Parents brace for bill shock as private school hikes fees almost 20 per cent

Families with children at Victorian private and Catholic schools have been warned to brace for bill shock in the coming weeks, as parents at a prestigious girls’ school in Melbourne’s north-west protest against fee increases of nearly 20 per cent.

Parents from Lowther Hall Anglican Grammar in Essendon are pleading with the school to reconsider its 2025 fee schedule, after year 6 fees for next year soared past $31,000, an increase of $4564 – or more than 17 per cent – on this year’s fees.

Independent Schools Victoria and the Catholic Education Authority have warned parents to brace for higher school fees in 2025.Credit: Michele Mossop

Year 5 fees will rise by more than 19 per cent to $29,880 next year, prompting parents to launch an online petition urging the school to reconsider the increases.

With the 104-year-old institution among the first of the state’s private schools to reveal its 2025 fees, both Independent Schools Victoria and the Catholic Education Authority have warned parents to brace for sharp rises in tuition.

Non-government schools will be hit in 2025 with a full year of the state government’s increased payroll tax – which only applied to the second half of 2024 – with the sector’s lobby groups warning the increased payments were likely to be passed on in full to parents.

All-girls private schools are under particular pressure to increase fees, the independent education peak body warned on Friday, facing cost pressures but lacking the cash reserves of some of the wealthier boys’ schools.

Lowther Hall told The Age on Friday that its new fee structure reflected the responsibility of the school’s leadership “to make strategic decisions about the running of the school to ensure its sustainability into the future”.

“The state payroll tax, the lack of federal government funding growth for Lowther Hall, and the increases in the costs to run a school have informed the setting of the fees for 2025,” it said.

“The school is in conversation with any individual families who are concerned about the fees and has processes in place to facilitate conversations or support as required.”

The Lowther parents’ online petition calls for the school’s fees to be frozen at 2024 levels, a full review of the school’s finances, and for key decision-makers to be stood down.

“Such a dramatic increase, without adequately considering the financial strain this will place on many Lowther Hall families, is deeply concerning and has caused deep anxiety and undue stress,” the petition reads.

The rest of the state’s private schools – some of which charged up to $50,000 in 2024 – will issue their 2025 fee notices in the coming weeks.

Rachel Holthouse, chief executive of Independent Schools Victoria, warned there may be tough news on the way.

“Schools have made every effort to apply only modest fee increases over the past two years as the community recovered from the pandemic,” Holthouse said.

“That restraint is no longer sustainable for many schools due to the impact of payroll tax, which 52 independent schools were forced to pay in the second half of this year.

“The tax has a disproportionate impact on girls’ schools, 16 of which have to pay the tax.”

Catholic Education Authority chief executive Professor Elizabeth Labone said schools in the sector were facing the same tough economic conditions as the rest of the community, as well as increases in staff and utility costs, and WorkCover premiums.

The state government has been approached for comment.

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