Families with children in the highest-cost private schools have been slugged with the biggest fee increases for 2024 – far above inflation – partly as a result of government policy designed to provide lower subsidies to institutions with the wealthiest parents.

A national survey of school fees found the average increase was 5.85 per cent, with great variability depending on location. The largest fee increases were in schools with annual fees of more than $30,000 a year, particularly in Canberra and Sydney’s eastern suburbs, north shore and inner west, all of which had rises of between 7.8 per cent and 10 per cent.