DS to the big rough-and-tumble comprehensive where the children have accents (shudder) improve anybody's lot?"

I'm surprised people are saying £100k isn't enough too.

Must be the mortgage thing.