How much do you earn and what do you pay for school fees?

[Irishprincess]

My DH mentioned sending DS to a private school, he's only 15 months so this is a while off.

just curious as to how much other people pay for their children's education in relation to how much they actually earn.

I personally don't think we could afford it at the moment however DHs business is doing well and it's something to consider in the future

These questions come up quite a lot and the answers are generally not that helpful without a lot of context. We spend around 8% of our annual income on schooling, but the percentage varies hugely. But what is “affordable” is very different for different people. For example we spend a lot on holidays that others may happily go without. Some people have much larger mortgages or other outgoings - if you spend only 10% of your income on a mortgage for example, then you will have more disposable income than someone spending 20% of income on their mortgage. At our son’s school there is a wide range from parents who barely need to think about the cost to those who are putting absolutely everything in to paying for the school.

Some things to think about though: we have at least a year’s worth of fees set aside as contingency. If either of us lost our jobs, or couldn’t work through ill health (I can’t get critical illness or income protection due to past/current health) then we could maintain schooling without issue for at least that long and give us time to sort out further plans. (Lots of people in my industry appear to have been stung by COVID 19 and school fees - I was genuinely surprised how few had any saved in advance.) It’s worth factoring this in to affordability calculations. Also remember that fees go up each year and depending on your jobs, you need to consider if your income will rise at the same rate or if you’ll be putting in a greater percentage of income over time.

Also, think about whether you plan to have more children. One child is obviously more affordable than three! Think about what you might have to forgo in order to pay for education and what you value more - for example would you have to sacrifice moving to a bigger house, or not ever go on holiday. What are the local state schools like and how do the private schools really compare - will you really get value for the money you are spending? (That’s value to you, not necessarily what others would think.) Remember that the money you would spend on fees can pay for a lot of tutoring if it were needed, plus extra curricular activities. And don’t forget about extras such as uniform, clubs, child care for the longer school holidays etc

It doesn't matter what anyone else's financial position is, you need to work out a budget for your circumstances.

Get out paper and pen or a spreadsheet and use your income and eexpenditure to see either whether what you have left each month is enough or whether you can live on what would be left if you do pay the fees.

Thinking you can go on what other people do is financially naive.

Do you have enough wealth to make it worth paying for some authorised school fees planning advice

I am wondering why the OP hasn't mentioned how much her household earns and what the fees are see as this was the question.

DS went to a local Primary School then a private secondary school. The annual fees for S1 were £12,500 pa rising to £16,000 pa in S6. In addition it's £600.00 per term for the bus. Then there's the uniform and equipment. We were maxed out paying the school fees so DS didn't go on any school trips or extra curricular activities. It was made clear at the start to DS that the basic school package was all he was getting.

DH started saving for the private school when DS was born, various ISA's and other investments. Our annual combined income is £68k and we have no mortgage.

It varied a lot over the years but we didn't pay for education until we could afford it . My DH earns twice what I earn and our childcare costs including education were basically my income. Everything else comes out of his earnings but we have a small mortgage, old bangers, nice but not expensive holidays most years and don't have a large detached house, we are also more than happy with hand me downs and second hand uniform etc.
Don't put yourselves into financial difficulties for this and don't take your time away from your child/ children in order to strive for a private education.

From the extremely wealthy to those with hardly any disposable income ( bursaries) it really does vary.

Our combined income is slightly over 100k and have a mortgage. We can't afford DS school fees (43k a year) - we are on a means tested scholarship and pay a small percentage towards the school fees as evaluated by the school.

Is any school worth £43,000? We're on £350+ and still chose state schools.

How does earnings over 100k pass the bursary test? DH earns over 100k, but we have never considered asking for a bursary as most schools have a threshold below this. We have remortgaged to help fund fees, so have gone from having a tiny mortgage..to a much bigger one! The one parent we know who has a full bursary, lives in a house nearly twice the size of our modest home...and somehow they have now managed to wing two kids into two different schools on bursary. I suspect there has been a ‘rearrangement‘ of asset ownership between them and their wealthy family; some people know the system too well.

@Mumto2two

How does earnings over 100k pass the bursary test? DH earns over 100k, but we have never considered asking for a bursary as most schools have a threshold below this. We have remortgaged to help fund fees, so have gone from having a tiny mortgage..to a much bigger one! The one parent we know who has a full bursary, lives in a house nearly twice the size of our modest home...and somehow they have now managed to wing two kids into two different schools on bursary. I suspect there has been a ‘rearrangement‘ of asset ownership between them and their wealthy family; some people know the system too well.

Schools with fees that high have a higher threshold for financial support. There are many of them (mainly boarding), but I do know a couple of day schools who have thresholds higher than 100k. Also, they look at the full picture, not just your salary. Every school is different. The parent you made mention of might not have any equity in their home, it's not about just the size of their home, it could well be big, but still a 3-bed. You do not know their full circumstances for you to infer they are gaming the system.

And as I made clear in my previous post, it is a means-tested scholarship, you could argue technically, it's a bursary, however, in the case of a scholarship, the school also wants your child. Anecdotally, I hear they are more generous in those instances.

I know what you are saying, we are SE, and places like Wycombe Abbey have a 120k threshold (last time I checked!) Our daughter was awarded a scholarship..enough to make it slightly more feasible, but we never considered approaching it from a bursary perspective, because the threshold mentioned in their policy, was below our income. We’ve funded it out of our one and only asset..our home. And from what I can see..a lot of people don’t do that, or they ‘rearrange‘ equity to suit.

I don't think it really helps you as others have said, but FWIW, we have two in secondary and it takes 7.5% of our joint income.

Wow that’s quite an affordable comparison. When we had two sets of concurrent fees...it was 40% of our pre-tax income. Hence the need to remortgage..

DDs fees are around £10k per annum (part scholarship) and we earn about £100k, DS starts there in September too but thankfully there’s only a 1 year overlap.
We are in Yorkshire so pretty low mortgage etc.

I remember looking at these threads before we started and found these questions very helpful. As a complete generalisation, in SE I think for two in private plus mortgage and a reasonable lifestyle I think you need 150k joint to be comfortable. We started perhaps on 140k and had two in prep. Now we are on roughly 230k Pre bonus joint and it’s a lot easier. Ours are at a prep and there is a massive range of wealth. If it’s important to you and you are on the cusp of affordability go for it. But I do remember the strain when It was less affordable. It’s what’s important to you to spend your non essentials on. Lots of my friends don’t see the value and earn way more than us and I get that too. They prefer holidays and to save for their kids and I can see sense in that. If it’s pocket change to you, what does it matter, but if you will feel it every month , it’s much bigger decision obv. Once you start on this road tho you won’t want to turn back.

Wow that’s quite an affordable comparison

We're lucky in that we have relatively low annual fees (£15,500 per child per annum) and we both earn six figures.

It is helpful to know % in terms of margin of safety for others, even if it doesnt give a clear picture of affordability in specific circumstances.

Here's how I think about it. London/SE private school fees start from £16k today rising to over £27k p.a. (with inflation at 3.5%).

For my 2 children it would take up c30% of our net income now.. Increasing to 45% when they leave school. I assume no bonus or payrise to be conservative (and in my case, realistic because i am at a ceiling on the mommy path). School fees, mortgage and childcare (i still need a nanny due to nature of my job until they go to secondary) would cost us 75% of our current net income. Before we even eat or live.

So we decided we cannot afford it, but it is at the forefront of my mind and will rethink again in a few years. Because where I live there are no decent state secondary school options at all, and I don't think/want one of my DC suits grammar.

30-40% is very different to 7% of income. Latter means little or no sacrifice to current lifestyle or need to draw on savings - which should be maintained for rainy days/job losses etc.

I do agree, but as a previous poster has mentioned, once you start down this road, it’s very hard to go back. Hence here we are with a fairly large interest only mortgage, and possibly looking at drawing down on the pension pot half once we turn 55. Not a great way to be as we approach our 60s, but we would rather do this, and feel it’s worth the sacrifice of a larger house and nice holidays...and a pension pot that we may not ever get to see!

We've got a combined annual income of about 85k and pay about 6k in fees annually for DS. This will drop to about 3.5k when he reaches primary school (he's currently in nursery) and about 2k when he reaches secondary. However, we live abroad. Our fees are income-based and I work at the school, so get an employee discount which increases with the years of service.
Independent schools are generally much more affordable here compared to the UK.

@Seeleyboo

I am wondering why the OP hasn't mentioned how much her household earns and what the fees are see as this was the question.

This