Paying fees on VERY moderate income, how can it be done?

[Onthesedgeofoureats]

Dd has been accepted at the Prep I have wanted her to go to from being born, and I am over the moon, as I thought it was a pipe dream. I have no real idea why I entered her, as I knew it was a pipe dream until we start earning properly. It is a selective academic, and she totally fell in love with it. Even the school admitted it seemed like the perfect fit for her. She was a high scorer on the entrance exam, and the school seem as delighted as we are.

However, both dp and I are still studying for the next two years, so have a combined income of £1,500 a month, which is lovely, but not enough as the fees are £1100 a month. We have some equity in the house, but cannot realise it through re-mortgaging as we have hit our max allowed, and have the "cheapest" house available within 15 miles, so would have to move a long way away to downsize, which we can't do as dp needs to be near his lab. We're not going to get a bursary are we? I know I'm trying to have my cake and eat it, and that we are going to have to turn down the place, but I was just wondering how people on incomes like ours did jiggery pokery to try and manage the fees. Straws, clutching, etc.

Any input gratefully received.

No, but there isn't a real mix at many grammar schools/faith schols/good comps in middle class areas.

Not really.

Oh dear - sorry for confusion. We have no debt at all and haven't paid for any education on credit cards. We used the credit card companies 0% deals to transfer funds they were prepared to give us and which we never touched into accounts balanced against our mortgage, thereby negating the interest on the mortgage. We never paid any interest. Its called stoozing. Do not advocate paying for education on credit. I am advocating taking advantage of credit card companies - legally - which for several years paid our school fees. And those of many other families I know of. It is a fairly common practice....but involves no debt and no interest.

Just looked up stoozing. Blimey, the things you learn on Mumsnet.

Great new word.

THe other worry is that struggling for the whoe of the early years will remove the reality of private for secondary...OP you need to think about that.

A major reason for our move is that we cannot believe how fast DD is moving up thrugh the school and that means secondary is round' the corner...we would be broken by then...and if she didn't get a scolarship she'd be attending the local comp...knowing nobody..and going from a very different environment.

Thanks for the well wishes people..but it's not as upsetting as one might think. We're lucky enough to have been offered a place at a lovely and almost outsanding village primary...it's ging to be much better for DD to be with more kids...and in a rural setting instead of an urban one.

AND we're going to be RICH! Rich I say!(for us) The extra cash is paying for riding lessons whch DD really wants...we can go on holiday! Out for dinner..save up!

"No, but there isn't a real mix at many grammar schools/faith schols/good comps in middle class areas."

Agreed - but Idon't pretend there is.

i went to private school and people can argue about it all they like but end of story its better. I personally feel if you only have a choice of one child going its more important for males, girls seem to do much better then boys in a state education and i have no doubt that your daughter would do fine. I will be sending my kids to private school but not yet what a waste of money. My son goes to quite a well to do catholic primary school in a very posh town near where we live. I spoke to many people about private school (my younger sis is still in private education ) and nearly all said if it a struggle then save and send them at 11. I am a company director and earn 40k a year and my husband a police officer but we still dont feel we can currently afford private school.Where we live in the South my parents pay almost 20k a year for my sister. I personally started private school at 11 my sis started at 4 but i dont think she gained much more from it then i did.

Still curious to know how you can get the credit card companies to pay the fees - even if you manage 0% interest (not so easy now), the capital is accumulating, surely. How do you intend to pay several years of fees? Go bankrupt? I can't see that this would ever be a sensible road to go down.

Jeee it is stoozing - a common practice. The credit card companies don't pay the fees. They transfer funds into your account at 0% and you don't touch it. You pay it back before any interest accrues. We did it for years and it worked brilliantly - so much so that several other families also started doing it. What capital do you mean????

No they bloody don't Hana! Where have you been?

"Well to do"? "Posh"? "40k" blah blah blah..sounds like you're sexist, showing off and out of touch too.

Oh, I think I get you, janin - I assumed you meant that you paid the fees on your 0% credit card, meaning that you'd have years of fees racking up.

Good grief no!!!!

say u have a 10k limit on your card at 0% you pay that into your offset mortgage of 5% you do this with a few cards you now have say 30k less on your mortgage to pay interest on and therfore your money is paying off the capital the money saved on interest (think they said 20k) will pay fees. Eventually u pay money back to card after using it but interest will now be less due to less capital and you just get new cards

out of touch hahaha im 25 so left private school 7 years ago !! with the reference to my sons school i am saying that it doesnt need to be a private school for it to be a good school, i know my son would do better at private school but i feel you need to be huge earners to afford it . If sending my sons at 11 is all i can do then i will save and do that, i wont show them what they can have now and then take it away. It is proven girls do better then boys in a state education i read a huge article on it last week and 90% of parents said they would send a son rather then daughter to private school they all had more confidence in the daughter doing well in a state school.

Is it still called stoozing if you do this with other 0 or low% rate credit and invest in somehting with higher yields?

So am I the only person who's never heard of stoozing?

Do you believe everything you read love? "Huge" or not mny articles are skewed by political agenda.

7 years is a long time in education which changes constantly...it's ridiculous and sexist to say boys need somehing more than girls...they don't.

Oh and I couldn't give a flying arse what you do and where you send your boys...but DONT take the piss out of my situation...I share my experiences here for people to learn from...but when foolish people come along with sexist crap...and sadly bitchy comments I WILL respond accordingly.

Hadn't heard the term, but take advantage of the priciple whenever possible.

Borrow money at 0% or low rate interest. Invest it in somehting with higher returns.

Pay back loan.
Keep what you make.
Simples.

Stoozing is actually an excellent idea (provided you are disciplined and organised enough to make sure you pay off each card in full as it comes to the end of its 0% period).

jan can I ask how much you managed to borrow on credit cards at any one time? just trying to see if this would make a dent in our mortgage interest payments at all.

Also, did you find it affected your credit rating, or was it ok since you always paid the balance off?

minipie - if you get an offset mortgage it works very well indeed.

For every moment that borrowed money is sitting in your account it is correspondingly reducing what you owe.

For no effort on your part.

Then when the term is up, draw the cash out of the offset and pay back. You'll be shocked at the dent it makes.

sorry wimple of the ballet did you start the post ?? I was replying to the original question not anything on your post. someone earlier had suggested it better not to take the daughter to the school for the morning if they coulnt actually afford it hence why i said i wouldnt show my kids it and take it away. I have made no referance to your situation as i hadnt read your story so i think you need to calm down

DH's mantra is 'the cash is better off in my pocket than yours.'

Minipie there are two of us, and at one point we had over £80k in our account. Our credit rating actually got better as we were shown to be responsible with money....!