Who can afford private schools in the UK?

[wjchoihk]

Hi. I am not sure if this is an appropriate question to ask here. But I have always wondered how rich you should be to send children to private schools in UK. Fees are anywhere from 3000 up to 10000 per term. Even allowing for wide gaps in income, thinking of 'avearge' UK wage of 26,000 pound, math simply don't add up for a normal life with such high fees. I also know only 7% of children go private though.

How much of private parents live on "inherited" wealth and how much on simply superior current earnings? I have my kids at SW London privates but I wouldn't be able to afford this without current int'l expat package. Some parents at my kids' schools LOOK and ARE very very rich but most of them LOOK quite down to earth. But I can't ask....

No I didn't. BS. As you know perfectly well. I don't know what you get out of your absurd personal vendetta, but I assume everybody finds it as boring as I do. So please stop.

Op- do you realise that grammar schools only take the top 10%? So therefore it's not as simple as raising the standards in all schools. Grammars, certainly where I am from, are exactly like the private schools.

£40k gross income? No way (IMHO).

Having had a quick squint at income distribution numbers, I would stand by my original guesstimate - in the absence of inherited wealth or support from extended family, I reckon a normal mortgage or rent paying household would need one earner in the top 2%, or two in the top 10% to put 2 or more DC through private schools.

... and of course there are bursaries and the rest, but most schools aspire to funding 10% of places, so clearly that is not a solution open to everyone.

I agree that grammars are held in very high regard around here as are the private schools.

Seeker - do your children go to a grammar or have I read incorrectly

Stealth - Yes way :)

It is the absolute minimum income IMO. I didn't say it was a comfortble income. I certainly wouldn't go private if I had that income but that is exactly what my friend is doing.

Her DC is at prep so fees are 'only' £9k pa. They have a modest 3 bed semi so mortgage is probably half mine. Leisure time consist of bike rides and long walks and they go camping as a holiday. So overheads are low.

seeker - this thread is about private fees and what kind of income one needs to be able to afford to go private.

Neither one of your kids are private so what are you doing in this thread? Last week you had a go at at poster from a comp area for commenting on the Kent system. Why flame her for commenting on something she has no personal experience with if you are doing the same.with private education?

Why don't you talk about private schools and fees then, totally, instead of boring on about seeker's children as usual?

Nit - Upthread I discussed private schools fees with other posters. A subthread only developed when seeker, who doesn't have kids in private school, chose to go on about people being insensitive towards those less well off. I'm not particularly keen to be lectured on the subject by someone who obviously regard the WC parents at her school with distain.

We've all discussed private schools and fees, and income and savings and priority and sacrifice. I don't know why there should be an entrance criterion for doing that.

And I think you're being a bit stalky and a bit odd and very obtuse, to be honest. I do wonder what you get out of doing this every single time.

"Last week you had a go at at poster from a comp area for commenting on the Kent system"

"someone who obviously regard the WC parents at her school with distain."

No I didn't. And no I don't. But when have you ever let the truth get in the way of a good story?

Thank you TOSN- I think I must have sold her a crap cake once. It's the only explanation.

Stalky???

I have kids at private school and this is thread about private schools.

Oh come on, BS! You popped up on a thread a couple of days ago, misquoted me, had a go at me, realised your mistake and vanished again! I can probably link to it if you like- it certainly wasn't a private school thread!

My eldest goes to our local grammar school. She took the test to get in and passed. How is that cheating her way through education?

What post are you thinking of there, Sunshine?

Some people believe that people who use the grammar school system are not playing fair. For some the grammar schools are private schools without the fees...

I know it says "some" people but it was placed here for a reason no? My daughter is hard working and should not be made out to be "playing" the system. AT ALL.

Apologies for not having read whole thread, but regarding bank of mum and dad and grandparents paying for private school....is the irony lost on them that their children went through the private school system and yet came out of it not being able to pay for private school fees for their own kids?

First you accuse me of stalking you by hanging around a thread that has you it. Now you are having a go at me for not hanging around a thread that has you in it

And I never said that I only post to threads about private education.

Doshusallie, that made me smile but 2 comments:

Privately educating 3 kids (nursery, pre-Prep, day Prep, boarding school) would cost the thick end of £700,000. You'd have to be very, very successful to pay that out of taxed income and have any lifestyle at all.

Paying school fees for grandchildren can be a very tidy way of reducing Inheritance Tax.

You left the thread when you made even more of an arse of yourself than usual, BS. As anyone who read it could see.

i remember my best friend's dad giving her the money to pay school fees in the 80's. was this a tax loophole that they closed.

In the area where I work when I am shopping in the supermarket, I often see mums with about 3 children all in prep school uniform and my mind just boggles. how on earth do they afford it.

If I stay on a thread and argue with you then I am an arse for derailing a thread. If I go 'whatever' and don't stay on a thread then that is a self admission that I am an arse???

No wonder you don't see the hypocrisy in your opinions.

You were an arse for your contribution to the other thread. Where you got something wildly wrong, and instead of just admitting it and saying sorry, you just left. That is the behaviour of an arse. Your ridiculous misrepresentations of my views and statements on this thread are also the behaviour of an arse. Your misrepresentation of something I said ^before Christmas" is also the behaviour of an arse.

alemci - an Oxbridge graduate trainee in the City in something like law or finance will have a starting salary of about £60k pa. It can easily top £100k when they are in their 30s.

We aren't in that league but many of our parents are so three sets of fees isn't that big a deal to them.

grovel - if you break it down to an annual cost then it's do-able on a gross income of about £90k pa. As I said upthread, an income of £100k plus while in your 30s isn't that unusual in the City

All this heated argument over how somebody chooses to spend £60 per day? I think there are people on here that need to get out more!