School fees and disposable income

[Frugalfish]

We have just embarked on private school for 2 children, one in year 7 and the other in year 9. Until the older one finishes we will have next to no disposable income for at least 3 years, is it manageable? Household income is approx 170k in London, this could be increased by up to 30k by me working more but with worse quality of life..

When you say next to no disposable income, have you factored in annual fee increases, trips, exam fees etc? Then unexpected non-school expenses - broken boiler, catastrophic car issues etc?

If so, then you ought to scrape through bit it won’t be much fun. If not it sounds like it’s going to be a very stressful time for you and your family.

What made you decide to privately educate your dc now?

No. I wouldn't do it. Expect to be more expensive than you think.

It depends on your outgoings such as mortgage etc.

What are your state options? There are some excellent state secondaries in London. Although I realise there are many which are dire.

as a family we earn slightly more OP and with two guaranteed bonuses of a month’s salary each year and I’m worrying we will struggle with one at private. The fees keep going up as does the rest of life it would seem!

What do you mean by no disposable income? Is this after taking into account just regular bills, food etc? Or have you factored in savings, presents, school expenses, fee increases?

You haven’t said why you think it is worth it. It will definitely be tight. Our household income is higher and we only have one in private and are definitely feeling the pinch as fees go up every year, as does the cost of everything else.

You won’t know if your sacrifice will have been worth it till you get end product, so after A levels. Plus money can’t buy how personable a person is and that goes some way to success in life.

Many people have no choice with their disposable income levels as they do not have much to dispose of. You are choosing a cheese paring life.

What about pre existing savings?

What’s your mortgage position and any option to put on interest only for a few years?

When you say working more for £30k what do you mean? Are you already working full time or are you currently working half a day a week?

Our joint earnings are about £180k per year but we live outside of London / home counties. We had two kids in private schools which cost about £40k total per year which was paid out of gross income. Now we've moved both kids to state grammar, one in year 7 and one in sixth form.

We have reasonably expensive hobbies which cost total of about £20k per year. But we don't have much money left for holidays.

I work full time and between work, school and the kids hobbies have no time for my own hobbies / haircuts etc. So it depends what you are willing to sacrifice?

@Frugalfish I earn 100k as a single parent of 2, both having been in private since reception. Fees are around 50k but due to go up to 65k in senior school. Its doable but :

a: I have no mortgage or car
b: no big holidays, only Europe if ever
c: always a 2k credit card bill each month which I pay off
d: I pay it all via salary but dipping into savings to top bits off - i do have substantial savings

I think you just need to accept it will be tight for a while. Ive chosen this path but once you're in (and if its going well), its tough getting off that train!

Well it’s a bit late now

I work 3.5 days a week (contracted 28 hours but flexible) and can work overtime from home on evenings and weekends, the rate of pay is good for extra hours so I can make an extra 1k+ a month without too much disruption to family life. DH will be working 4 days compressed hours. So between us there is scope to do some extra to cover fee increases, trips etc. we have about 50k in savings and 155k mortgage but a lot of equity which we could use if needed.

My question is more for those in the same situation or with experience, not asking if we should have done it or not

I'm cautious so I would assume that fees will increase and overtime may dry up, and do some extra hours now and save that money. I would try and build up extra savings to cover at least terms worth of fees.

100k after tax? Otherwise surely you’d have no money left after 65k in fees.

If you are only working 3.5 days then how much extra money would moving to 4 days earn for you? If this would fund a holiday a year how do you feel about it? It sounds like you have flexibility over when you do those hours which makes a big difference to quality of life.

I have one going into year 6 and one into year 9 this year. We have been at the school since reception. I am the high earner in our family and was on three days a week at the beginning of schooling and have increased my hours over the years as well as move into a higher paying job to fund the fee increases. I work four days in term time and have been doing 3.5 in the holidays for the past couple of years. I did 3 in the holidays before that. I am upping to four days in the holidays soon because I am doing the extra hours anyway and can flex this to keep my care pattern the same. Increasing hours and keeping quality of life depends much flexibility your job allows you. I am in the office by 7.30am some days but one of DH and I are always home by 4/4.30pm in term time so don’t pay for any childcare. It’s been a bit easier since my eldest was in year 7 and could let them in if we weren’t home quite in time (commute is over an hour) but usually one of us works from home each day.

We have just juggled 8 weeks school holidays where I worked three days some weeks and two others as well as two weeks off and my husband covered the rest. It is hard at work on that pattern so some 10 hour days where needed but I am lucky to have flexibility around most of my hours. If I had not had enough holiday I could have worked some half days around the children now they are older at home or taken unpaid leave.

Would increasing your hours also increase your pension benefits and any bonus? I run spreadsheets to work out net financial gain vs extra hours each time I am considering an hours increase although I do so much overtime each year I’m really just working out how to get better compensated for a role I’m already doing without impacting my quality of life. We’ve not used childcare or holiday clubs for the past 6 years.

Sometimes upping hours and then using a week of unpaid leave is the best financial option. We can also buy and sell a week of holiday a year which I can use for childcare.

Before tax! @Shuffletoesxtreme, im going to be pushing for a decent bonus plus will be cutting back/dipping into my savings more.

With only working 3.5 days a week you have plenty of capacity to increase hours but you sound reluctant? I'd be concerned you have only £50k savings and I wouldn't want to remortgage my house to pay school fees.

I would look at increasing hours and saving over the next couple of years and then looking at it again.

I've taken two weeks unpaid leave this summer to spend time with my kids. I used to be self employed but now salaried..

I decided I couldn't afford it on £160k and one kid! Mortgage is three times yours though. But have a lot more in savings.

You have a buffer in your savings / ability to remortgage which will hopefully provide peace of mind.

You haven't given any detail re your take home income or expenses - £170k with both partners earning less than £100k is a significantly different take home to one earning £125k and one earning £45k.

You clearly have reasons for choosing the independent route, you will make it work somehow.

Our youngest has just started at a state secondary school having previously been in a prep school. It was a relief to pay the last of school fees and our joint income is substantially higher (although so is our mortgage).

We did put all 3 through prep school, and they are close enough in age that we had 3 lots of school fees at one point - hence still having a large mortgage. It would have been tight continuing the independent route at secondary prior to VAT, impossible after - thankfully all three were offered places at a grammar and we can now start paying the mortgage off.

I think most working parents (as in work to earn money rather than having a private income / trust fund) with children at independent school are struggling. The prep school mine went to went from 20-30 in a year group to @ 10 in the new intake post Labour. It's not sustainable long term and the school has subsequently been taken over by a very prestigious independent school (Eton / Harrow type).

You won't be alone making sacrifices!

We have moved both our kids to grammar school from private secondary / prep.

Our friends with kids at private boarding are paying for it though inheritance / trust funds.. no one is paying from income.. day schools are about half the price so may be more doable