How much do you need to earn to send your dc to private school?

[muddleduck]

So I have always assumed that the dc would go to state school. Part of this is because I went to state school and "what was good enough for me....". But also I guess i assumed that we didn't really earn enough for this to be an option.
But recently I've spoken to people who I think earn less than we do that are seriously considering going private. Now obviously there are lots of other factors involved (mortgage payments etc) but I was wondering if people had a ballpark idea of when private starts to be an option. I have some job decisions to make in the near future and I can't quite get my head around whether I should even be thinking of this as an option.

Also factor in other costs such as any wrap around care you may need, whether dinner is included in fees, whether exams, etc (at secondary) are included, cost of uniform and most likely school trip costs.

I don;t ear very much at all these days. We are lucky DH earns a very good wage.

We don;t have any extras they did start to charge for after school club this year but we have managed to juggle it so they don;t have to go as I couldn;t afford an extra £70 per term each.

All trips etc are included as are lunches. Some of dd's friends do speech and drama or piano lessons which are extra but we teach her ourselves.

islandofsodor - DD's school started charging for after school care this year too, £4 a session. No fee increase to compensate though.

At DD's school preprep get free milk and for all primary dinners are included in fees.

Most school trips included in fees here too - just pay for residentials really.

Music lessons are £100 a term, I think, from prep upwards.

Uniform is a big cost.

Sons' fees are £14,000 per annum each boy, plus transport plus lunches, uniform, sports kit and exam fees. Don't forget exam fees. I think we pay about £33,000 per annum on school fees & school associated costs, including transport.

We have 2 children and fees of around 13K pa at the moment. We have some savings which would cover a couple of years of fees if they had to.

We earn from property and various bits and bobs around 40K pa and have a mortgage of something like 70K, though DH deals with all that so I may be wrong.

We do not spend much money on anything else, and fear for secondary fees!

It depends on what you want to spend your money on. I know people whose earnings are miles higher, but they don't feel it necessary to pay for schools. We do!

You would need to put at least £200k in an index linked bond now to pay for it all over the school life of the child...thats the same financial burden as buying an average house in the UK.

We were used to living on one amount of money with me working very part time. When started school I took on extra work to the amount extra we would need for fees and extras.

I don't allow a lot of deviation from the standard menu as by my reckoning he has so much more to choose from than he did at his previous school it is pointless to pick things that cost extra again.

It's not just how much you earn - it's how much more mortgage to pay, how many other loans and whether you want nice holidays and flat screen TVs. We have a small mortgage and an old TV and one very old car and holiday in our own country and buy most things secondhand.

Fees here are 12K per term each child, excluding extras- uniform, trips, residentials, lunches, transport, music, dance, sport clubs etc. Extra tuition is £30 per half hour.

Thank you all so very much.
I think this all confirms what I have been thinking which is that we are on the edge of being able to afford this and that we have some big decisions ahead. The boys are only little now but I think the only way we could afford to send them to private secondary is if we start planning for it now. At the moment we live a pretty unextravagent lifestyle and if we keep to this and I increase my hours then it should be possible. The real question is whether we think it worth all the sacrifices and that is a whole other thread!

We did get a fee increase Hula and you can't pay for after school care per session, it is a flat termly fee of £70 per child regardless of whether you use it once a week or 5 days a week.

It has made things very difficult this year.

On the other hand the other local indy schools charge for lunches, after school care and lots of extras.

It's not hard to work out but is a big decision if you have to pay it out of income (even partly) as most do.

For each child - and you really need to think long term commitment over 13 years before they start at uni. It's not like a one time deal - can I afford this holiday or can I afford that car... once you are in the system from pre=prep, it's really hard to think of moving back to state (perhaps though at senior stage) - I think a lot of private school parents would think second to losing their house in a recession, the next worse nightmare would be having to pull their kids out of private school to state. Sorry no offence meant - just being honest - there's some guilt involved in that decision.

You will need to look at whether you can comfortably afford it given your outgoings/mortgage /pension pot/future earning curve etc.

Without taking into account yearly fee inflation (considerably higher than RPI historically) and considerable extras like school trips; music classes; after school care/breakfast clubs; uniforms; extra private tuition etc:

pre-prep/prep- age 5 - 13 basic fees are around 9.5-15k per year (there are a whole range of private schools out there) - a mid range prep will be about 10 -11k per year.

Senior schools - age 13 - 18 - around 15k - 28k per year (again public schools like Eton/Charterhouse being at the high end)

Calculate it as net salary - and work out if you currently have that much extra each month without being uncomfortable and without reliance on bonuses.

islands - that is not good. We sign up for after school club each week - you just have to have them signed in officially by 11am that day, although even then they are flexible. There are sheets in the cloakrooms to sign up on. You then get an invoice at the end of half term (or term?) for how much you have used.

islands - that is not good. We sign up for after school club each week - you just have to have them signed in officially by 11am that day, although even then they are flexible. There are sheets in the cloakrooms to sign up on. You then get an invoice at the end of half term (or term?) for how much you have used.

It's not about how much you earn though is it. You can have a modest income but shedloads of inheritance, GP gifts, savings etc.

Actually I think £70 per term for aftercare is a complete bargain. It's £10 per day where we are and flat rate ragardless of whether they're there for 2 hours or 15 mins.

It is a bargain, I do realise that. It's just when we joined the school free after school care was a factor we took into consideration and we just can't afford the extra for 2 children.

See this is what really scares me.
That we might do the sums decide that we can afford it and then have the costs go up unexpectedly.

We're only really thinking about this for secondary as the local state primary is pretty good and while the boys are little the convenience of the more local option is a big deal for us. But this means we are looking so far ahead that there is no chance that we will get the sums exactly right. DH is talking about a new car but I'm thinking that if we want to do this we need to start cutting all extras pretty soon so that we can get our mortage substantially reduced by the time we'd start paying fees. Help from GPs is not an option so it will have to all come from current income.

Well if you think you might want to send them private at secondary level, then saving and reducing the mortgage whilst they're in state primary certainly makes sense. If later you decide you can't afford to, or find that state is a better alternative, then you'll have a nice small mortgage and savings to spend on other things.

Looking at it that way its a win-win situation.

But I just know we will save more efectively if we have a definite goal in mind. Also it would mean starting some sacrifices now. I think I mentioned that I have some job decisions to make pretty soon. Basically I can either coast along part time on current grade or increase hours and commitment with a likely large pay increase. The latter would mean seeing a lot less of my boys so I'd need a pretty good insentive to do that.

It's not just about how much you earn.

DH earns a goodish salary in the city and I freelance. We're incredibly lucky in having paid off our mortgage (inheritance, 2 X redundancy payments) so have disposable cash each month which would normally have to go on a mortgage. Even so we are saving like mad as do not want to be in the position of paying fees from income.

I think affording it is all about forward planning. DH and I have had private education for our 3 as a goal since they were babies (and before) and paid down the mortgage to allow us to do so. Even so we have gone down the state primary route to buy as a little extra saving time.

Our fees are £27K per year for 2, split between me and my ex. Fortunately we are both working and neither of us has a mortgage. In senior they are £36k PA for 2

Gosh, is that day school? Seems incredibly expensive.

I I would look at getting a tutor for the entrance exam and the free(ish) but selective foundation schools rather than flog yourself to death with fees e.g. old grammar's if you are out Bucks way - there also some schools in london like this, but is very competitive - depends on your child and whether that pressured environment is right for them.

I have 2 dcs and recently switched to paying by monthly dd and is £2k per month for 10 months of the year - that does include extras in that they factor in lunches, piano lessons etc so sometimes the final month is less if don't got to, say, after school club as much as they estimated etc. So £20k p.a. after tax or extra income of approx £34k. This was just about ok but seems horrific now dh made redundant and burning up savings like there's no tomorrow. Trying not to panic! (the above is only year 1 and year 3, rises in seniors - this is Bath too, not London)

Snowlight - I can assure you we have none of those things!