Schools hike prices to pay for counsellors, cleaning supplies

Sydney’s most expensive private girls’ school is hiking its annual fees to $42,000 per student. Here’s why.

Sydney’s priciest girls’ school will cost parents more than $42,000 a year after its board moved to increase fees to pay for extra counsellors required due to a spike in anxiety rates among students.

The price hike at SCEGGS Darlinghurst comes as the chief of the private schools sector warned parents to brace for more fees triggered by a decrease in state government funding over the next decade, which could force low income parents to send their kids to public schools.

The increase at SCEGGS means parents of girls in Year 12 next year will pay more than $42,000, up from $41,090 this year.

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In an email sent to parents, principal Jenny Allum and the school’s chair Peter Hicks said the pandemic meant there was additional equipment which needed to be purchased, “additional cleaning costs” alongside more money to pay staff.

SCEGGS school on Forbes St in Darlinghurst. Picture: John Grainger

“We also understand the added stress and anxiety levels being felt by many SCEGGS girls. The 2022 salary budget includes increased provisions for Student Services and Counselling to assist SCEGGS girls navigate these difficult times, and more generally greater support for mental health initiatives,” the letter said.

It also noted the board was cognisant of the need to keep fees low while allowing the school to attract and retain quality teaching and support staff.”

Danebank in Hurstville will increase fees from $22,785 to $23,475.

St Catherine’s, Waverley fees will jump from $36,590 to $37,322 next year while Danebank in Hurstville in the city’s south will increase fees from $22,785 to $23,475.

Elite boys schools The Scots College and Cranbrook in Bellevue Hill said they were yet to release advice on what the fees would be.

The King’s School which charges $38,284 a year has also not revealed fees for next year but did not increase them in 2020 because of Covid.

St Vincent’s College in Potts Point will see Year 12 fees jump from $22,553 for Year 12 to $23,097 next. College principal Anne Fry said that equated to 1.2 per cent per year because there was no fee increase last year.

St Catherine’s, Waverley fees will jump from $36,590 to $37,322 next year

“In 2020, we applied no increase in tuition costs and this year we applied the minimum we could to match projected salary increases,” she said.

Association of Independent Schools of NSW Chief Executive Dr Geoff Newcombe said the state government was reducing funding to the independent school sector by $218 million by 2029.

“I am concerned that rising fees may force lower income families to withdraw their children from fee-paying schools and into government schools, many of which are already at capacity,” he said.

“The NSW Government is also phasing out funding support that assists vulnerable students and schools such as the Literacy and Numeracy Action Strategy, the Low Growth Low (Socio economic status) Fund and the Special Fund Subsidy for Special Schools.”

He said a new Commonwealth funding model comes into effect for all schools next year.

“Some independent schools will experience a decline in their government funding over the rest of the decade and will need to make up the shortfall to maintain education quality by raising fees, cutting costs or a combination of both,” he said.

Originally published as Schools hike prices to pay for counsellors, cleaning supplies