Do you think it's worth it? Private schooling at what cost?

[indiechick]

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I'm intrigued by this woman, I think it's a bit contrived and apparently she has four children. But do parents really bankrupt themselves in this manner for private schooling?

well, no there don't appear to be any rough and ready stats on this - also it is argued impossible to analyse in a meaningful way (as private school students have other advantages which make for higher lifetime earnings, like having monied parents!)

i think....children spend much of their time at school - what happens there matters. those that i know who went to Eton etc seem to greatly appreciate the quality of the education and the experience. I don't think i can embrace the life i had at all of the comps i went to in the same way. One of the schools i went to i would whole heartedly recommend, i don't see how I could have had a better time academicaly or otherwise - but that was just one school. This is the thing, you can argue state vs Private but in fact, for your own kids, it is School X vs School Y and it will depend very much on the individual nature of those schools rather than whether they are independant or otherwise.

She clearly can't quite afford. This is a choice which will no longer be hers to make - she will run out of money and the private school will tell her and her children to piss off.

My dp's one child's godmother is princess Anne. Beat that Shona! (for what its worth she's godparent to a huuuge number of random and less random children and the child in question has not seen or heard of HRH since the christening. I'm not slagging of princess Anne though, she's just busy and I guess said child was a 'random' but still I feel awfully posh by association with my dsc.

I know its lame but this is as far as my latin goes: nunc est bibendum. Hick.

If she can't afford it she can't have it and thats it really. If it really mattered so much to her she should have had just one child.

DP was reading an article about Eton. Apparently they spend just 4 hours a day doing basic academic studying...rest is sports, learning about current affairs, debating etc.

And they have some of highest pass in rates in country.

I'd have thought that her kids would have preferred a good state school and then money left over for fun trips out, weekends away, toys, etc. With the amount of money they could have surely afforded to have moved to a catchment of a better state school if thats an issue, gone up the property ladder a bit but still have spent less than 10 years of 8k a term.

Exactly! She's clearly shit scared of state schools- even though shes not exactly a great product of private schooling!

A friend of mine did the same thing: sent her son to a lovely nursery at a private school because it was nearby and seemed nice, then of course he was happy there and had made friends so they just carried on. They thought it was worth the sacrifices and he would get a good start in life (I wasn't so sure as when I babysat I found out he was a very poor reader but not my place to say).
Anyway, eventually they were in debt (bankrupt actually) and couldn't pay the school fees so had to pull him out and send him to the local primary. It has been the making of him and his parents can't believe how he has come on in leaps and bounds.
So no, IMO not worth getting in debt over, unless there are special circumstances such as SEN.

It could have been the state primary that they sent her to wasn't the right one. It could have been that they didn't give it long enough.

DD went to one state primary that was a bit crap but rather than panic and think they were all crap I found a better one. One with smaller/the same class sizes than this woman's private school. And its free!

When I moved DD there I'd say it took at least a term for her to settle. I had lots of tears and "I don't like it, I don't want to go" in the car on the way there. She loves it now!

Yes, smallwhitecat, I think you're right Each family makes the best choices it can. Each child has different needs. I felt sorry for that family too. However, I also think displaying their woes in the Mail is very unlikely to help them.

I don't know that she's scared of state schooling since she sends her ds to one... or should that be ? She seems scared for her daughters.

What I don't get is that she could afford au pairs but lost her house. That seems dead nuts.

All in all she's coming accross as a right twit which why I think you need to check out the private schools with the same attention to detail you would a state, you do not always get what you pay for.
Ours is relatively cheap and we get a nice discount but it's still tough sometimes, we only have one holiday instead of the 4 that most parents at the school take.
We had a very knackered old car last year when DH was on the dole but I think everyone thought we were old money, in fact we were no money.

"I ve heard that in Sweden children ask parents to advance them their share of inheritance- under law - to study but I do not know how it works."

Why would they need that in Sweden where there are fee-paying schools are extremely rare and university is free?

How are we supposed to give our DCs their "share of their inheritance"?

We are living in it!

Pink Elephant, maybe this is about 'realising the equity' in your house? That btw is what the dear Charities (sorry, independent schools) tend to suggest if you get in trouble with the fees.

Presumably this is how Daily Mail Woman may have lost the house...

I also know of families who have done a faux divorce to keep on the right side of schoolfees..most schools will let you wait a while to sort out finances if this happens.

Interesting, Betelgeuse! Do you have a URL or link for that?

what equity?

I just think it is laughable that some people here think it is quite reasonable for DCs to hold out their hands and say "just give me my inheritance now mum, there's a love"

The stuff they will inherit is the home we are still living in and the proceeds of life insurance policies.

Should I move into a cardboard box to fund their higher ed then? (and presumably freeze to death so they can also collect on the life insurance).

Some of us work so can't homeschool.

Some people here really do live in cloud cuckoo land.

Pink, I was only glossing the post, not advocating anything.