Income needed to support private ed?

[bellatmum]

I'm not wanting to start a private vs state debate - but I am starting to think about schools for DS (almost 3) and trying to work out how much money we need to be earning to be able to afford private ed. I want him to go private but my DH says we can't afford it (although he would prefer private.) so I'm just wondering - those of you who have chosen private - what do you think is the minimum income to be able to afford it? Thanks

Many independent shcool nruery and Reception classes still qualify for the LEA Early Years funding scheme aka Government "free" nursery places for all 3 and 4 year olds , just like private daycare, preschools, nurseries, childminders etc. It starts the term after the child is 3 and stops the term after he/she is 5. In private preschools/nurseries/schools it may not cover the full fees though unlike for a sessional preschool or playgroup.

I was thinking about this last night in bed nursing DD 3 months. We are just about to decide on state primary for DS aged 3 after much stressing (by me) interrogating local mums friends and family and perusing of mumsnet. We are both quite senior in our field and have been working long hours since our 20s to get here-neither of us comes from a wealthy background. We earn a good amount but got together and had children late in life, bought a house in (suburban outer) London in the last 2 years and have outgoings as follows:

Mortgage 2000/month (4 bed house small garden) Rental locally even more expensive. 15 yr term as otherwise we will not be able to pay for university as we are old
nanny 2500/month (we need a nanny as both have long commutes & cannot do drop offs/pick ups my mum is local and v helpful but does not want a regular commitment)
food/bills/insurance/pension/holiday fund/gym membership/car/house maintenance/clothes/presents/the odd meal out/day trips £2000/month
School fees for both DCs would be another £2000/month when both are at school.
So we would need £110 000 NET equating to about
£180 000 gross. which is A LOT OF MONEY. I would have to work full time instead of four days lose gym and social life etc try and halve food bill, no new clothes and have to consider pulling them out of school if DH made redundant
Instead I think we are going to drastically reduce our outgoings and put every saved penny into paying off mortgage early so if we are both still employed in 8 years we then have the option of private school at secondary level.
Obviously we are very very lucky to have a house, both be employed and have reasonable state primary schools locally. But some people might earn less, be SAHM so not need a nanny and have bought their house 15 years ago so have a smaller mortgage spend less and feel they can afford it (we are completely rubbish at economising-I could happily do without holidays/gym but DH will work himself into the ground without them-70 hr weeks normal for him).

As others have said, it will depend on your priorities and other outgoings. DD's school fees are by far the greatest expense we have. Much bigger than mortgage or any other single outgoing.

between 3k and 7k near me up to age 14

think worst case worked out at 600 or 700/month

Both need to agree it the best option for your child though.

Some schools will let you pay monthly, which makes it easier to budget, but most ask for termly payments (though once you have found the first term you could save monthly into an account and pay the fees from that other account to help budgeting). At primary level you'll be looking at £6-9K out of taxed income and a little or a lot more than that at secondary level, depending on the school. I think the fees increase at 5, 7, 13 and 16. I use the state system myself so I'm sure those using the private system can correct me! Don't forget that uniforms etc can be very expensive in the private sector (though they're not cheap in the state sector either).

A lot depends on your mortgage and other outgoings. If you've had nursery fees or a nanny you might find school fees are less, at least in the early years, though you do need to consider childcare in the holidays, which are longer than state school holidays. Depending on the quality of your local primary you might want to focus on paying off your mortgage by the time your eldest reaches 11 and then use the saved income to pay secondary school fees.

Thanks all for your advice - we are thinking of just prep/pre-prep as there are grammers around here - although in the next door LEA so the year groups are all wrong and the schools start at the wrong age compared to when local primary schools finish IYSWIM (another reason to go private). I will have to go away and do more sums - especially the whole fee increases percentage thing! And thank you quattro - that was particularly helpful.

you are making a big assumption that your dcs will be bright enough to get into the grammars there!

LadyG, I suspect that most parents with children at prep school don't have £2.5k in nanny costs each month. They are tending to pay for the schoolfees and then an au pair or afterschool nanny. Prep schools tend to have an earlier drop off and there will oftern be afetr school activities.

If anything I would say that a number of parents who wouldn't have thought of opting for private priamry age education end up goign for it because they are used to paying £2k+ of childcare costs and find that they can afford the school fees once their children reach school age.

We had some excellent advice from a school fees planner who gave us year on year predictions of cost based on the schools we are considering etc.

They also advised on inheritance tax planning for my parents as school fees are exempt, and some other things that can make a big difference to the overall cost. Well worth looking at.

cmotdibbler - where did you find a school fees planner person - and the bit about inhetitance tax sounds v interesting too. I want to do this to see how realisitic our aim for DS to go to the local private school really is.

Don't want to put another dampener on things but you must take into account the longer holidays - 20 weeks for year - which obviously has a knock on effect in respect of working.
Soemone has mentioned that term time hours are longer but many still need ft nannies to cover school hols and sickness. This was a particular bullet I had to bite and ended up giving up my previous job because of it.

mistermum - it was through SFIA. They were really helpful, and went through things that we had never even considered.

Both of the schools that we are considering include 8-6 care, and both have easter/Christmas/summer care which is really important to us - and they offer a huge range of after school clubs which will mean we don't have to worry about ferrying about to things.