Private school fees

[muffinhead4]

I have been try to work out if we can afford private school fees for our 2 children in the next few years but after doing sums we could barely manage 1 let alone 2 😔
Before tax we earn approx £100K which is most definitely not enough, this got me thinking how do parents pay for private school for more than 1 child? Am I missing a trick? I know some grandparents help but those that pay them selves how do you do it? What kind of jobs? I am in finance and DH is in training, neither very high up.

We pay the fees for 1 child on a £75k combined income. We don't get help with fees but we do have a tiny mortgage. We don't keep much in savings, just pay the bills as they come.

There's 5 years left to go and the fees keep rising. We should be ok but can remortgage if things start to go pear shaped.

DH earns £160k and I earn £24k. £5k a term fees all inc at primary level. Mortgage £1600 pcm. Own car outright (8yo Punto).

peers are either both earning DHs salary, own a shed load of property or have grandparents paying.

We are on the edges of London.

The ones like us have one child. I’m the second youngest Mum at 35, most are in their 40s and freely admit they’ve done very well out of property.

We have a combined income of around £200K and three DCs, not a huge mortgage. When DC1 was approaching secondary age a few years ago we ran the figures (including fee inflation) and concluded pretty quickly it would leave us far too financially vulnerable. Fast forward to now with the cost of living increase and I'm relieved we didn't make that commitment, we would now be unable to afford it.

We live in a wealthy village (I had no idea quite how wealthy before we moved here) and of the dozen or so families I have met here we are the only ones with kids in state secondary. I honestly have no idea where this money is coming from. Most of the families seem to be a traditional set up too, with the mother at home. It's baffling!

We did the same.

No 4x4/new car, camping not overseas holidays. Smaller house. Clothes as needed not because I fancy something new.

On £100k it is doable unless you have a large mortgage. Your financial position should improve over time which will make it easier.

You cut your cloth accordingly and prioritise your finances towards education rather than aspirational trinkets

I'm absolutely gobsmacked at the difference in price of school fees. The most expensive private school nearest to where we live starts at £8.5k per year for primary, going up to £15.6k per year for senior school and 6th form. Then there is school uniform, bus fares, exam fees and other extras on top of that.

This is a well regarded school in West Yorkshire with lovely buildings and loads of green space.

On £45k net, how are you affording fees?

Ah sorry, £45k was the fees.

We earn about £120k household. We’re considering private. The difference is:

• we only have one
• GPs are paying for prep
• I’ve been saving £150pcm in an isa since I started working. Obviously not started with the intention of school fees, but by the time they start secondary should be about £40k in there which will help cushion the cost.
• Purposely chosen a cheaper house, rather than more expensive house in the grammar school area.
• NW so school fees are about £15k a year.
• Only have 1 car and both WFH so no commuting costs.

Even with all the above it’s still tight, there’s no way we could afford 2!

We can manage for one (outside London) but couldnt do two at same time for long period. Paying out of income but we also have reasonable savings. Having to cut back on other things though as also renovating new house. We could really use a new car but that is on hold. When eldest leaves we will see if we can afford to send youngest (if she wants to go. Not sure she will).

Thank you all so much for your help and honesty. So fees are approx. 20k per annum each child, currently mortgage is about £2k pcm, we are on the outskirts of London. Sadly no property or help from family, so i don't think it will be possible. :(

We have 1 child at a North London private, fees around £22k with hopefully one joining in 2 years. We're putting the same amount away as we pay for the eldest into investments so we can cover her costs later. We're both professionals with a good salary each (£200k plus each). Most other parents are both working professionals (lawyers, accountants, doctors), with a few Uber rich (inherited), some super wealthy (jobs - hedge fund etc).

It’s hard, we did it for two out of our own income.
We had managed to pay off our mortgage with an inheritance so that made a big difference.
We both worked although my salary was much less than my husbands, we did not have lavish holidays.
Our second son boarded for some years as we moved away, we were paying about 24K for one.
Looking at our lifestyle now as all 3 are independent I realise we made a lot of sacrifices, I would do it all over again.

My three (10, 13, 14) are all at local independent school. We applied for scholarships and bursaries. All got music scholarships of 15-20% and we applied for means tested bursaries on top of that. Day fees are around £6,500 a term but that includes most things, even food. Doesn’t include exam costs or major trips though.
DH earns around £80K and I earn around £30K. My wages cover the school fees and DH’s cover everything else. We are on a very low rate interest only mortgage currently (which is aroind 2/5 of the house value) and we also have a small rental property that we bought for pension purposes. Money is tight though so we can’t go spending frivolously. We don’t drink or smoke though and don’t have lavish lifestyles!

We're in this dilema now. Our household income is 160k plus spilt evenly between the two of us. My career prospects are good meaning good future income increases. My partner's business is literally taking off right now. We have 2 pre-schoolers close in age. We know we can afford the fees now as we're paying it for nursery but it's tight. No luxuries. Not much savings. But my gut is telling me to get then started now in prep schools because soon the maths will get easier. I went to private schools and I strongly feel that my oldest will thrive there next year. Let's see what my sceptical, state educated husband thinks at the open mornings next month.

We have kids at private school.
they tend to mostly fall in these categories
only children
wealthy grandparents
parents went to the school (and get a discount)
children of rhe teachers
wealthy parents

We pay for ours out of our own income, if there's a trick to it, I wish we knew what it was!

We don't get any help, pay £9k per term for eldest and £6k for youngest. Eldest boards.

We're v old though so DH is perhaps a lot further along in his career than a lot of people, although there are quite a few older parents at both schools.

A lot of grandparents pay for their child's school fees it seems at both of their schools and some have trust funds set up especially for school fees.

@woulducouldushouldu aspirational trinkets had me laughing.
we send our kids to state schools and use any left over cash on endless books for them, educational trips to museums and galleries, one on one tutoring, interesting foreign travel, teaching them to ski, climb, sports clubs, LAMDA lessons and exams, sailing, paddle boarding, riding, cooking courses, touch typing courses
Also we give to charity and volunteer our time in our community.
Aspirational trinkets LOL!

Was thinking more along the lines of new cars, designer handbags and first class holidays.

As a PP suggested, we waited until we were established in our careers to have a child (an only child) - I was 37, DH 39.

We earned a joint total of around £200K, our mortgage is approx. £3K, school fees are around £5K per term (20K per year).

We're not 'rolling in it' but we live a reasonably comfortable life and are able to save.

Prep fees are approx. the same as DD's nursery fees were, so we feel little or no difference.

Also outer London.

The local private schools around us have fees between 12- 13 k a year.

So a lot more affordable, but also some bursaries available.

In the NW.

Not sure what I will do.

Hoping to get into the local grammar, but if not I think the local comprehensive will be better for mine anyway.

I would be able to out both mine through for senior school from earnings but money would be very tight for a few years

We have 2 children who went through private prep school and are now at boarding public school.

When they were little we had about 120k a year, fees were about 24k a year. It was TIGHT. No foreign holidays, no expensive haircuts, drove an oldish car, shopped at Aldi etc. But the kids got an amazing education, especially compared to what was on offer locally (which is why we scraped it together in the first place).

Now they're at boarding school, it's about 75k a year but we are bringing in more like 700k. It's much much easier, but frugal habits have stuck, still only one oldish car and lots of camping holidays! (Haircuts are nice though, I do love a haircut.)

NW here. Our 3rd child has just started 6th form so we've only 2 years to go. We have 7 years between each of our kids so only had one lot of fees to pay at a time. Household income is £90k and we get 50% means tested bursaries. It's tight but only having a holiday every 2 years, not changing cars too often and not buying new bathrooms/kitchen for 10 years has got us through and it's totally been worth it.

I agree about the ages of parents - having had ours at 29 and 32, we have found ourselves a lot younger than most other parents at our children's schools. Especially when they ended up at boarding senior schools.

We initially relied upon ISA savings as our backup, then had choir bursaries through prep and a combination of scholarships and bursaries for senior school. The savings have been gradually run down and we've nearly "made it".

Bursary applications asked about grandparental help; ours can't commit regularly but eg when our 20 yr old car needed replacing, FIL gave us some money he'd put away towards its replacement. Holidays generally spent at home.

😂that makes sense!