Eton’s new fees

[IWantedThereThereButItsGone]

Heavens …

Eton College will pass on full cost of 20% VAT to parents

https://www.thetimes.com/article/3fbec730-288c-4a14-b91e-a042c94c7ca1?shareToken=3cff257bc445f9764343feeac522241c

It’s good that current bursary recipients won’t be financially affected (and how I empathise with those parents who must have been worried) but I wonder what the effect will be going forward. The new fees are staggering - perhaps it will change the tenor of the school?

Why are they not challenging the boarding element to be VATable? It’s childcare?

’Childcare’? For boys of 13 to 18? I’d find it hard to put that argument with a straight face.

I don't accept the comparison with the closure of coal mines.

Eton have at least been upfront now about it.

It might change the make up of the whole range of private schools. If you could afford £53k but not £63k then you might look instead at a school where fees were previously £44k and are now £54k - that might filter down the sector as a whole.

Well the people who attend Eaton will still pay.

if it’s 10k vat per child that is a great way to boost tax with the privilege choices others have .

The public is about to get an education in the way market forces work.

Eton will be all right. People's financial circumstances change, so i assume there will always be a handful who withdraw each year. I also assume they have enough on waiting lists that it won't make much difference to the school.

Those who can't afford the new level fees will probably go to another school with lower fees (even with 20%.) Others will go to day rather than boarding.

The schools which will really suffer are those far lower down the fees scale, where parents are already struggling to afford to keep their children there, and they just can't cut costs anywhere else to make the difference.

I also assume they have enough on waiting lists that it won't make much difference to the school.

Actually if they suddenly had an influx of boys who only made (what used to be called, don’t know if it still is) the B List, rather than those they really wanted - that might well lead to the place becoming slightly different to how it was. I don’t know - pure speculation based on having known boys who got in and a few who didn’t.

I think it is very widely know that Eton is not your average fee paying school.
I do think there is some misunderstanding regarding private/public/independent, but I do think most people understand that Eton is not a school most parents consider when they're thinking about paying for education.

It ought to be high on their list if they have a bright boy and need a substantial bursary, though.

(I spent years making this point here …)

That £13 million in VAT (assuming 1300 boys and roughly £10k per boy) would fund not far off 13 one form entry state primary schools every year. We get roughly £4.5k per pupil.

Wow 63k is really punchy! I was assuming about 50k

So I guess you need 100k pre tax pa just to scratch the surface….
i remember the good old days when harrow and eton were ”only” £15k 😅

The new fees are staggering - perhaps it will change the tenor of the school?

From £53,000 to £63,000? No. It will still be for the ultra rich.

It's chicken feed for people who can afford Eton. Of course they will charge the full 20%.

I've always said it, the only people this punishes are those who really live frugally in order to afford school fees and all this does is make the gap between rich and poor bigger.

Terrible idea.

Possibly only a minor effect.

CEA ceilings are revalorised annually anyhow, so even with the short notice introduction, they'll catch up.

And parents get 90% of permitted costs (can include some "extras", and its 92% if state boarding) up to the ceiling, meaning that if the school is more expensive than that the parents have to pay everything above. So yes, it might be difficult for those who have opted for more expensive schools.

And in percentage terms, the rise can be swingeing - the greatest being if your school costs £10k a term, and CEA covers 90% (just inside ceiling which is £9,080) then parents pay now £1k a term. But with a £2k a term rise (if passed on in full) and only £80 remaining within ceiling, then the new parental payment is £2,920 - which is still significantly less than what full fee-paying families have to find, but represents a nearly 200% rise.

But I hope they will revalorise in time, lifting the ceiling to around £10,800 ie 90% of a £12k fee (rather than roughly 90% of £10k where it is now)

You do realise this is the internet and a chat forum at that. Anyone can comment whether they are for or against private schools. Having children at private schools isn’t a protected characteristic that needs special consideration.

I imagine if you are rich enough to be affording annual fees of around £50k, it won’t be too much of a stretch to add on another 10k each year. The ultra rich will still pay

Sure, but nothing has changed there.

@theduchessofspork - it is fully cutting out the London highly aspiring professional zero inheritance family and sending them day, is it not? The types I know would not ask for a discount and full exposure.
Also GDST putting girls and their parents first and only passing on 12%? Whereas the big name boys schools with huge cash endowments passing on the full whack? I do see the rationale but I think they will lose the London talent increasingly.

@tribalmango I don't think everyone stops to analyse in much detail.

Much of the media coverage I have seen has included stereotypical images of Eton-like schools in their articles and many of the threads debating the VAT policy include the assumption that if you can afford school fees you can afford the VAT. Labour politicians have said the same.

I think the controversial thing about the boarding element is not that it's childcare, but that they're not planning to put VAT on the boarding element of state boarding.

It would be interesting to know if Winchester, Harrow etc will follow suit, they wouldn't want to be seen as second tier.

I remember the former being involved in price fixing scandal some years back.

That's really brilliant that there will be funding for so many more state places.

When my son was in state primary the teachers' budget for teaching materials only covered the pritt stick they needed for making nice exercise books for ofsted. There was literally no money for any other teaching resources for the whole year. This extra money is going to be transformative.

You really think that’s how that’s going to work? 😵‍💫 If schools see even a fraction of this money I’ll be shocked.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1502841/Revealed-how-two-boys-blew-whistle-on-the-public-school-fees-cartel.html

The boys in this case were expelled .