Listed: Application and enrolment fees to get into top Adelaide private schools

Families are forking out thousands of dollars to secure a spot at some of Adelaide’s top schools, with no guarantee students will ever step foot in the classroom.

Parents are being asked to pay as much as $150 just to apply to send their child to Adelaide’s top schools – with no guarantee they will be accepted.

Families of students who are offered a place may then have to find up to $3100 to secure it, analysis by The Advertiser has found.

Non-refundable application fees at independent or Catholic schools across South Australia ranged from $25 at St Mark’s College in Port Pirie to $150 at Scotch College in Torrens Park.

Two of the 34 schools canvassed – St Aloysius College and St John’s Grammar School – did not impose an application fee.

This fee is paid when parents lodge an application form and many schools say it is to cover administration costs.

Once a student is offered a place families are usually asked to pay a confirmation fee.

These ranged from $100 – at St Mark’s, and Cedar College in Northgate – to $3100 at Scotch.

Of that amount, $2000 is credited towards tuition fees and $500 secures the student membership of the Old Collegians association.

St Peter’s College charges $2600 to confirm enrolment and Prince Alfred College (PAC) charges $1250.

While these fees are non-refundable, many schools credit at least a portion towards tuition fees when the child starts lessons.

Other schools include membership to old scholars associations in the confirmation fee, while Temple Christian College returns it’s $200 bond when a student graduates.