Are private school fees really likely to increase by 7-10% a year?

[Ani57]

We are trying to put a financial plan in place and have been looking into the possibility of private schooling for secondary school. Our kids are only 4 and 2 right now but I read recently that you should expect a 7-10% increase a year. The fees are currently £21k a year for secondary which would mean £300k for both kids. However with a 7% increase per year, this would be £600k for 2 kids by the time my children go! Is there anyone with children finishing school that can confirm whether this is true or not?

Well I’ve had four kids at private school for the last 20 years (2 years to go, sigh) ie during decades of historically low inflation and I struggle to think of a less than 3% increase in fees each year. This year was 6%. Given where we are going with inflation I think you would be wrong to assume it would be any less.

Not all four at once obviously. Well only for about 5 years of it.

Received school bill at end of term last month, and for a top school w the usual 3% increase per annum, was shocked at the 7.65% increase for coming year. Bear in mind, with inflation as it stands, it’s only going to rise by the time your children are ready. Am stunned how people in the country can imagine having so many children and then sending to private schools. It is a huge investment as have come to realise, and we are only at the start of secondary, though privately educated throughout the children’s education. Good luck on whatever you decide.

I am stunned by it too. My husband and I have both come from working class backgrounds and private schooling or in fact any help at all through university or early career years just wasn’t an option. We have recently moved to a nice area in Surrey and cannot believe the wealth around us. And also the number of people my age who still rely on their parents to fund their lives ie. help with schooling costs etc! We are both in our late 30’s now and are in a really healthy financial position. We earn approx. £250k between us (I work part time) and my husband has a good final salary pension. I am more inclined to say we save some of the money to help our kids through Uni and with buying a house and then use the rest to enjoy life as a family - great holidays and days out etc! But obviously I want the best for my kids so we are also costing up private schooling to see if it would be doable.

OP you have done really well & earn way more than I ever will. You can afford private but yes it will go up up and up. Only you can decide if you think private is really worth it

I would consider waiting until secondary for private education and supporting your dc along the way while in state school if you feel it is needed. If you live near a good state school, then save the money during the primary years.

I guess it depends on the state school primaries around you too.
We've decided to go for the lovely state primary school round the corner from us and start saving what we would've paid for a prep school for another day for them. We hope to send them privately at secondary school.

We decided to go state school and have independent as a back up option, using the money we would have spent on experiences such as travel. When dd1 started secondary I thought we’d try it then move her for the start of year 9… she’s about to go into year 10 and is thriving in state school, predicted 8s across the board. It was the right decision for her. Next step will be her younger sisters starting.

DS was at private school from yr 7 many years ago and the fees almost doubled in 7 years. In fact they went up by 1/3 between registering for the exam and paying the first term’s fees. We had to make sacrifices but it was worth every penny. DD attended a state grammar school and we paid for her MA at the other end. (We put both through uni). It depends where you live and what the state schools are like. Fortunately we had good state Primary schools but it was the HT who told us to send DS privately if we could.

Tough decision but I’m pretty sure either way it’ll work out

State and using money or private all way through

Fees have gone up that much but probably Covid related too. They could match inflation though in next few years, hard to know

In the current climate I think 10% could be on the low side.

Why not save the funds now and make a decision much nearer the time based on the needs of your children and the quality of local state schools?
Top up tutoring costs way less than private education, and not all independent schools are equal.

Thanks all, the reason that we are looking at this so carefully now is that I’d like a 3rd child but that would put private school firmly out of the question. Although sounds like it might already be out of the question if I can expect fees that are currently £21k a year to average £45k a year by the time my kids are there! My husband is pushing it more because he interviews many people and he often says private school educated kids have a different level of confidence and he wants the best for our kids. I am more inclined to say that we both did great at state school and got great degrees so there’s no reason our (3!) children wouldn’t do the same. Urgh, parenting choices are so tough!

What are the state schools like near you? This would be a big factor for me - there is so much variation. Some state schools are excellent.

I totally hear you though on moving to a “nicer” area and realising just how much money some people have 😮 We did the same recently, we’re doing fine by any objective measure but I feel poor compared to many of the people around us.

he often says private school educated kids have a different level of confidence and he wants the best for our kids.

There are more factors than just education in play here. Family background is a big factor, as is inherent personality. Anecdotal, but my DC go to state school and their same age cousins go to private school. if you considered their lives as a whole I would not say that the cousins had the best. The two sets of children have simply had different opportunities. I suspect "best" would be an amalgam of the two, and of course "best" looks different for individual children. And my DC have way more confidence than their cousins, although this is almost entirely down to individuals and nothing to do with their schooling.

I would have to add my kids are all state schooled and super confident. It’s more about personality. My sister has kids in private and they are shy and a lot less confident. And they go to top highly sought after london private schools.

For example my 2.5 year old (the youngest as the older two are 9 and 11) gets a lot of comments on how confident she is, how happy, her language etc. So I think it’s definitely a bit of personality. My older two got the same type of comments. And now you can see it as well still. And I can see from their friends some who are a little more timid or unsure of themselves etc. And then I see some of their friends also confident. Plus they do a lot of activities with private school kids and I can see no special difference there with confidence.

my daughter's school went up by 8-10% every year in primary. now it's about 6%. If you're going all the way from reception to sixth form, you should expect fees to double in that time.

Ours go up about 7% in normal times. Plus the extras are significant so don’t forget the costs of food, kit, excursions etc. Meals at our school are approx £5 a day for lunch and then most of them also buy second breakfast too at £2. Kit is about £300 a year.

With inflation on the rise the annual increases will be higher.

We’ve had two in since age 4. We could have bought a house outright with the money we’ve paid. We don’t have any help but most of our friends have contributions from grandparents. Particularly if they have multiple children.

If the state schools locally are fine, I would use the money to provide lots of extra opportunities like travel, classes, events, go places like museums.
Add tutoring at secondary if needed

I would say yes at least that and it could be more.

It’s usually 1-5 % above inflation (higher end of range when there are changes to employers NICs or to cost of running pensions schemes, as staff costs are a huge part of the verbal cost)

We’re heading in to an inflationary period, so I’d go with the higher figure for planning purposes (better to have some unspent cash at the end than be scraping to keep a settled teen in situ for GCSEs and A levels)

(Wild card - since Brexit, there’s nothing to stop the UK putting VAT onto school fees - I don’t know if that’s likely and I don’t trust any party to insist on it being done competently (at present nursery and university fees rely on same exemption in the EU version that we have rolled over))

Why does it keep going up? Splurging on new facilities? Competition with wealthier overseas students (wouldn't have thought so)? Teachers' pay (wouldn't have thought that, either)? Administrative bloat? Has someone analysed this?

In real terms our fees have gone up anywhere between £400 & £700 per year for each child. We are in the north where fees are generally lower.

Other options available to us mean I don't regret it, but if there was a decent state option I'd have taken it.

The reality is that by the time we finish paying fees we could have paid for the entire university costs for our boys, given them a decent house deposit and still had more in savings.

Accounts are published, either at companies house or via the charity commission depending on the legal status of the school.

Staff costs are invariably a major part, and changes to NICs are notorious for knock on effects on fees (the huge hikes of the early 00s were because of that). Changes to pensions schemes make a big difference too, with the amount private schools having to pay to remain in TPS being a factor at present

The confidence argument is more complicated than your DH makes out. Some privately educated pupils appear confident but that is more likely to be a product of being bought up by wealthy, educated parents than their school per se (increasingly this 'confidence' can be interpreted by the wider public as arrogance thanks to the idiot politicians we have had at our helm the last 10 years)
Anecdotally some of my peers at my top private school were crippled with shyness that wasn't helped by being in a hot house, and others developed anxiety issues on the back of pressure.

We have 1 child and earn less than you. They’re going into year 13. We went state until year 7. The fees went up by 7% this year but normally it’s been more like 3%. Fees have gone up by over a third since they started, luckily they’re on an academic scholarship which has helped.

Why don’t you look at year 7 onwards? I don’t think prep adds much value. You’ve got time to save a nice amount before then. If you decide against it then you can use that money for additional tutors, university, deposit for 1st home, etc.

Fees will start going up in line with inflation - schools have to pay bills like everyone (inc salaries, pensions and utilities) and these are all rising massively at the moment. I would expect rises over 10% to be the norm very shortly

as to whether it's worth it... that's down to the kid and the school?

FWIW we went independent from the start and in terms of value add 'm not sure the primary years made much difference. I'd start at Y7 if I were doing it over again.