Does your high school blow the budget?

The high cost of high schooling

Peta and Jordan Lobegeier talk about the cost of sending your child to public high school. Picture: Renee Albrecht

RESEARCH released on the high expense of sending a child to a public school doesn't entirely ring true for Gympie mother of two Peta Lobegeier.

The research, conducted by RACQ finance, claims parents will spend an average of $1160 on the education of their public high school child, while it was an average of $9890 for a private secondary school student.

"School sport, excursions, uniforms and digital technology are just some of the items parents have had to budget for in 2017,” RACQ's Renee Smith said.

"One big ticket item is the spend on digital learning tools like laptops and iPads, at an average cost of $405 a year.”

But Mrs Lobegeier, whose daughter Jordan attends grade 9 at Gympie High while her older daughter Alex graduated last year, said her expenses were not as high as the figure claimed.

She said it depends on what subjects your child chooses as to what technological expenses you incurred and with Gympie High offering a rental system for text books and resources and her eye for nabbing second hand uniforms when she can, the costs are kept to a minimum.

"My sporting bill is the one that goes up by thousands,” she said today while volunteering in the canteen at Jordan's Wide Bay School Sports touch trials.

She did admit though last year, having a year 12 student did certainly increase the budget.

Mrs Smith from RACQ said more than 62 percent of schools now require a mix of both traditional textbooks and digital technology, while almost 10 percent of schools have completely converted to digital education.

She said extracurricular activities like sport, dance and music are another large expense for Queensland families at an average cost of $600 per child.

Uniforms cost an average $210 for each student.