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Original poster

Advice on Paying Independent / Private School Fees

68 replies

Gemma1216 · 28/08/2018 21:02

Hi All,
Wonder if someone can please help me please?
Our DS has been accepted into a brilliant independent school starting in 10 days' time! However, we've just come to realise that the entire year's school fees need to be paid upfront for the year.
Anyone know of any companies that provide loans for school fees? looking for something that we can pay off over 12 months, and then probably re-use on a yearly basis.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!

OP posts:
user1483972886 · 29/08/2018 08:08

Quite.

catsbeensickagain · 29/08/2018 08:10

This is incredibly unusual (are you sure they want a full year up front)? Get the accounts from companies house check they have assets and are not making a huge loss. Then ring the bursar and ask if they have an instalments plan - I have never come across a school that doesn't post out payment plan leaflets with the bills!

Original poster
Gemma1216 · 29/08/2018 08:44

Thanks all!
So far been told of 2 companies - Premium Credit and GrowFiniti. Busy looking into them both

OP posts:
Legageddon · 29/08/2018 08:47

Don’t take a lIan that’s ridiculous

Schools don’t ask for a year upfront

Either you have misunderstood or they are about to close down!

Speak to the burser. Say t seems unusual and why isn’t it termlynlike everywhere else. And ask if they accept monthly direct debit. Every private school I know of is termly and also do DD.

dancingthroughthedark · 29/08/2018 08:47

I have never heard of an Independent only accepting fees a year in advance. Does it say this on their website and in the prospectus? A school suddenly asking this would set the alarm bells ringing for me that they have financial problems.

cloudtree · 29/08/2018 08:51

There are loads of school fee plan companies around but they'll all cost you more over the year.

Actually no - I was surprised but we've just switched to premium credit and the cost is exactly the same as if we paid without the fee plan. I'm kicking myself that we didn't do this before. I'm assuming that the school pays a fee to them otherwise I'm struggling to see how they make any money out of it.

cloudtree · 29/08/2018 08:56

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ourkidmolly · 29/08/2018 09:01

This sounds dodgy. What type of school is this? Proceed with extreme caution. You might find it closes down and you're left with no school place and debt.

Cauliflowersqueeze · 29/08/2018 09:05

That’s ridiculous. There could be a host of reasons why you might not want your child there the full year. It’s not reasonable for them to want a full payment in advance.

dimsum123 · 29/08/2018 09:06

I've never heard of having to pay a years fees upfront. What if he goes and doesn't like it? We pay termly in advance and have to give one terms notice if you want to leave. We're in London, at one of the top boys seniors.

meditrina · 29/08/2018 09:07

OP: please pay attentiin to those posters who are urging you to check the finances of the school.

What they are asking you to do is so atypical that it s raising red flags for many (experienced) posters.

Also, never hurry into a financial commitment,p. You need to see an IFA and talk through your entire family finances, and work out what options exist for you, and which if those is likely to provide you with the most sustainable future.

Do not rush into a financing agreement of this type, just because they exist.

cloudtree · 29/08/2018 09:09

www.myschoolfeeplan.com/Application/LandingPage?stageID=1

Some more playing with the calculator shows a small transaction fee at some schools

Kokeshi123 · 29/08/2018 09:12

The advice I've generally heard re private schools is that from the moment you have decided that you will be sending your child to a private school, you should basically start putting your future school fees away in a designated account so that by the time your child starts at the school, you already have at least a couple of years' worth of fees in the bank, preferably more.

Can you really afford this school? Private schools are a big commitment because you don't really want to move your kid halfway through their school career, and fees tend to go up (and up, and up!) over time.

Danglingmod · 29/08/2018 09:21

Not normal at all.

It's usual to pay termly in advance or maybe monthly which would cost a little more.

We've just paid year 13 fees the whole year upfront because I'm not taking him out this year, obviously, and we negotiated a small discount which was just more than the interest it was earning in the bank!

I wouldn't have paid a year upfront any other year though. Are you sure the school is financially viable?

TJsAunt · 29/08/2018 09:24

never heard of a school wanting entire year up front - OP you need to listen now as this is quite a consensus. Are you sure this is right? If it is then you do need to do some due diligence by looking at accounts etc before you go ahead - if they fold in October you won't get a refund?

Xenia · 29/08/2018 09:52

I have always paid out of income. Our children went to at least 6 private schools and their father has taught at others, boarding and day and none of them have had all payment in advance up front. It sounds very dubious to me. Check the accounts and do some searches on it. Also you don't have to look rich or able to pay for schools at all - plenty of people need bursaries and are trying to look poor actually so i don't really understand your concern that you need to imkpress them by being able to pay up front. They normally couldn't care less - if you want to pay 5 years in advance for a discount some schools do have those kinds of schemes which I would not recommend but they are not going to go round saying - look at her has to pay in instalments because schools send out a bill once each term. Also they need to do that as what you have incurred varies - eg music lessons one term, class photo another so surely that is yet another reason they all do 3 bills a year.

1Wanda1 · 29/08/2018 11:01

I went to private school and have sent a child to private school. I've never heard of a school requiring payment in full for a year up front. The norm is to pay a term up front. As another poster has said, I would be very wary of paying the whole year (even if you had the money to do so) up front, because in the event that the school goes into insolvency, you will not recover your money. If you have entered into a finance agreement to pay the money, you could be left with a liability to pay the finance company while not getting the service you borrowed the money for in the first place, and you would still have to find another school for your DC - presumably also incurring fees for the new school.

Tell the school you will be paying a term at a time.

AlexanderHamilton · 29/08/2018 11:04

We came into some money and it would have benefitted us to pay dd's fees up front (school offered a small discount for doing so) but we were advised that it would be totally foolish to do so as so many schools are going bust these days.

laptopdisaster · 29/08/2018 12:05

I pay sometimes up to two years ahead as the school gives a good rate of interest. But it is a very well-established school with strong governance and I am very confident that they aren't about to go bust. Be very careful of a school that is demanding the money upfront especially if this is a new thing.

ChocolateWombat · 29/08/2018 13:41

Op, regardless of your ability to afford the fees, you must address the issue of the school actually asking for a whole year of fees now - look at your contract and see what it says about the payment terms. Look at the invoice again and check if paying for the year is an option but paying termly is also an option. Were you aware that it is very unusual for a school to insisit people pay yearly - are they simply offering it as an option and you think you will appear more solvent and affluent if you pay this way - be clear that the majority if parents pay termly or use monthly arrangements.

If the school really is saying everyone must pay yearly, you need to take this up with them - if they have just mentioned it in late August when term starts next week, it really isn't on.

Something is wrong here - either the school is in difficulty or you have misunderstood. Do not leap into getting a loan or signing a credit agreement which will cost you more, but instead look into what is possible with the school - can you afford to pay a term of fees?

jilldoyoulikeowls · 29/08/2018 14:37

Exactly what @premiertav has said.

You won't be the first to ask this.

tomhazard · 29/08/2018 15:51

Very unusual. I work in the private sector and know many schools- none require upfront yearly payments. A minority of parents choose to do this as they get a small discount by doing it, but pretty much everyone else pays termly or monthly by DD.
I would worry that this school is on the verge of going bust and would be taking a look at their accounts.
At the very least question them on this.

ruthieness · 29/08/2018 15:57

this does sound unusual
please make sure that you are actually paying the school and it is not a fake invoice fraud -

MissWimpyDimple · 29/08/2018 22:14

Termly here too. Have you misunderstood?

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