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.

We're also at the horrible decision making stage. As a seasoned state secondary school teacher I have no doubt that for us independent school is the best way forward, but only if we can afford it. DS1 is due to start reception in September and we're trying to decide whether we can afford prep school fees. DH earns 41K as a teacher and I'm not working at the moment. We have discounted fees so we would be looking at paying 6k per year. That will rise to 14k for two in two years' time. I could teach part time to earn the fees. We have no mortgage to pay and there is some value in the house, we have no car loans etc to pay and 17k in savings. I think we can afford it but it feels like a big leap! Because of DH's job our fees for secondary will be negligable, so that isn't an issue. I know this is of little help to anyone else, but I would really like to know if anyone who has any idea about money and budgets thinks that this is possible for us or whether we're totally off the mark! Our income is very average but our outgoings and the predicted cost of our school fees are pretty low. When you know nothing of financial matters and people are nervous about discussing money it's very tricky to feel that you're making an informed, sensible decision!

Crikey. Makes university fees seem like a bargain.

Daisy - FWIW, if we can afford it, you can!

Our earnings are similar to yours, but with a mortgage to pay too. Pretty much all our fees are paid out of earnings. Don't expect to buy clothes/holidays/cars/anything else, though!

We've got 4 under fives. The eldest is in reception and the next in nursery at a private pre-prep already. In some ways we just aren't looking ahead to far as we think that for all four girls it is going to cost in excess of 1 million - just too scary.
However, the best advice I came across was that the aim if you want to go down the private education route is to put aside 10k per child per year from birth and you should be pretty well set up.
I can't say we've done quite that so far, as we moved out of London into our long-term home last year, but now the kids have a pretty nice house to live in everything is going to be concentrated on filling that pot with the money we know we should have already.
It's not easy, but I was privately educated, with only 2 holidays outside this country in a childhood, and I definitely think it was worth it.

We only were educated ni the private sector and that's what I've done with my five (I pay the fees alone as I'm single) and my brother's and sister's children aer all private educated from age 3+.

I think it's about £10k a year per child for prep school, day school that is out of taxed income. One of our five only paid 15% for 7 years as his father taught at teh school and then he got a third discount on fees at his next school as he got a music scholarship. it's ceratinly affordable. Plenty of women, never mind men, can earn enough to afford it.

it's one of the best things you can spend your money on.

daisy, it's worth thinking about what your incomings and outgoings actually are each month. If you are saving a bit at the moment and you can realistically earn enough part time to cover the fees in two years time then yes you should be able to cover it. If your savings date from a time when you were both earning, or you will need to factor in big costs like car replacement sometime and your part-time income won't cover all the fees then maybe consider state for KS1 (& continue saving) and then move to private from age 7?

Snorkle, I've looked at the income and outgoings thing in some detail. It certainly looks possible on paper. I could earn enough to cover the fees quite easily really and it's not usually too difficult to find jobs for well qualified English teachers - although that will remain an 'unknown' until I actually try! I take your point about the car - what a boring thing to spend money on. Savings do date from past, wealthier days but we are able to save a bit at the moment. We are considering state for KS1, it would give us more saving time but I see so many flaws in the system. The fact we will get 30% off private fees makes it tempting, as does the fact that we'll only pay 15% of secondary day fees when the time comes so the very expensive bit won't go on forever.

I agree with all the people who say that there's nothing better to spend money on. I'm not looking for perfection, just'good enough' and I'm not looking to be able to afford fees and a luxurious lifestyle - just the fees would be fine.

Thanks for letting me barge in with my question and for your responses!

daisy, it sounds like you can realistically do it then . Those discounts are not to be sneezed at at and as you say, the expensive primary years don't last all that long.

Snorkle, thanks for your input. Decision making time is almost upon us!

We send ours to Woodleigh, near Malton and they agree discounts which slide depending on how many siblings join the school. They also keep the discounts going even when the oldest leaves the school. Works out as a very good deal.

We have two children and live in London. We would need income of at least £110,000 to afford private school.

I think you need to look at specific schools and what they offer in terms of discounts for sibs etc

We've used the private sector, but that was with scholarship and various discounts. Also, DH and I both earn good incomes.

If you're a teacher, you can always work in the school and get a discount - however, this does mean committing to a school that you want your children in. I've a few friends who have become 'trapped'by this, and not able to go for jobs they'd prefer.

I would definitely recommend researching, and also thinking about the 'what ifs?' Job security etc. Some people do daft things like borrow shedloads of case for school fees, and you don't want to commit to something that could turn out to be a millstone.

I'm stunned by the number of people on here with primary school aged children and no/very small mortgage! (Although there have been mortgage threads before and I found them very depressing)
I worked out it would be close to 1,000,000 of post tax salary for us (but that was for a Dulwich College type school) so it goes without saying we're in state ATM

We moved out of London to the North West where we now have a fairly small mortgage and fees are relatively cheap. Currently pay £800 pm plus extras like before school care etc which is signficantly more than the mortgage. Preprep at moment though and we get the early years grant. Will go up in prep and then at secondary level.

I was looking at a preprep today in Berkshire which says fees are £2,200. A local independent grammar charges about £7K a year, another £11K and another private schoool nearer to £15K. It depends completely on the school.

And I'd pay instalments if it only costs anohter £30 a term, being able to spread payments is very good for budgeting. My ds goes to state primary but I pay everything by monthly DD even though for car and home insurance it costs more.

Sorry, should say that amount is for 2.

Jane - I'm reporting you. Either pay the fees or go away

bloody cheek if you are right, she is selling this company on three threads now, cough up £90!

It all dpeneds on youroutgoings.

The average fee for many schools in the SE is around £15K per annum- that's £5000 per term and a term is around 12 weeks- so you are looking at around £400-£500 net. IMO that means if you are paying fees of around £15K a year, you need a surplus of £25K a year to pay for 1 child.

i don't mind talking about money. My dh and i have a combined income of £110 thousand .(pre tax) we have outgoings each month of about £6000 and our 2 sets of fees ( kindergaten and yr 4) £21 thousand / year. we drive old cars , take one holiday a year and do not live a wildly extravagant lifestyle . i just do not know where the money goes to be honest . hats off to everyone on htis thread who is on a much lower income and manages their fees

wish I could find them that cheap howtotellmum, the school my DS is starting in September in the SE is approximately £8,000 per term and two others we looked at were only a few hundred a term less

our collective salary is about 50 grand and we are going to remortgage about 40 grand for 7 years of independent fees..we could pay out about 60% of the fees outright but can't afford the full amount out of our income (we are both teachers) so we are going to remortgage for the rest.

we only have one DS to do this with though (other DS has SN) and i have been saving for the last 4 years (since he was 6) which will cover a year and a half of fees. The indies we are looking at are roughly 4 grand a term (for senior).

My two DC's cost me £1500 each a term, but then the school is trying to remain accessible through low fees. You are expected to muck in on work days etc to keep the fees low. Also, it is a Steiner school and of course its a choice not everyone would be happy with. Both DC's are very happy there and are academically on a very good standard. So you need to earn an extra 5k per child per year.