Logan public school among top earners in southeast Queensland

Logan’s richest school has raked in more than $181.1 million in five years with an average cost per student of $22,591, tightly held school statistics reveal. ALL SCHOOLS RANKED | LIST

Logan’s top earning schools included John Paul College, Marsden State High School, Canterbury College, Beenleigh State High and Woodridge State High.

The list of the country’s highest earning schools is no longer the domain of private colleges with a large public school south of Brisbane named as having one of the highest incomes in southeast Queensland.

Marsden State High School earned more than $165.9 million over five years, second only to the prestigious private John Paul College, which pocketed the top title as highest money-spinner in Logan from 2017-2021.

An independent analysis of school financial records from the MySchool website has shown the massive amount of money some schools make every year, and how little some scrape by on.

John Paul College principal Craig Merritt said his college prides itself on offering high-quality education. Picture: Supplied

The figures revealed John Paul College in Daisy Hill had a higher gross income than any other school in the Logan region.

The school reported a gross income of $181.1 million, according to financial records from the combined past five years.

The school’s income fell by 3.4 per cent between 2017 and 2021.

John Paul College principal Craig Merritt, who took over the reins from Karen Spiller in January this year, said the school was dedicated to providing an outstanding holistic education.

“Like most industries, costs have increased and we work very hard to offer high-quality programs at an affordable tuition fee, accessible to a broad range of families in Logan, the Gold Coast and south of Brisbane,” he said.

“We are dedicated to keeping fees at an affordable level to ensure families can see John Paul College as a high-quality option for the education of their children.

“We value and are appreciative of any support the state and federal governments provide.”

The region’s second richest school was Marsden State High School, in Waterford West, which had a gross income of $165.9 million and total gross income per student in 2021 of $13,307.

Marsden State High School principal Marcus Jones.

The school with the third highest gross income was Canterbury College, in Waterford, which made $145.7 million.

Its total gross income per student in 2021 was $20,714.

The school income rankings, followed startling revelations that 40 per cent of the country’s private schools received more government money than they needed while public schools were short changed by about $4.5 billion.

The figures include all fees, charges and parental contributions as well as state and federal government funding and any other private sources over the five years from 2017 to 2021.

The data did not include any deductions for capital works or debt servicing.

The analysis did not include special schools or schools that did not have complete financial data in MySchool for one or more of the five years.

Australian Technology and Agricultural College at North Maclean had the lowest gross income of any school in the Logan region.

It made just $2.5 million over the five-year period.

Its total gross income fell by 60.2 per cent from 2017 to 2021 while the total gross income per student in 2021 was $25,523.

Hillview State School at Hillview had the second lowest gross income of any school in the Logan region.

It made just $3.4 million over the five years.

Its total gross income fell by 13.8 per cent from 2017 to 2021 while the total gross income per student in 2021 was $31,084.

Darlington State School at Darlington had the third lowest gross income of any Logan school.

It made just $3.5 million over the period and its total gross income increased by 11 per cent from 2017 to 2021 while the total gross income per student in 2021 was $23,554.