Private School for 2 children

[TheOneTed]

Hi there, I have a 3 year old DD and was planning to send her to private school. The local primary got a Needs Improvement ofsted rating which meant I looked at the local private school - and was really taken by the facilities / grounds etc.

I have just found out I'm pregnant again, and am worried about the costs for 2. We are a high earning family (around £450k / year), but it means we will be tied to working full time -high pressure jobs for a long time! We also have fairly higher mortgage / car costs.

Can anyone share their experience if they had a similar choice to make? What was the outcome for you? Many thanks

Pay for now out of salary and Save Save Save for future school fees.

Oh come off it. You have an income of £450l. You can afford it. Out in one is similar and we have two DC at private school.

the issue is whether it’s worth it to you, not whether you can afford it.

Our income is similar

We also have fairly higher mortgage / car costs

i have two at private
ex pays and he’s on £225k

fact you’re asking plus fact you say We also have fairly higher mortgage / car costs. Would indicate you perhaps have expenditure that is through the roof already

You have a very high income - by any standards. I am sure you know this already.

I fully agree with PP to start paying out of salary and then save like mad and/or seek to increase your income as it only gets more and more expensive.

Secondly, you may need to reduce your outgoings. For an example, we downgraded our car. We also havent had the proverbial “2 weeks in the sun” this summer and we didnt last year either.

The only thing I would add is that - we have 2. i just dont see how it would be / would have been possible to start 1 in private and then not do the same for the second. So I guess what I am saying is that in my eyes, once you send 1 you are essentially committing to send the second DC as well. So that is something to consider.

We were out of catchment for the local state which is o/standing, despite living less than a mile away. The next option we had was in special measures and a reputation for racism - non negotiable for us as we are not white. Just to give context to why we went private.

Good luck with your decision making.

I'm a big fan of private school. I would pretty much always say that it's worth it if you can afford it. But, a happy home comes first. I work in a private school, and there are some kids whose parents work every hour just to pay the school fees, and the kids absolutely hate that kind of pressure. Heads up: school fees went up 6-9% this year, and parents have to able to accommodate these rises.

Primary school tends to be much cheaper than secondary. I would pay for primary, and then see where you're at in 7 years. Even if you decide that the job is unsustainable, 7 years in a good prep school will give them a very good chance of passing an 11+ (if that's an option)

Also, £450k is such an incomprehensible sum of money to me that surely you must surely be able to save £50-100k a year while you are working that job?

You can afford it, depends on your priorities

I have two kids in an expensive day school and we earn less than half of your salary, and still have a perfectly comfortable life. Unless you have a really extraordinarily large mortgage, you should easily be able to save enough each month to at least halve the time you're paying fees for. But then, it sounds like you're more generally unhappy with your life? Personally, I wouldn't work in a long hours, high stress just for the money. I would ditch the job (and the lifestyle that comes with it) if I didn't also enjoy it.

That income and you can't afford to live somewhere with a decent state school?

London.

Very Very common for incredible locations neighbouring terrible ones

@DoItAfraid

you “downgraded your car”

how much did you actually save by doing that?? Prep is £16k for mine, secondary is £37k!

Thanks everyone for your responses so far.

I agree that we can afford it now, but this is based on us both working full time in our industries for the next 18 years. I like my job and my life but you never know what the future holds. Maybe with 2 children, working full time will be trickier, maybe one us will want a career change / break, have health issues etc etc
Our mortgage isn't crazy, but we might need to move to a bigger house with a new baby, so that's also a consideration. Cars we could definitely downgrade.

We're not in London. The secondary schools in the area are all good, it's the primary schools that aren't which prompted me to look at the private school.

Both my husband and I went to state schools, so spending that amount of money on education is a bit alien to me / my family, but anyone I speak to with children in private school say it's worth every penny.

I'm trying to weigh up whether it's worth paying for two children at private school, or use that money to help them buy a property when they're older, or have more holidays etc. That's what I'm interested to know if people have also debated.

I also agree, if one goes then both go.

@Endlesslypatient82

I know it’s easy to misread tone with written word but did you mean to across rudely to me?

I know exactly how much we saved as we no longer have 2 car repayments and we only run one small vehicle. Might not be a lot to you but it was significant enough to be worthwhile.

Also I am not paying high school fees yet.

Oh and thanks for the advice re saving as much as possible now to reduce future pressures, that does make a lot of sense.

On that salary you can definitely afford it. We have a third of your income (and I’ve just given up my job so even lower) but we’ve got 2 at private school. We an old car and don’t spend on expensive holidays. We have a high mortgage. Since giving up my job we have to watch what we spend but it’s all doable.

Seriously? This didn’t just naturally occur to you?

Our income is a fraction of yours- combined under 100k. And yet we think we can just about afford it (not decided yet if we actually will). In your shoes I wouldn’t give it a second thought.

I turn up at my childrens private schools in a battered Skoda - only type of car ever driven so ignorant about car lease etc costs. Had no idea so huge!

So would everyone prioritise private school over the additional disposable income?

What would you be spending the 'extra' disposable income on?

It's a case of your priorities. You could afford 2 at private school on a quarter or less of your income if that's what you prioritised.

What are you including in your disposable income?

no holidays at all for example?

Hi @RoseAndRose, things like savings for them when they're older (for example to help with a deposit for a house). Or like I mentioned earlier the security to know once or us could work part time / stop working / take a career change with much lower pay etc.

@TheOneTed to answer your question it depends on your priorities.

If we had been in catchment I would have been happy to send my girls to state. It’s outstanding and in a good area so I believe they would have been fine.

I would enjoy more disposable income - holidays etc absolutely.

I do worry about high school fees, university, buying them a small car, property deposits.

Our career trajectory is going on track so far though. We earn about 33% of what you do. You can definitely afford it. You just have to decide if you want to use your money that way.

Overall - my girls are doing brilliantly. I am happy to spend my money on that. I can see why others dont. Also an argument to say my girls would have been fine if we had got the state primary we wanted.

Oh come on, how can two people intelligent and switched on enough to be earning £450k not realise that you need to change priorities to pay for what's important.

Of course you can send two kids to private school on that much. Our kids prep is £30k a year for both currently. If they board it will be £45k -50k a year each minimum.

Surely you can whack some figures into a spreadsheet, adjust for inflation, and work it out.