Affordable Private Education

[WhatWillSantaBring]

I don't want to get into a debate on the merits of state v private education, but does anyone have any idea on how on earth a normal, middle-class, professional couple can afford to educate their children privately?

Me and DH both work in well paid jobs as professionals. If you factor in the cost of servicing a mortgage and other essential living costs (but not including holidays, clothes and socialising) we probably have disposable income each year of about £20k (though this figure is based on our lives pre-children).

Now, maths is not my strong point, but are there any ways that we could educate three children privately for that less than that amount (as we do have to clothe them and ourselves!)? Remember, its not just the basic fees, its the extras that are part and parcel of private education - music lessons, uniforms, school trips etc.

I can't believe that private education has become soley the preserve of the super-wealthy but I struggle to see how else it can be afforded.

PS we have no rich grandparents that we can call on!

Absent getting really good scholarships for them all, it doesn't sound like your finances will stretch to private schooling. As a halfway house - maybe you could get them a tutor for some subjects?

A couple who are friends of mine with three children educate them privately because they don't own a house, they rent. The mother earns very very good money, the father less so (own business).

Could you move to a much smaller place, a flat in an area with bad state schools perhaps?

'normal middle-class professional' is a highly subjective area and covers a huge range of income IMO. But you know that.

I thought there were 'no frills' private schools out there?

How about home education, maybe jointly with another family?

I suppose there can be sacrifices made - holidays, cars, housing, 2nd hand uniforms - but the other option is to go state and top up

Depends where you are. Regional variations can be huge. Some schools are part of foundations that can heavily subsidise places, others may offer discounts to certain professions (forces, church etc)or with family connections. I suspect your gross income(40k+ ?) would put you out of the means tested bursary range. So I doubt that educating 3 privately within your budget is a realistic option. This may give you an idea of current costs but annual rises can be between 2 and 10%.

Well there you go, I'd read a lot of articles about 'no-frills' private schools under the Gems brand, but certainly once you get to secondary level you seem to be talking about £10K a year per child excluding extras, much like the 'frilly' version really.

Did you have twins whatwill? I know that another friend of mine educates his daughter privately because their infertility means they can only have one child - it took years to have that one. If they'd had two, they couldn't have afforded it.

Not in this position - but I would guess that at the prep/pre-prep stage £20k a year for three would be doable if you shopped around - assuming £2.5k a term each.

At secondary (and you wouldn't have all three at secondary at the same time would you - unless you have triplets?!) presumably your mortgage debt will have reduced so you could remortgage. I think remortgaging's what most people end up doing isn't it?

Well we have 4 children and are both middle class professionals etc

We are hoping to be able to do it eventually for our kids (ie educate privately at secondary) but have years to save up for it as my eldest dd is still only in reception.

We are hoping to save for 1 child's worth of fees (around 80k) so that we never have to pay for more than 2 kids at one time (when my DD2 would start, my DD1 would be in her last year).

Maybe this is something you could consider? If you have that 20k spare, halve it to £10k per 7 years that makes 70k or so?

Other option we are considering is moving close to a very good state secondary school. But that's almost as expensive, would you believe!

Only time will tell......good luck!

We went down the selection by mortgage route. We moved next to an outstanding state primary that routinely sent approx 60% of it's pupils to grammar schools. DD1 moved to boarding school for 6th form I will do the same for DD2. If we had privately educated from reception onwards it would have cost us about £250000. Moving, though expensive, cost us nowhere near that.

£20k per year is not nearly enough to pay for private education for 3 DCs. You might just stretch to it for prep stage, but will run out of money by secondary level - which is just the time you need it most.

We pay £3k per month for 2 DCs at prep stage. Looking back, I think we would have been better using state primaries then move to private for secondary.

Please don't dig yourself into this financial hole. It just isn't worth it.

I think private education is out of reach for many middle class couples because house prices and the cost of living generally is so high in this country.
After the costs of running a home the large sums necessary for schooling are often not available.
Most of the parents at DCs' school are very high earners or have family money (often both - lucky buggers)

If you are going to do it then do it pproperly,dont bother with GEMS for example,its a commercial organisation,profit the bottom line,average education,mediocre results and none of the frills of a proper private school,oh and lets not forget its new head is the genius who stated that all schools should have at least one bad teacher.
If you are going to be stretched financially make sure its worth it.

Sacrifice, ime. Cars, holidays, nights out, entertaining, clothes and handbags, the lot.

The other alternative is to give your children a 4-to-1 education with a curriculum entirely of your choice (or no curriculum at all, just a child-led, autonomous education), by the people who care about and know them better than anyone else... you and your DH.

There was a thread like this quite recently as I recall.

The main point that struck me from that thread was what a difference housing costs make.

If you bought a house in, say, 2002, you will have paid a whole heap less for it than if you bought the same house in 2007. That means no mortgage (or much less mortgage).

Alternatively, some folks choose to live in smaller houses in less desirable areas.

Grandparents are also often involved (you know - the ones that bought their £1m properties for £25k back in the 70s, and have final salary pensions to live off)

I don't think cutting back on meals out and handbags will make enough of a difference.

I entirely agree with dancinghippoonacid - you should look to secondary not primary and consider a tutor in the meantime.
rich grandparents bankroll most of our friends who educate privately; or the father earns mega bucks. But one, who had 3 girls in private, was forced to take them out of the school when his bonuses drastically diminshed.

At the moment this is all theoretical - LO#1 is on its way, so its things like this that I'm thinking about.

Because I was fortunate enough to have been privately educated myself (on my father's salary alone - he was just a rural accountant) it makes me quite sad that I can't provide the same for my kids - despite being both my DH and me being qualified professional ourselves. Most of my schoolfriends were the children of professionals, mostly with only one earner (and I'm talking teachers, rural (not city) lawyers, doctors etc)

Totally agree that "middle class professional" covers a broad range of incomes, but I'd say I was pretty average - I just squeeze into the top rate tax bracket.

There has to be something fundamentally wrong with the running of private schools for things to have changed so much in a generation.

The upside is that so many -ahem- 'quality' DCs have been forced out of private they now grace the doors of the state...

I know I sound tongue in cheek but the reality is, if you can afford to buy (or even rent) in the catchment of a good state school, in the long run, educationally your DCs stand a good chance of doing better than they may have in a second rate private school.

I'm not sure there is something 'fundamentally wrong' in the running of schools, it's just that in the same way as house prices have been thrown way out of kilter, divorced from the rest of the economy, private educational costs have done the same. I don't recall many of us bemoaning that there was something 'fundamentally wrong' as our house prices soared! So we can't moan about private schooling doing the same.

Have school fees increased out of kilter with wages generally?
I too know folk who were educated privately themselves but can't afford it for their kids - writers and journos living in London mostly.
Then again, there are swathes of folks who are first time buyers. Went to state school themselves but can now afford private for their kids.

Also, are there all these children who have had to go to state due to their parents shifting incomes?
More than would be usual?
DC's school is full and has waiting lists. DD's new schholhad a record number of applications this year and a record number of take up on offers.
Either there are still a lot of folk who can afford it or there's some imprudent stretching going on.

I think the answer is - earn more or don't have 3 children, sorry.

You could probably manage 2, but these days only people such as surgeons, dentists, barristers, venture capitalists etc or people getting assistance from their families can put 3 or more children through education at a good independent school.

And I disagree with going for secondary- the formative years are surely most important.
Choose a grammar school area, send them to a pre-prep/prep school with excellent 11+ results, and save on the cost of 7 years' secondary education

Be careful if you decide to go for prep school in the hope of grammar school entry. If they don't pass the 11+ and you have spent all the budget on prep fees, you will be stuck with what are in effect secondary moderns(if you live in a totally selective area}.

Going on my experience, captainNancy, state primaries ae often better than secondaries- my own state primary was great, but the local comp was AWFUL. Had no choice but to go there, private was not an option and there was no other secondary school in the area unless you suddenly found God.

Looking at our local schools now, I think the gap between what is offered between state and private is much greater in the secondary sector. The grammar schools are grim exam factories that would be totally wrong for my DD who is very academic but also has a passionate interest in the performing arts. I don't regard these as good alternatives to the great private senior school attached to her prep school that she has a place for. That school is exactly right for her as it gets very high level academic results but also has very active and successful drama and music departments. The local comp is also vry good but is just not in the smae league as the private option.

Good to read this - it makes a change fro the usual mumsnet mantra that all private school parents are quite ordinary people on quite ordinary average salaries who afford the fees by making sacrifices that anyone could make if they only tried hard enough....

Totally agree with whoever said that a lot more middle class "intelligentsia" kids are now knocking around in the state system than 25 years ago, which is a good thing,

Litchick, the people who can afford the fees ime in London are often superrich expats who've moved here because of the UK's kind treatment of oligarchs. A lot of private schools I've looked at here have a very eurotrashy, bling feel to them as a result. My father sent me and db to private schools and he was an academic, there's no way someone of his status could afford it now.