How do people afford private school?

[PopGoesTheWeaselYetAgain]

Following on from discussion House of Commons today, how do people afford private school fees? Is it by sacrificing holidays and other luxuries? That wouldn't by you a year, but did she perhaps mean a term? How do you pay for the other two terms?

I'd appreciate it if posters refrained from speculation. I'm interested in people's actual financial circumstances and decisions.

I’m metaphorically your mum friend. What did she do?

Some struggle to pay the fees and make compromises along the way while others have generational wealth and don't even notice the fees. Plenty are in the middle and feel it's worth it for the cost.

You're right to question it though - imagine two people earning £100,000 each with no student debt. That's a household annual income of £125,000. Take out £36,000 for mortgage repayments, £10,000 for holidays, and £40,000 for eating, cars, utilities and everything else and you're left with £39,000.

You won't find many private schools that'll do two kids for £39,000 a year.

Unfortunately, this government's just made it all harder for ambitious people that want to try the private school route.

Exactly, my class is full of those who it matters little costwise. All but one have a very high earning husband, women all SAHM. Im a single parent with two in private school, decent earning but all my wages are wiped out each month. No car, no fancy holidays. No bursary as i own my home. However it was my choice to go down this route because it's what I value.

There's also a number of single mums who can afford it as a result of divorce/separation and (very sadly) a number whose husband's have died.

In my last school around 10 girls were there whose father's had passed away.

If you are moaning you can't afford private school while frittering £10k+ on holidays, cars etc your priorities are a bit skewed.

I don’t think it matters if your holiday is £10k or £1k or £0k - it’s still a tight squeeze to afford it even with the above mentioned income. £100k isn’t £100k net sadly, you are really only getting £65-70k net. The tax in this country is too high

It’s 22 k now for KG alone so you probably couldn’t, especially not with multiple children

Very easy to spend £10k on holidays every year if you've got more than 2 children.

By giving up Sky TV and smoking and going on camping holidays to Cornwall in a beaten up old Volvo. Apparently. Or, alternatively, by making simply enormous sacrifices.

Is Private school still worth it with the VAT increase/ on-going increase in schools fees?

Our DD is currently in Year 5 (private prep school) and committing to Senior School and potentially 6th feels a huge commitment.

Is it worth trying to make it work with all the recent changes and current position of Senior schools ie having to absorb the increase, making cuts etc.

It’s not back pocket change for us and would have to make sacrifices to continue so really trying to figure if its worth it.

Thanks

@Lauracoombs I guess it depends on the state school options near you along with your particular child/pre teen.
as you are well aware a state school in lambeth is going to be very different than a very rural state school in a more farming centric region.

Which one is better? How are the village schools C of E?

We also thought this too. Son is at senior school, fees are now £24k a year. Obviously on top of that there’s a lot of extras!

Daughter starts school in September and we weighed up state or private. We have gone for private… and we will have to sacrifice a lot!

Absolutely not worth it! The only reason I'm paying is because my daughter is in her GCSE years. After GCSEs there is absolutely no doubt we will opt for state.

That's interesting as sixth form has definitely been worth it. It's not just the grades, it's the range of opportunities offered.

What are peoples opinions on more worth it for primary or secondary if forced to choose?

It will depend on the schools available really but as we had a good Primary option but not Secondary it was an easy choice for us
I would say that Private primary to State Secondary is probably the more difficult transition though. My 2 did the opposite seamlessly

It depends on the child really. For a shy child, private primary would help develop confidence and it has life-long effects. For a confident one, teenage peer group is probably more important to stay on the right path.

We’re on a combined income of £160,000 and we don’t think we can afford it! We have 2 kids and it would be about £42,000 a year so after mortgage and bills and factoring in that we would actually like some money for holidays and trips and a just in case fund because yanno… it doesn’t seem feasible which I actually think is nuts considering the income. People talk of priorities but everyone has different ones. Ours are to be able to take the kids nice places and have good holidays and experiences rather than a desperate need to go private at all costs. I’m not even sure it’s worth it, sure you get to outsource a lot of stuff but I can provide lifts to any extracurricular stuff like sports etc they want to do and if I think they are struggling academically I would have the means to get a tutor to help them. I went to a private school and ended up in a good profession but lots of my friends from uni went to regular schools. I think what’s important is what goes on at home and nurturing them there. If you can easily afford private then why not but if it’s a case of huge sacrifices and uncertainty don’t beat yourself up and do what you can to make sure they get the support from you at home.

We have a net income of around 10k per month, which is obviously plenty of money. Mortgage is 3k+ per month.

We were considering sending our 3 children to prep school, but fees are approaching 20k per year, ie. 5k/month when all at school. This isn’t affordable without sacrificing all savings, pension contributions and holidays, so we will try and save and reconsider at secondary if necessary. Our local state primaries are not leafy outstanding beacons, but I’m hoping that is being around more (rather than upping the ante at work to pay fees) will be useful.

Our 'local' boarding school is £55k a year. 2 kids £110k after tax so let's call it £150k gross. So you'd need to earn a minimum of £200k and eat baked beans to send two kids.

It's too far for day (£35k).

So we have 1 at day indie (£20k) which is a) not that great and b) not that enjoyed, who will most likely move to state for sixth form and one weekly state boarding (£15k) (school is fab, boarding less so).