To anyone who has 2 children at private school, can I be very rude and ask...

[Slilou]

... what proportion of your salary is spent on school fees?

...or ruder still, ask what your income/ fees are?

Last year, dh and I had a combined gross salary of £48k, but it has just gone up to £68k between us, due to promotion/ change of job for both of us.

I would like to be able to give my dc the chance of an independent education for their secondary schooling, but it has always been out of the question.

We live in the south east, so house prices and other costs are high.

I am not trying to be nosey, just wonder if people on a similar salary manage school fees.

I think you need about £100k plus a year - it takes up all a lot of our disposable income and we are paying just £7k at the moment. Our mortgage is about £800 a month I think. I get some DLA as both of my children have disabilities (not means tested). One has to go to a state school because he needs SEN. Depends on how good you are at budgeting.

We educate three privately. We have our own business and draw down about £70,000. That said the third one does make money tighter but one is in year 12 so were nearly there. We moved up north 10 years ago for a cheaper mortgage and I do notice the cost of living cheaper compared to down South. Term fees cost about £11000 for the three of them.

you should also factor in that school fees rise annually and salaries are at the moment sometimes subject to either freezing or very minimal increases. Add to that the cost of books (some schools include them) and activities/trips that you don't want your dc to be the only child not taking part in, the actual amount you need to budget for is sometimes quite a bit higher than the fees.

Saying that schools vary hugely in what they charge. The cheapest indie in my patch (Kent) is around £14K pa the most expensive £23K for a day place and £31K for boarding. Double all that for 2 dc and then have a think about what sort of place you want your dc to go to.

I'm lucky that I have one on 2 scholarships and a bursary and the other is on a sibling discount and funded by grandparents

We have 2 at private school, dh' has a basic salary of 90k plus a bonus scheme. Our eldest went first when his basic was lower, but our 2nd joined him when his current salary was confirmed. (we are mortgage free)

Fees are approx £6,200 a term.

My full time salary goes exclusively on paying the school fees/childcare costs (3 sets) plus we have help from granparents. Dh pays for everything else (morgage etc) plus trips extras. We have a joint income considerably bigger than yours and yet we cannot afford a holiday this year and my car is an absolute wreck! It is a huge commitment and one you need to realise will completely change your life and attitude to spending!

I think you can assume that the cost per child will be about £13,000 per year, so £26,000 per year if you have two. That is about £42,000 in after tax dollars. If your house is paid for, it may be affordable but otherwise I think it would be a struggle. Are there good grammar or state schools in your area? Would you consider moving to an area where there are good state schools?

Sorry - I meant £36,000 in after tax pounds!

amicissima when I mentioned trips I wasn't talking about the compulsory things like theatre visits or field trips for History and Geography, I meant things like a ski trip to the States, Christmas markets in Germany, or the whole school summer trip to Venice which seems to be something my school are rather fond of. These ones are optional but almost all the children seem to go (save mine and about 8 or 9 others)

We will have two in private. In order to achieve this we are moving out of London in order to reduce the mortgage. The intention is that my salary will cover the mortgage, school fees and travel costs (we will both continue to work in London). We will then live off dh's income. It won't be easy but we love the school and hope both boys will flourish there.

Have 2 at private school and have 3 who have been through it and are now at uni or working. Currently pay £22k. Pa in school fees. At one point were paying £50k. No holidays back then and we drove bangers! Now it's ok. Overall it's now about 15%/20% income I guess. But worth every penny despite the strain at times. No regrets, best gift we could give them all! Good luck

You also need to look at the extra's that you have to be prepared for as well,my 2 DGSs both won full bursaries aged 11 and my DH and I funded their extra's for trip's abroad and sport's equipment,it is very hard to say no when their friends whose families can afford the cost of trips to The Great Wall of China,Russia and Nile expeditions these could cost another 5/7k a year for the both of them,if we had to consider it now we would go down the route of tutors and choosing a good local school,you need to be very sure your income is not going to change and no one's employment is gaurenteed.

I think the variation in income:fees ratio on here is interesting and peoples idea of affordability varies hugely. We are on a combined gross income of around £73,000 and pay 2 sets of school fees (around £19,000 per year total) with some economising but not total frugality, and we have a mortgage of £650 per month. We know others on a similar income who could never afford it for all sorts of reasons - bigger mortgage, more debt generally, better holidays etc. Sometimes it's about personal priorities rather than pure affordability. And I don't know of any school that would award a bursary at that income level.

You might also want to consider school fees planning. We've got four (now year 11-9) at private school and there is no way we could consider paying for them under normal means. What we've done is effectively stretch the payment term beyond the period they will be at school/university using the equity in our house to draw down funds from our mortgage provider. We generally overpay the mortgage siginificantly most months and tip bonuses and so on into the mortgage as and if they land. If you have got some equity in your house then it might be worth your while contacting one of the school fee firms that you see advertising around - we did. It means the mortgage will not be paid off for a number of years but hey, that's a risk we are prepared to take for the sake of our DC's education. We also negotiated decent 'bulk discounts' on the fees which helps sweeten the pill (a little!).

We earn jointly over £100k and wanted to go private from the get go, but we had a huge debt and did not want to stretch ourselves. We probably could have afforded it anyway if we had done our research early as we could have swapped childcare fees with sch fees. We have 3 DDs (6+; 4+ and a babino).

Anyhow, we are blessed with bright sparks as DDs, DS1 was doing well in the state school but recently he started coplaining of boredom so we started him and his brother on kumon. We have started making the move for private this year after serious consideration and both DS should start this Sept fingers crossed. We have debts that will be paid off by Sept this year (monthly payments are about £1100 in total), so that will go towards fees (fees for the 2 DSs will work out at about £13000 a year in total. Moreover private school has school bus that will eliminate childcare fees of about £480 per month for the 2 DS and private tuition of £190 per month will also go (as private sch is very good academically). So I think we will be ok.

You really need to do your maths and make sure you can afford the fees if not you can delay the start say put the in at 7+ rather than 4+ so you can have 3 years to save.

We have a 6 figure household income and approximately double your mortgage amount and we are hesitating over commiting to school fees for our 2 DC. Pre-prep and prep school fees would come to just under £20K total pa in our case and the fees increase even more in senior school. A rough calculation - your income of £68K gross means approx £46K net. School fees for 2 DC totalling £20K+ will be a challenge!

We were very lucky. No mortgage and one child paid for by his GM. All my salary goes into the school fees, plus the income from a bond we have. Living in the SW also means cheaper school fees (only just gone over £10k/year). It's been a tough 5 years. We now have no savings left and struggling slightly in this economic climate (ie everything going up except salaries) to even pay 1 set. (older child is at university now, middle at state 6th form, only child 3 left in school and she will also go to state 6th form in 18 months' time).