Anyone ever managed to negotiate down private school fees?

[tjandpootle]

I wondered if anyone has ever tried to negotiate private school fees and if they were successful.

My DH and I were having a discussion last night about the recession and how it's affecting private schools and we wondered if they would be willing to be flexible on fees in order to fill classes and 'look good' for those willing and able to pay the full whack.

They will consider awarding bursaries and scholarships, but would certainly be means tested.

To keep charitable status you have to prove you are charitable, but their first priority will be pupils already with them and preparing for exams.

If your DC are not already in the school, I think its very unlikely that they would reduce the fees for you - if they are struggling to fill places they have probably already set the fees to where they need to be to cover costs. And since "small class sizes" is usually a selling point, they'd have to have very low numbers to believe that filling classes would be that much help in attracting more pupils.

I've known families who suffer financial reverses to be given some latitude about how long they take to pay the school fees. No discounts given that I'm aware of. In fact the former occupants of our house are currently being sued for non-payment of fees.

Someone I know had a daughter on a sports scholarship at an extremely expensive public school a few years ago (pre-recession). She said she used to phone the school whenever her mortgage payments went up and they'd increase the scholarship.

However, the girl is an international athlete.

Thanks.

We don't have a DC at the school yet - My DS is on the waiting list to start next September so we haven't started paying any fees yet.

Being the businessman he is, my DH just wondered if there was any 'deals to be done' in the current climate.

No - as everyone else says you can get the fees reduced or even waved for a year at some schools if you have a sudden crisis but not from the outset.

Prep schools near me are actually busier than they were counterintuitively because everyone needs them to get into grammar at 11 as lots of people cant afford senior fees but can afford prep iyswim.

I think it would cause a great deal of trouble if schools started 'doing deals' with parents such that some were paying less for the same education. THat would be hugely unfair.

Schools need to be transparent about their fees. They are open about their bursaries which are usually offered on entry and to students already at the school facing hardship but in both cases are means tested. Schools have a policy about the level of bursary offered usually on a sliding scale. All of these documents should be freely accessible to parents on the school website.

The only "deal" I've known done involved paying more not less!!

We negotiated a discount by paying 2 years (DD1 entered the school in the 6th form) fees up front. The school advertised a discount for parents paying a lump sum and we got a bit extra by asking. I'm going try it again next year for DD2.

You are on a waiting list and you wondering if you can get a deal! Sounds like the school is not finding it difficult to fill places.

Contrary to what one poster has said, many preps offer bursaries. My DD is in a very small prep...non selective and we informed the HT that we were leaving at the end of year 1 as the recession had bitten. She offered us half fees on the spot...to continue as long as necassary...we told her we were concerned because we had had another DC and she assured us help would be there for DC 2 aswell.

Our prep is not full...there is not a waiting list and it is wonderful. It just recieved an excellent report from the Independant board.

DS's prep school has a substantial waiting list at the moment so would think little likelihood of deals being done.

Also would cause uproar with other parents I would imagine.

As Quattro said - some leniency regarding late payment due to circumstances but not just discounts to get a deal.

If you haven't already done so, I would look up the accounts of your school via the Charity Commission (if they are a charity and not privately owned). The accounts usually disclose how many students are on a discount, and will give you an idea of the amount of discount (though not the reason why).

There are broadly 2 types of indie private school: - the successful oversubscribed schools, who are usually full, and the smaller schools who always have spaces.

The former don't need to offer discounts, though they may do so for exceptional pupils in difficult circumstances. The latter need every penny that they can get.

So if you get a deal, you need to think quite hard about whether it is really worth it. The costs associated with getting and retaining good teachers hasn't dropped, nor have the costs of maintaining good facilities. FWIW, I think that you are always entitled to ask the headteacher how many pupils they need each year to break even. Especially in a small school it is very easy to lose a family or two and swing from the black into the red.

All the pre-preps/preps round here have waiting lists as long as your arm- highly unlikely you'd be cutting a deal with them!

Unless your child was prodigiously talented, why on earth would they?

A few years ago I know people who successfully negotiated an increased scholarship - but the children had already been awarded a scholarship so they aready really wanted the children. However, since then, pure scholarships ahve diminshed and now are mostly token honorary scholarships - the real fee reduction is only for bursaries which are means tested - and you still need to be outstanding in music/art academic etc to be eligible.
I know some families locally who are hoping to use the offer of a grammar school place a a lever to get reduced fees from indies - I will be inteersted to see how that works - supsect it will not be successful, as the indie will have alredy formed a judgement about how much they want that child, and are likley to have too many well-qualified candidates to be persuaded.

This is interesting.

We are currently toying with the idea of sending DD to locla (good) comp rather than her staying on to the senior school at her high ranking private.

She is sitting for a scholarship, and head has said she has a very good chance of getting one, but that is only 10% of fees. Any more would be on a bursary.

We would not qualify for a bursary on the published criteria (guidelines say you are unlikely to get any assistance if household income is over £50k). But we don't want to have to sell the house to pay the fees. also don't want to take DS out of his prep to pay fees for DD.

Finances are only likely to be tight for a couple of years so it is a bit of a shame as DD so wants to go to the senior school.

At recent parents evening had a chat with head and told her we are considering the comp as things are a bit tight.

She said would be really sorry if DD did not stay as she is "an asset to the school" and said we should speak to senior school admin to see what they can do.

Not sure what to do. I wonder if they could come to some sort of temporary loan arrangement or something like that?

Has anyone come to a similar arrangement with a school?

That is LOCAL not locla!

recession not hitting private schools in my part of Surrey - senior school lists full for the next 4-5 years!

A school that would negotiate fees with someone who does not even have a child at the school is not one that is worth attending.

Agree very unlikely they would - for a start, the recipient parents would probably not be able to reist bragging about their cleverness, and what a can of worms THAT would open...

Ds's school had a 30% increase in applications this year so would not need to do deals with anyone! Agree with propatria.