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?

I thnk I need to exit this thread now. We have families scared to death that they will not be able to afford their homes this winter and at the other end of the scale we have people saving money by 'only' paying school fees for the five years of secondary.

No wonder we are in the mess we are in.

Thanks all, interesting to hear everyone’s views. I think our decision is made to try for a 3rd child and accept that private school will be firmly out of the question. Speaking to some of the nursery mums, it seems like most people aiming for private school do it with far more family money and inheritance in their future … we will not receive any so even with our 2 children, private school is likely to be a struggle, especially with the economy as it is at the moment. The state primary near us is outstanding so we are happy with primary education but we will probably need to move into the catchment of the outstanding rated secondary school. Probably a far better use of savings!

You can expect fees to track inflation and that is around 11% at the moment and is likely to be high for some time. Private education is getting relatively more expensive and the average annul fee at secondary is £20k according to the Times. A lot of pupils at my DCs schools were funded by GPs

I can’t see it rising 11% a year or no one other than Russian oligarchs and footballers will be able to afford it. The schools will have to cut their cloth and scale back on new buildings and other elective stuff for a bit.

As long as they continue to be oversubscribed, fees will increase by more than inflation.

Apart from the big hitters most independent schools are not populated by children of millionaires. They will not be oversubscribed for long if fees are 11% higher each year.

Ours has never gone up more than 3% in the last 11 years, 8.5% this year though, I was just grateful that DS1 has now left so just DS2 left there. We are not massively high earners but have no mortgage which is why we can afford it, it will be quite a struggle but only for 2 years now. I am assuming it is due to utility bills however I know the school has taken on a lot of new students as a huge private school round the corner had closed so wasnt expecting the increase to be that much.

OP, We earn slightly more than you - about 20% more - but at one point had 5 kids privately educated at the same time. You can do it on that income. We still go on holidays several times a year, not premium, and have some modest savings. No second house. We don’t spend much on ourselves (clothes, cars, restaurants very rarely, I don’t have a cleaner/ cook) but kids have expensive hobbies (no limits there really, as long as educational). School isn’t just education, it’s also their circle, for many for life - neither me or DH have friends from school. My privately-educated friends’ friends seem to be all mostly from school rather than uni, 20 years after graduating.

I have one DC at private school in Scotland. Interestingly for the return this year there are a lot of new starts for the crucial higher year. Normally there is a bulge at the start of the senior stage and a trickle over the remaining years. Despite all the bad economic news a lot of parents have taken the unusual decision to opt into private at this crucial stage.

We did state school for KS1 which certainly helped to save a bit. And we are not doing boarding school for 13+ which saves a ton. Some of the boarding 13+ schools are already > £41,000 per year. So stick to day schools and start as late as you can. Try the state school first and only move them to independent when you feel they need to. For DC1 this was year 3 and DC2 it was year 2.

Ani57 we don't have any money from our family and I pay the school fees out of my income but I have saved up a buffer in case... so it is do-able. Most families we know have 2 working parents. We decided to stick with 2 children rather than 3 due to the cost and are happy with that. We also do alot extra curricular with our kids.

Why bother with private schools?

The Telegraph ran an article yesterday moaning about diversity and how ‘lower class’ students were being offered places whilst private school students weren’t.

It had loads of parents moaning that their children had all A* and couldn’t get into med school as someone from a council estate was taking their place.

This is how it should be. Payment doesn’t buy privilege anymore,

Wowzer if you are earning £250k a year you should easily do it unless you are spending tons on house / cars etc. Not all the kids will be at the same school at once. And in our case we get a small discount as our kids have scholarships.

ArseInTheCoOpWindow tbh if I'm going for a heart by pass operation I want the best Dr whether they have been to Eton or a council estate - I really don't care. I don't want someone because they do / don't tick a box. It should be based on your performance and not whether your background does or doesn't meet certain criteria..

If only government funding for state schools would also track inflation!

So many misconceptions and stereotypes here about Private schools and Parents who choose to send their DC there.
I am sure if people were stereotyping State school kids and Parents in the same way there would be outcry and/or deletions.

We didn’t all go Private ourselves
We dont all have “family money”
We don’t all do it to get better A levels/degrees/jobs for our dc
We don’t all do it to avoid the riff raff
We don’t all go skiing and to Barbados for Christmas
Our kids aren’t all snobs who look down on kids from State schools

@Fudgeball123 that is why uni’s are making sure more applicants get in from deprived backgrounds and limiting those that have had the benefits of tiny classes and hand holding. They want the best, not those that were helped the most. About time too!

You can get the best doctor for a heart bypass.

But you can’t buy your way into Oxford/Cambridge/red bricks anymore. Why waste your money? It’s going to continue.

They aren’t interested in DoE/ extra curricular stuff anymore. So what exactly are you paying for? For your child to lose a place is what you’re paying for.

You should also factor in the possibility of a Labour government doing away with private schools charitable status and the subsequent VAT liability.
Teachers pension costs will continue to be a big factor, I think schools contribute c 25% of salary and rising to fund the final salary scheme.
Last but not least energy costs which are particularly challenging in big, old , poorly insulated buildings like a lot of schools both private and state.
I can see fees increasing by 15% a year in the next couple of years, after that who knows.

Teacher pensions aren’t on final salary schemes to anyone after 2012

ArseInTheCoOpWindow there's also more to life than uni application forms. Some children enjoy the extra curricular stuff and its what makes school enjoyable and gives a broader education than the purely academic. Alot of independent school families see the main added value in the extra curricular and the chance for their child to be good at something rather than just shoehorned into academic lessons all day with no music, art etc. Believe me if I thought we could get the same education at the local comprehensive we would be there tomorrow as I rather blow the fees on fun stuff.

You are quite right it’s a defined benefit scheme since then. It’s still incredibly expensive for schools to fund however which is the point about it feeding into the fee level.

@Fudgeball123 but you ARE blowing the fees on the fun stuff, you just said your choice of school was all about the extra curricular!!!!!

I have children in state schools and that is where our ‘fee’ money goes too. Extra curricular. Clubs, music lessons, county sport, lots and lots of interesting travel, museums, galleries, skiing.

Rubbish advice. It’s proven children who go from nursery are more socially active and involved in sports etc. more than their non private peers

BumblingBy this is true. Sadly our local comp (and I know because a good friend's kids go there) provides very little extra curricular. There has been 1 boys sports fixture all academic year and her DS is very sporty. There are no lunchtime or afterschool activities. Her kids are not very academic so find school a real grind.
I work full-time and we live remotely so the amount of driving about to provide all the sports our school provides would be mindblowing. Our county town where most of the action is, is about 30 miles away. So the independent school enables the kids to most of their activities at school, means I can work full-time to pay for it ;-) and I don't have to drive around.
Certainly where we live there aren't really museums or galleries but I know if you live in London / Manchester etc there is alot more to see and do.
We will look at grammar school for DC2 at 11 but this will require boarding as we live 30 miles away.. so we would still have to pay for the boarding..