How much disposable income after school fees and bills

[Rebmolellmar]

Hi my daughter has been offered a place a private school to start in September 2025,it will be tight to send her there but we think it’s the best school for her and they will support her in the way the state school can’t,we have applied for sport scholarships so still waiting for that.
How much does everyone have left after all bills and schools fees have been paid?

Tricky question to answer given we’re all on different salaries/have different take home each month. For us it’s not a stretch and we still have a good disposable income left. Others will tell you they’re scraping together the fees and have had to cut back on things like holidays. Personally I’d not be comfortable sending my child private if we were left with very little each month. You need a decent buffer. And don’t forget to factor in normal fee increase every year plus trips, uniform etc etc, it does add up. How much is the scholarship worth and is it guaranteed for her whole time there or will you have to reapply each year? What happens if she then doesn’t get it? Can you afford the full fees? Lots of variables to take into account, I don’t think you can just say you need XX disposable income left after bills and fees.

Not sure if this is primary or secondary but fees will more than double between reception and y13

If you will have enough money for DC to do activities and enough for good holidays and days out and enough to save and put into your pensions and eat well…..then it’s fine…..otherwise I wouldn’t even consider it

I echo PPs, be really careful about the potential for fees to increase far more than wages will, as well as other expenses (mortgage, bills, insurance, wider COL etc). We have two DC in private school.

DH and I both have good salaries and I own co-own a business as well as my FT job which brings home roughly an extra £4K a month. Without my business, we wouldn't be able to afford the school fees now - despite it being more than possible when DC first started school c. 7-9 years ago.

This!!

Based on my calculations for my DC per term we paid in reception was just over £3k. Currently at secondary we are paying £10k a term and expect by end of secondary to pay £17k + a term should cost continue to go up.

We have based our afford ability calcs on a potential 7.5% increase year on year and worked backwards to ensure that based on our current salaries we can afford the outer years. And then started to save the school fees like they are in the outer years so we have a buffer. Our aim is to get to two years worth by GCSE so we don’t have to worry about disrupting school should something happen.

It’s for secondary school,the scholarship is worth 15% and for the whole time she will be at school,
fees are £8100a term and going up to £8500 term in year 10 and 11
we will have £1500 left over

The fees now at that level but, excluding VAT, what has the increase been year on year? What is afford able now for the later years may not be if you own income won’t be going up by that amount. We are basing affordability on a 7.5% rise year on year to end if A levels. Which is a lot but if we are too conservative we should have money then saved to help with uni.

Also is the scholarship to end of A levels or does it reset at end of GCSE’s? At there conditions attached to is that may make it a potential that they could lose it (dropping of grades, deciding not to do a certain sport or instrument if a subject scholarship).

£1500 seems like a decent amount left over but what needs to come out of that - holidays? General spends? Additional school costs like lunch, travel, uniform, clubs, trips? House maintence? pension contributions etc?

it’s really impossible to tell if that is enough based on your financial situation. Some people will be plenty, others not so much.

If you are having to do detailed calculations of monthly amount left over then I would say don’t go private. More than the financial stretch it’s the ongoing stress of crippling fees for 7 years. It’s a lot. And it’s out of your control. For example the VAT rate could increase any time. This is outside of school fee increase. Can you really live with this for 7 years? Also 6th form is usually even more expensive.
I have seen my friends lose sleep, health and peace over this. One lost their job and got into debts of thousands to cover school fees. Couldn’t move the child as derailing the child’s education seemed like a huge gamble.
its different if you can comfortably afford the fees without worrying about what’s left over. Our rule of thumb has been - school fees should be no more than 25-30% of combined take home. Sorry if I’m being too pessimistic but having seen the rise in fees over the last 13 years has shocked me.

We are public sector workers so will never be mega rich but feel reasonably secure about our jobs. We’re not scraping every penny and have what I think of as a nice lifestyle eg we book villas in Greece, go camping or visit grandparents in Norfolk on holiday but not the Maldives for half term! Most of my clothes are from Vinted etc. Happily do the top up shop in Aldi etc.

We have c£1500 a month which goes into savings each month which we calculated as affordable after essentials and fun spending like holidays eating out etc. There is also a few thousand buffer in the savings account linked to our joint account in case there are expensive months etc, otherwise we pay more in from our personal monthly disposable income spends.

The plan for the bigger savings pot is to primarily to be dipped into for topping up for fee increases or major work on the house for example (we shelved plans for an extension when we realised we definitely needed private for secondary school). If promotions/wages increase and we don’t need to spend much from that then it’s a nice extra.

Hope a real life example is helpful. I can remember being told “if you have to ask then you can’t afford it etc” but there are enough people who are similar around me alongside some extremely wealthy people we meet at school.

school fees include,food,after school activities,trips and books etc
the £1500 is for food and fun,clothes holidays etc x
all over bills have be taken out already
fees went up around £800 from last year

Do remember to factor in extras, especially if you expect your DCs to have music/sports lessons etc in addition to those timetabled.

Each term I typically see between £1500 and £2000 added to the advertised termly fee. I try to avoid rolling my eyes when I see the £1 added to the bill for a cake sale or for a replacement pen. 🙄

What extras should I be expecting they have free activities afterschool till 5.50 and fees covers all stationary etc

I think it’s way too risky.

How much do you spend on food? Our food bill is almost £1k a month so that would feel way too tight for us.

Are you sure all clubs are paid for? Trips? Trips add at least £1000 a year onto our bill. Uniform is viciously expensive. I’d try to pay for just the GCSE years in your position and see how you go. A level at state is usually much better as only those who want to be there are left by then.

You would have more leftover than I do as a single parent paying my share. I probably have that amount to cover all discretionary spend and food, unexpected repairs etc.

I was shocked by how much above inflation the school fees have risen - 20% or more when work cost of living increase was 3%. Other extras might be things like laptop fees (more than buying a laptop as it covers setup etc), class excursions or expensive holidays (that I won't pay for at this stage - upper primary). Things like the school dance are more expensive than at state school and there will be things like author visits where you might want to send money to buy books. A weird unexpected one for me has been birthday parties - elaborate and expensive and you do end up reciprocating. That might not be an issue in secondary (please god) but may be replaced by something else. Uniform is expensive and you need to consider PE kit as well as the usual blazer etc.

The private schools we looked at (and definitely concluded we could not afford) also charged you fees for any external exams ie gcses and a levels - they would have added up to more than the potential scholarship discount for us.

The trips were much more expensive than those at the local state and some were essential for coursework ie geography - again cancelling out any possible savings from scholarships.

I would not want to enter into it paying from current income

What about uniform? My friends using private school spend over £1000 a year on the branded things that are required.

This popped up on my feed and I was curious as I have a friend considering private as her daughter is being badly bullied and we’ve had a similar conversation. She is looking at much more of a cushion and is still worried about it. For me personally that wouldn’t be enough, but I have two children and my daughter is a dancer so we spend a lot on classes for her. I’d check what you spent over the last year on what you’ve listed and see if it balances - with maybe £400/month left for random extras (washing machine breaking, car problems, whatever)

Uniform is about £500

1.5k is too tight for me as food & days out have to come out of that & presumably savings? But everyone’s comfort level
is different.

Our fees have gone up c.8% every year. School trips (which you don’t have to do but personally I believe are one of the best parts of an independent education I budget £4,000 per year per child and this hasn’t always been sufficient for far flung trips to Asia linked directly to a chosen GCSE). Tech is £2500 once every 3 years. Uniform initial outlay about £1500 but then maybe £300 per year depending on quality and how fast child grows. House subs (even for day pupils), music lessons and LAMDA etc and school bus which is exhorbitant is another £5k to £6k per year on top of fees so whatever fees are you need an additional lump on top every year. You also need to save so can pay fees if your circumstances change. I’ve tried to save so if I lose my job I can get child to end of GCSEs and now saving so can commit to sixth form and know can get child through both years even if I’m made redundant. It’s a huge cost, massively increased unexpectedly with VAT. £1500 left each month is not enough in my experience. On the flip side my DC are absolutely thriving particularly the one with SEND who would be lost in a class of 30 plus. Scholarships can be taken away so have that in mind if DC injured or goes off sport.

That sounds very tight unless you envisage your income rising a lot in the years ahead.

Are you sure trips are included? Just for comparison - my dd had a 5 day trip to Europe last year that cost £990 at state school ; there’s a field trip to Iceland and another skiing both are over £1000. My nephew at private school had a trip to NYC which was extremely expensive - as the quality of the trips is higher and the school knows parents can pay

I’d be trying to find friends or acquaintances with dc at the school and really find out what the costs on top of fees are like.

I worked in higher education so met many young people who had finished that part of their education. A mixture of private and state educated obviously. Plus observing what my own and friends children are now doing, again a mix of state and private education, all in their twenties.

Private education does not always equal success educationally or socially. As many have entrance exams it filters out the less able children. It does buy some advantage due to class sizes and facilities but you need that base level of intelligence.e

The sacrifices some make are not worth it but until you get end product you won’t know. That’s the brutal truth. If your child has a decent level of intelligence, engaged parents and is sociable they can do well anywhere.

Some are moved to private from state because of social issues such as your friends child @PurpleThistle7 sometimes a change will sort it but not always sadly.

Have you factored in the cost of uniform? GDs school expects them to have own hockey stick etc. Her school offered a trip to Berlin that cost more than her parents spent on taking her there the year before. The trip to NY was over £3000 and then there was the trip to Borneo …. All that said, you can’t really put a price on a good education but the fees will go up relentlessly. Oh, and the school changed its uniform so you couldn’t buy in the second hand sale and GD had to everything new. How will she get to the school - they charge for the coach too. Don’t want to put you off but I doubt you will be having many holidays. We did it for our DS. It was tough - no holidays, old car, no doing up the house - but we would say it was definitely worth it. So it all depends on how much you are prepared to sacrifice bearing in mind that DC might not go on to be a higher earner.

Seconding the suggestion to talk to some current parents to make sure you understand the full commitment. Wish I’d done that before agreeing to my daughter joining the dance competition team! There’s always extras.