Bursary accepted - then fee increase of nearly 10%!!!

[Motherduck9]

We have been accepted to a school on a bursary. Not a huge one. We have paid the deposit and completed all the admission forms and on receipt of the deposit etc we were sent a second email telling us the fees are going up when we start in September by nearly 10%!!!! I understand legally they have given a terms notice but I am shocked at the lack of consideration towards a family that needs financial assistance and also found out existing parents found out week or so before! I feel like I have been played a little bit! What’s everyone’s thoughts? I think I am going to ask to have a chat with them and explain how I feel?

Assuming the bursary was awarded on what you could afford- you should go back and say that now the fees are going up, that would need to be reassessed?

To be fair fees go up every year and you need to budget for that. You are aware that VAT will likely be also charged if Labour win, how will you cope with that?
Private school fees always rise every year and you should budget between 5-10% rise each year.
Have you fully looked into the financial impact eg calculating for lunches/travel/device/uniform/trips etc?

I wasn’t aware it was this much per year no!

I agree! They assessed us based on the original fees and I feel like they have done it on purpose getting us to sign and pay deposit before sending us this information

It can be however much they want it to be to be honest.
You can track the yearly increase to guess how much it will be each year.

They go up like that every year.

For the following year you should work on 10% increase + 20% VAT.

They do that every year.

In my experience, they also don't really care/ reply to parents letters/ emails/ calls about fee increases. It's a take it or leave it approach as there will always be someone to fill the space.

That’s unfortunate. With recent inflation and schools already pricing in a Labour govt 10% would have been a sensible figure to plan for.

So how much had you planned for? Or had you counted annual increases into your budget at all?

Yeah that’s standard, tbh. Along with a letter saying how ‘competitive’ they are compared to all the other schools in the area, which they all send…

It has never gone up 10% a year. It was 1/2% until 2022 when ours have gone up 10% a year so far. They can't keep adding 10% a year, it's not viable for parents, especially at smaller schools.

If you can’t afford the increase fees, then maybe you can pull out as they’ve changed the situation.

or as someone above said, ask
theM to recalculate the bursary in light of the increase.

School fees don’t usually go up by 10% a year! But it was expected that many schools would have significant rises this September, so it shouldn’t really be a surprise.

OP, I would go back the bursar and ask for an additional 10% bursary to cover the increase. It’s worth asking. Many schools are worried about falling numbers due to the increased fees. It may make more sense to give you the extra 10% than to lose your fee entirely if you don’t take the place.

Fees are going up substantially across the board and have been for a while. I’m on a good salary but given I wasn’t prepared to absorb fees going up say 50% across the life of school child, I chose against private and opted for state. Presumably an option here too?

@Motherduck9 do you have a state school place that you're still holding (and / or places on waiting lists) or would the alternative to taking up the indie place be having to make a late application / submit appeals for stae schools?

How has the bursary been calculated? Is it a percentage? If so that will apply to the increased fees too won’t it? Not a big help but you will only pay 80% or whatever it is of increased fees each time.

You were played, it seems.

Private schools are businesses selling entry into networks for kids.

So yeah, they put their fees up.

It is normally a % of fees not a fixed amount. Annual increases are often well above inflation. Can you afford the difference now?

I know of a couple of local schools that aren't increasing fees this year, previously its been 5-6% a year though.

It's usually inflation plus about a further 5% (because so much of the school budget is staff costs)

Across the board inflation is about 4%, but private sector pay inflation has estimates ranging as much as 8% and schools that are trying to keep their teachers in TPS face considerable costs. 10% is towards the higher end of fee increases, but not unduly high.

And those who think schools haven't had increases of this scale before might not have been tracking what was happening in the 00s

Bear in mind that you too will likely need to give a terms notice if you decide not to proceed, if not you will owe them the first terms fees even if you don't take the place.

Private education is costly even with a bursary, on top of annual increases, and probably VAT soon, there are trips, uniform, "recharges" (charges for materials) etc..

You need to allow all this into your calculations.

In 2018 the FT was reporting a 49% increase over the previous 10 years.

https://archive.is/Yex8n

Many years ago my youngest got a bursary of £2k which was nearly half the fees at the time so I thought could just about manage it, by the time he was in 6th form the fees had gone up to £7k🤦 it was very difficult to keep him there but as his brothers had already been through the school on free places (the system had changed from government assisted places by the time youngest was due to start secondary) we felt we had to scrimp on other things to keep him there. You need to be prepared for the increases every year I'm afraid, I went into it without full understanding this.