School fees ?

[nickname7890]

Anyone have 3 kids at private school?! How
Much do you need to earn these days??

Even one child ???

I’d start by looking at the websites of the local private schools you’re looking at. They will have their fees listed somewhere on the website.

From that, you can work out how much of your disposable income you’d need for the fees. Add a bit extra for things like uniform, meals, extracurricular activities, school trips and so on. Private school fees also tend to increase annually above inflation, and there also tends to be jumps in fees at the end of key stages (so the fees for a Reception age child are typically significantly less than the fees for an A-level age child).

Your disposable income is whatever’s left after taxes, mortgage / rent, utility bills, food bills, insurance and so on.
That’s going to be different for everyone depending on their individual circumstances, so you need to think about what your own disposable income is like, not about whether someone else on the same earnings can afford private school for their DC.

Have a look at how the school fees added together compare to your disposable income, and that should give you a feel for how affordable it would be for you.

Round here it’s about £25k per dc per year for secondary (including extras) but can be more. It’s usually on the website. You can normally negotiate a discount for siblings.

Ive had a quick google and the most expensive private school near me charges fees of £16k per year. That doesn’t include extras, but I’d be surprised if the extras pushed it up to £25k per year.

Just goes to show the regional variations!
So a smaller income needed around here to get a DC through private school compared to where m0therofdragons lives 🤷‍♀️

And don’t forget the cost of uniform and sports kit.

£30,000 for senior school boarding in the south west

£30,000 per year per child

wow 30,000 per year
i mean... how much would you actually need to earn thats MENTAL.ok thanks everyone...
not including music classes/school holiday care etc either.

Our friends send both their children to a relatively 'cheap' independent but only one is in the senior school so far. She told me her entire post tax salary of 2k per month goes on school expenses. When they are both in seniors she will start using inheritance/savings too.

Given that I have 3 dc, no inheritence and earn less than her I just boggled at the amounts that would be required here tbh.

72k for 3 kids. POST TAX.
that is so insane.
no inheritence here.... noo savings yet....

We are in Yorkshire and I earn £30000 PT. (DH a lot more)
My salary covers school fees for 2, one on a 25% scholarship

Including all extras too

It depends where you live. Day school fees in some parts of the country are much less than in others.

If you do a search for “Tax efficient ways of paying school fees” or “How to pay for school fees” you might find some helpful tips and also some indication of the costs to bear in mind.

Some inner city private schools do their best to keep the fees as low as possible - though it would still be a lot for three children. They also may offer bursaries.

I think you would need over £1200 per month per child at the least.

I wouldn’t say it’s insane - why would it not be expensive, to fund 3 children?

If you assume they do 39 weeks a years and 7 hours a day (09:00-16:00) then you’d be paying just £7.50 an hour for £10K pa. £7.50 an hour to educate your child. Not that much, really. Still only £9.50 if 6 hours a day and 35 weeks a year.

Now I certainly couldn’t afford it for 3, so I’m not saying that £7.50 an hour is affordable to all. But I don’t think it’s an insane price.

Same as nursery fees pretty much (except they are 51 weeks a year and school much less!)
Our pre-prep fees include care from 7.30am to 6pm, which you can choose to use or not. Also includes all meals.

36,000/year in south east for weekly boarding. Up to 38/39 with extras.

And Saturdays til midday too. Point being there is no need to spend any money on childcare or after school activities outside school.

Thanks everyone
Well we live in London and not in a good state catchment
I think the extras worry me ie getting there and realising we can't commit
Yes when you break it down it doesn't sound so expensive! But I guess it doesn't include long private school holidays

I guess I was just intrigued as to how some people pay for 3
Like what would you have to earn to have 3 privately educated and would it be a real struggle

for tax efficient vehicles, do you have to earn over x amount/have c aompany?

You’d have to earn £100k gross to take home just below £67k net. That’s probably just enough to pay day school fees for 3 children. It would cover some extras, but not the expensive ski trips etc. Also, if you’re in central London and looking at senior school, it might be a stretch to cover the fees. Just looking at my old school and the fees have trebled since I left! You need to factor in fee inflation, too.

I wouldn’t start private schooling unless you’re sure you can cover the fees through till year 13. One of my best friends is stuck with a broken tumble drier that she can’t afford to replace, as they’ve gone down the private school route and they really can’t afford it.

Another thing to consider is holiday childcare on top. Most friends I know who send their kids to private school have 1 high earning parent and 1 SAHP or grandparents nearby to help with childcare. Consider that on top of school fees there will be 3 x 16 ish weeks school holiday childcare to cover.

There are state boarding schools, they must be cheaper if it is boarding you are looking at. I think they are about half the cost but obviously will vary.

My daughters school is £12k a year for secondary in the north west. My other two children will go there when they are 11. I fund it via a business that rents out a lot of property. This has been built up since 2006 so has been a long term plan!

thanks this is so helpful.
no grandparents to help us.... could look at an aupair type situationto help but obvoiusly not so greatwhen theyre older and need more activities/camps etc to do

so basically one parent needs to earn aroudn 250k it would seem (unless you are gifted eg deposit for a house etc) to pay for london day school/some not all extras/house mortgage car etc