How much would you be willing to pay for an excellent school?

[michaelaB]

I'm interested to find out from MNs what level of annual fee would persuade you to consider seriously paying for an excellent private education for a hypothetical day school in the south east.

Would you pay up to £1,000, £2,000, £4,000, £8,000, £12,000 or £16,000 pa?

Nada, nothing.

But I would be prepare to pay more tax to fund state education ;)

Nothing other than what I already pay in taxation. DDs go to excellent state schools.

A very interesting question....
When I lived in Greater London, I would have given the same reply as creamteas and BeingFluffy - I was very pleased with the excellent state schools my children went to right through from nursery to secondary. Then we moved abroad, and had to pay for a private international school for all three. My views have definitely shifted as I've been so impressed with the 'value for money' we are receiving at this particular school. If I were to contemplate returning to the UK and put the kids back into school in Greater London, and I was therefore probably unable to access any excellent state schools, I think I'd feel much more comfortable paying for their education. However, I know that fees are prohibitively high in London for good private schools. I suppose on average I'm paying 7,000 euro a year each for secondary level education here - I doubt I'd get much change from double that figure in London.

I think there is a substantial minority of people in London and the South East who are extremely wealthy and well able to pay the prices the top London day schools charge. Of course parents are paying for their offspring to be well educated and have access to great sporting and arts facilities. They are also paying because of the reputation of the school, the fact it attracts similar families and the quality of the alumni. I don't think the "education" alone attracts people - it is the whole package.

What an odd question OP. Just like 'what would you be willing to pay for an excellent car, or an excellent house?' it is completely relative, and depends entirely upon each individual's ability to pay, and their perception of 'need'.

I just don't think you can expect meaningful answers that will allow you to form any useful conclusion - apart from those who say 'nothing at all' on account of being against private education.

But even that will be skewed, as most people who say that could not afford it anyway, and might well change their minds if they suddenly found themselves with lots of money, and they perceived a 'need' that was not being met in the state sector.

I agree with *HerMajesty" especially with the general increase in the number of bursaries a better question would be what % of your income are you prepared to pay for private education.

I am not against independent education as such, I think it is up to people how they spend their money. I don't think that private schools are automatically superior.

I can theoretically afford to send both my DD to private schools. I did make a positive choice to send my elder daughter to state school rather than an independent and the education she has received at her state grammar is second to none. My younger DD refused to even look at independent schools as she had received a very poor education and been bullied in the independent sector at primary.

If I was a multi-millionaire then I probably wouldn't send my DDs to state school because having loads of money would make them completely alienated from their peers. I have some relatives in that category and it is literally a different world.

Thanks for the views expressed so far. I'm not seeking to make a comparison between state and private schools (there are already many threads on this topic and it doesn't need another). I am interested in exploring what the financial tipping point might be. If you would rather express it as a % of income please do. I quite understand that for many people the answer will be zero and this is fine but of those who would contemplate paying for a private school what is financial tipping point all other things being equal?

Agree weird question.

Even %age of income doesn't help. If I lived next door to excellent state school, it would be 0% of my income. If not, it would depend on how not excellent the local school was. If attrocious, then I'd pay the london day school rates (if I could afford it).

You are not Kathrarine Birbalsingh by any chance who was thinking of opening a free school called Michaela?

Define excellent? We all have differing views on this word. Some only consider academic results while others view a bigger picture!