How much to budget for independent secondary?

[Isit2021yetplease]

We are just trying to work out if private education is anywhere near our realms. I've been trying to work out full possible costs by adding around 4% a year increase in fees and bulking it up to factor in stuff like lunches, buses, trips etc. I'm coming up with £200-£250k per child for private secondary - does this seem right? It seems an awful lot and a lot more than I had in mind.
What kind of household joint income do you think you need to facilitate this? I'm just curious as to what level people think they can comfortably afford it?
We currently have a joint income of around £100k however we both work so pay for childcare out of that. We are fortunate to have a small mortgage, but I still don't think we could get close to affording private for 2 kids, despite the fact I feel like our joint salary is quite reasonable?

We sent our dc to state primary and then switched to private for secondary (not sure it was a good decision or not but that's a different story)

Fees vary Very significantly regionally. You could be looking at triple the fees for a day school place in some areas compared to others.

I’m in the Home Counties and £20k per child now seems standard for basic day fees. Then there’s lunch, coach and other expenses such as uniform and trips. This is for HMC schools. Often GDST girls’ schools are a bit cheaper and smaller schools might be closer to £15k if less popular. I know of schools in the north which are well under £10k - so big variations.

You have to know your other outgoings to decide if your income is sufficient. Some people with £200k income can’t afford for 2 kids to go because their mortgage is massive and they pay maintenance for a previous spouse and kids. Others with £85k might have zero mortgage and low expenditure and scrape it together. Others with less might manage by qualifying for bursaries etc.

Do your future planning based on only modest salary rises but significant fee rises. The days of 10% rises in fees which were common perhaps 15 years ago seem gone, but 4-5% is still pretty common and mounts up when compounded over the years.

Try not to rely purely on income. Save hard in advance so a good chunk isn’t out of monthly income. And don’t pay school fees at the expense of saving for your own retirement or having a decent life - always leave enough so you can mend the boiler or the car without having to scrabble down the back of the sofa and make sure there’s something for family holidays however basic.

School fees vary hugely but personal outgoings do too so you’d be surprised at the range of families in some schools. For 2 kids in a £20k school though, assuming no significant bursaries or scholarships or someone else paying the fees, unless there is a big pot of money to draw on, most families will have over £100k even if some can scrape it with £80-85k because a chunk is paid from savings.

I’d budget for around 10% increase per year. DD1’s school built a new boarding house and there was a massive hike in fees to fund it.

It’s roughly 5k per child per term so £15k plus a few extras. Expensive when you have twins.

We are on £100k each and sacrifice a lot to pay the fees out of take home income. We pay£18k per year per child. But we have two. So maybe doable with one.

Financial planning is sensible but we were in a similar position and took a slightly more fatalistic approach. Our approach was and still is
If we lose our jobs thr children will have to move to state
There is always state sixth form to consider
We did have some savings which we have fallen back on
Holidays have been frequent but cheap.. Nothing too extravagant
Didn't have a mortgage
We have managed to pay for Dd1 since she was seven and she is now doing her gcses.. Looking at state sixth form as an option now
Dd1 is in year 10
Dd2 in year 6 and ds2 in year 8...so not finished by any means but a lot closer than we were!
It has put a strain on our finances at times but the children have had a nice experience on the whole.

DS attends an independent.. I reckon that if we took every cost into account by the time he left there wouldn't be much change out of £20K a year..its surprising how much food he can consume in one a day..on some days he was spending almost £10 a day. I had also budgeted for at least one big school trip but do wonder if that will ever happen now :(

It all depends on the school. Many also offer sibling discount....and in school bursaries.

Definitely worth the expense.

Would budget on average of £15k per year plus reduction by 10% for sibling.

If your kids are young now, then start right now putting circa 20k per year (or whatever you can manage) into a savings account. Whenever you get pay rises, don't let your standard of living increase. Then when the eldest reaches 11 and starts at secondary, just keep putting in at the same level whilst withdrawing the fees due 3 times a year - the withdrawals will still be less than the deposits until the second one starts school. There will be only a few years (depending on age gap) when you need to pay fees for both, during which you will be using the built-up-lump-sum in your savings account - and it should be that the credit you built up now while they are young is sufficient to tide you through those years so you will be fine.

With a joint income of £100k you can definitely afford this, if you make the lifestyle choices necessary to live within your means elsewhere. Obviously it is possible to spend the whole of a £100k income on the mortgage for a larger/nicer located house, or nicer cars, or more luxurious holidays and leisure activities. But you can't deny that other families can and do live perfectly reasonable and comfortable lifestyles with a household income of "only" 70k or so, so it can't be too much hardship to manage your expectations now, and put the cash away, for the benefit of your childrens' future.

We have 2 that are 4 and under and the plan is to have saved for at least 5 years worth of fees before the eldest one starts so we’re never paying for both at once. Effectively that means carrying on saving nursery fees once the youngest doesn’t need them anymore. If we find that becomes too tight, it is a good warning that secondary school might not be affordable. If we change our mind then we should have a good wodge of savings to fall back on. What it does mean though is more modest holidays and a fairly constant need to save. You’re doing the right thing thinking about it now. I don’t think you’d be able to do it on your income without a lot of savings behind you.