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Original poster

What would you make of the statement , Anyone can afford for one child to go to private school, it's wether they choose to or not !

59 replies

mummyloveslucy · 04/11/2008 11:03

Hi, my daughter is in a nursery attached to a private school. I've made friends with one of the mums and we meet up etc, our husbands went to school together too.
Recently she came out with the statement when talking about the school fees, that anyone can afford one child to go to private school, it's wether they choose to make the sacrifices though. She said it's much harder for her as she has two. I only have one child and I'm probubly going to have to take her out after nursery and put her in to a state primary.
I really don't agree with this comment and especially now when every 11 seconds someone has there home re-posesed.
She comes from a wealthy family and her husband has his own buisness so she probubly dosn't have much of a clue. I just don't want her to think that of us, if we have to take our daughter out. We would move heven and earth for her to stay, as she is so happy and it's fantastic for for her.
I don't feel I know her well enough to challenge that comment but at the same time I want to let her know that this simply isn't the case.

OP posts:
needmorecoffee · 04/11/2008 17:00

anyone? crap

Original poster
mummyloveslucy · 04/11/2008 17:02

needmorecoffee- what does that meen ?

OP posts:
TotalChaos · 04/11/2008 17:05

I would think the woman needs to remove her head from her arse.

needmorecoffee · 04/11/2008 17:06

it meant that its crap that anyone can send a child to private school

Original poster
mummyloveslucy · 04/11/2008 17:08

Lol She's not usually like that, I promise.

OP posts:
Reallytired · 04/11/2008 17:09

It has to be remembered that Lucy has special needs due to her speech problems. Paying for help for her speech on top of the school fees is what would sink you.

You need to hold your head high and realise that you are making the best decision for Lucy's future.

Original poster
mummyloveslucy · 04/11/2008 17:10

Oh, I see needmorecoffee. You are right ofcorse. It's either very neieve or deluded i think.

OP posts:
needmorecoffee · 04/11/2008 17:11

of course she is deluded. We are on 15K a year. If we paid 7K for one child to go to private school how would we eat and pay rent?

Original poster
mummyloveslucy · 04/11/2008 17:11

Thanks reallytired. It's true, the help on top would finnish us off.

OP posts:
MadamePlatypus · 04/11/2008 17:13

I would think that the person who made this statement needed to revise her basic maths. I would point her towards something like KS1.

zippitippitoes · 04/11/2008 17:14

well without reading anything it is clearly nonsense

it depends how much money you have

DrNortherner · 04/11/2008 17:15

I would answer "Actually, not everyone can afford too, and not everyone would want to."

mazzystartled · 04/11/2008 17:17

she is living in some kind of parallel universe to me then

why on earth do you care what she thinks of you?

Original poster
mummyloveslucy · 04/11/2008 17:18

Exactly, even if you can afford it, it's not nesesseraly the best choice for your child. There are some fantastic state schools around and some pretty poor private ones.

OP posts:
squeakypop · 04/11/2008 17:40

A lot of people can afford to make the choice to be either a SAH or go out to work to put one child in private education. I know a lot of mums who work just to pay school fees, and if they weren't using private schools, they wouldn't work (myself included).

A salary of £12000 pa will easily pay the school fees of one child, during their primary years.

MadamePlatypus · 04/11/2008 17:46

A salary of 12K pa will definitely NOT pay the fees for one child during their secondary years. And will certainly NOT pay for two children. It is of course true that people exist who can pay private school fees. It is not true that everybody is in this position (as implied by the OP's friend).

needmorecoffee · 04/11/2008 18:02

12K? What about food and rent?

Original poster
mummyloveslucy · 04/11/2008 18:07

Perhaps she meens the mum earning £12k and the Dad earning enough to cover everything else.

OP posts:
LynetteScavo · 04/11/2008 18:11

Agree with squeekypop and mummyloveslucy.

mummyloveslucy - have you found a state school you like?

If two parents were working full time on the minimum wage, and had one child in private shcool, they could probably jsut about afford the fees if they never take a holiday, only eat very basic food, live in a tiny house they bought years ago,and don't drive a car. But what would be the point?

squeakypop · 04/11/2008 18:14

That's why I specified primary. Senior school is more like £15k. And the whole topic is just about funding one child.

I have a modest salary as a main-scale teacher, and can cover two sets of fees out of my salary - more, in reality, because of fee remission and scholarships.

squeakypop · 04/11/2008 18:15

It's when mum has a choice to work or SAH, coffee. We are not talking about mums who are the solo breadwinner for the family.

needmorecoffee · 04/11/2008 18:21

i sah and its my dh who earns 15K. i cant work.

squeakypop · 04/11/2008 18:24

So you are not the target of the conversation!

Original poster
mummyloveslucy · 04/11/2008 18:27

We are having fertility treatment at the moment, but if we couldn't have another baby then I'd work more nights to keep my daughter at the school.

OP posts:
needmorecoffee · 04/11/2008 18:37

except that the OP said 'everyone'.