Independent School Fees

[Gemma1216]

Hi All,
Wonder if someone can please help me please?
Our DS has been accepted into a brilliant independent school starting in 10 days' time! However, we've just come to realise that the entire year's school fees need to be paid upfront for the year.
Anyone know of any companies that provide loans for school fees? looking for something that we can pay off over 12 months, and then probably re-use on a yearly basis.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!

If you can't afford the first year up front can you really afford to send him? What would happen if you had some temporary financial hardship? Loss of job, poor health etc?

Higher education probably not the best board for this, though hopefully someone can help. I’d be concerned for the reasons NerrSnerr gives.

Also how organised is the school if they are only telling you this now with 10 days to go?

The entire year! Are you sure. Usually it’s one term at a time. That rings alarm bells for me about the schools financial viability.

But I used to use this company.

www.premiumcredit.com/products/school-fee-plan-1-parent

Ah sorry - I think I put this on the wrong thread. I will start another conversation under the correct board.

Just to be clear - We can afford the fees, but would prefer to pay monthly so that our payment are more aligned with our incoming salaries.

But really, you do need a cushion of at least a year’s fees (preferably two due to GCSE’s)

My dh was suddenly taken ill last May. He has been unable to work since. We don’t know how long for. Luckily for us Dd finished her GCSE’s in June & has funding for September taking our fees down to less than £3k per year but what if that happened at the start of Year 10?

Following. Would be really interested to hear about what you find as we are in a similar position. We can afford the fees across the course of the year but just not all up front.

I have never come across an independent school which wanted a years fees up front.

The norm is each term’s fees to be paid by first day of term.

They sometimes ask for an extra term up front from non EU residents.

Most schools offer the option to pay monthly by DD spread across 12 months.

Advance fee payments usually attract a discount.

I would be wary of a school asking for three terms up front.

Check their finances before writing the cheque!

I've never heard of having to pay a year's fees up front. Why did they not
tell you before? Seems a bit late in the day to spring that on parents.

The usual is: a deposit, then a term's fees but a lot of schools allow parents to pay monthly for a year at a time, in fact most do.

Thanks all!
So far been told of 2 companies - Premium Credit and GrowFiniti. Busy looking into them both

Just to tie them together, here's the other (more active6 thread on this:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/education/3349433-Advice-on-Paying-Independent-Private-School-Fees

where there is a very strong consensus that you need to be very cautious with a school that demands yearly payments. It is highly unusual, and has raised red flags with a number of posters.

Stop repeating the company names, and follow the advice to

a) check the school's financial standing carefully
b) see an IFA and sort your family finances in the round, not just grabbing at something simply because some companies offer it. Get this sorted properly now, as you have a long-term commitment to your DC. Grabbing a loan withiut regard for how this will be properly financed over all the school years could be one of the worst choices you make.

When posters are pretty unanimous, it really is worth paying heed.

Following, would be interested to hear what option you go with as we may be in a similar situation soon