Would you say private school feasible on this salary?

[PfizerFan]

DH and I earn around £7000 a month combined
Soon to be mortgage free
One child

Is anybody in a similar financial situation and able to send their child to a private secondary school costing around £26,000 a year?

How tight is it?

You’ll be fine if you don’t have a mortgage

What are your savings like and savings for your DC? If you can still afford to save and also pay for extras like school trips and other experiences for DC then yes it’ll be ok.

Depends. Not all private schools coat the same

Very much depends on all your other outgoings, but no, I think you’ll struggle on that unfortunately.

Thanks all

Test it out. Put the fees of the school you want plus something like 10% extras (ask around, see if you can find out what the bills actually are, maybe talk to their bursar) in a separate savings account every month and see what life feels like for six months. Bearing in mind that it’s not 6 months, it’s 13 relentless years with costs rising throughout.

I think so

How can strangers tell you whether or not you can easily find £2.2k a month from your income?

How old is the child at the moment and how long until you would intend to start? Aside from whether you could afford it month to month, I would be worrying about what would happen in cases of job loss, serious illness etc. you really don’t want to have to remove a child for financial reasons esp yrs 9-11. If you have a few years I would be living as if paying the fees and then putting that money aside with the intention that it would be used for fees in emergency and could go to uni/life start up if all is fine

One child and mortgage free changes the dynamic a lot. I think quite a lot of people could afford fees if it was just for one child. The problem generally comes when you need to double it for two or triple for three etc.

Fees at different schools and for different year groups vary massively. Plus we don’t know your other costs (like commuting, pets, expensive love of cigars etc).

So I think all you can do is check the fees for the school you’re looking at (remember fees will increase as they go up the school), then add on a ten percent contingency for fee increases, expensive uniform etc, then put that figure into your budget and see how it looks.

This sounds obnoxious (it isn’t; please bear with me)… if you can’t afford school fees easily, you can’t afford private school. The fees are just the start. There are the extras everyone knows about, such as uniforms, music lessons, and school trips; and then there are the extras you don’t even think about, such as the cost (first financial and then emotional when you can’t afford to participate) of your child’s sports fixtures and social life, and accepting and returning hospitality (which is when the power networks that sustain you in later life are first formed).

I couldn’t afford to give my children a private education in these circumstances, so opted to send them to state schools, while ensuring I could augment their lessons with tutoring and clubs, and maintain their social connections with their friends at expensive schools so they don’t lose out on those future networking opportunities.

Is the £7000 take home pay?
If so, I'm sure you could manage, especially in safe jobs. Save a years fees and bung it in something that will grow but can be made liquid quickly just in case.

What are your current outgoings? The income doesn’t really matter. It’s what you have left afterwards surely?

You probably could manage it. It will depend on how much you're willing to sacrifice. Are you happy with having no holidays for 5 years, for example?
Also bear in mind that if you cut back on your pension contributions or savings in order to be able to afford it, that will have long-term impact on your savings and, ultimately, your retirement income.

What would I do in your shoes? You only have one child. And that child only has one childhood and one shot at getting a good education. If he/she is unhappy at school and you have the means to change that for them, I'd do it. But don't then pressure the child to "do well at school" because you're paying for it, just let them be themselves and be happy and enjoy what's left of their childhood.

Normally id say yes at 7k NET with no mortgage.... as even 3k pm (so £36kpa) it should be affordable.

but think about it... it is getting on for half your salary so its actually kind of tight.

I would be trying to save / want 100k or so in savings and i'd want income protection insurance for the jobs... I'd be concerned about the lifestyle compromises...

With 1 child depending on the schools available i may well go for it. If I was london with strong state id be inclined to do state with tutoring and gice a deposit for a house

Our current income is just below that. We have a small mortgage and only one child and we just about manage it (even accounting for extras and yearly fee increases). We only paid for secondary and it's only for a finite number of years so it has worked out for us.

I wanted to know if anybody was in a similar financial situation and how they found it. What's wrong with that?

This is taken home pay, so includes what's been taken off for pensions etc

Thank you, helpful

But you wouldn’t know if anyone was in a similar financial situation because you haven’t even included your own.
No one knows what your financial commitments, goals or flexibility is.

Is it for up to 13 years plus Uni on top?

if so investing £26000 a year for that length of would provide - £690,000 at 6% growth.

with 5% increases in contributions each year - £900k.

I think I would be looking to do that now rather than pay for education as that guarantees nothing and with the AI boom coming, jobs may be hard to find.

the lump sum would certainly help alleviate that!

Well other people's comments have been helpful, sadly not yours.

Thank you

I know of several people who have done this but only from secondary onwards. If your child still has a few years of primary I’d say leave them in state and spend that time saving the money - which will give you a good buffer from 11 onwards.