Sydney’s private schools raise prices by more than the Consumer Price Index
Sydney private schools have raised their fees to more than double the rate of the Consumer Price Index for 2020, with one girls’ school now among the most expensive private schools in the country. SEE THE BREAKDOWN
NSW
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Private school fees have hit almost $40,000 a year for the first time, with schools hiking prices by more than double the rate of the Consumer Price Index.
Prestigious girls’ school SCEGGS Darlinghurst will raise fees by 3.88 per cent to $39,700 for Year 12 students this year, compared to the official CPI of 1.7 per cent.
The price rise makes it one of the most expensive schools in Australia, with one year of tuition costing more than an entry-level Audi.
On top of the fees, parents must pay a $780 “technology levy”, as well as fork out extra for sport and excursions.
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Bellevue Hill’s Cranbrook School in Sydney’s east is one of the most expensive boys’ schools after it increased fees by 2 per cent to $38,862 from $38,100 last year.
Based on 2020 figures, it would cost a parent $286,670 to send just one child to the school from kindergarten to Year 12.
Headmaster Nicholas Sampson said the increase coincided with an improvement in HSC results from when it was 55th school in the state in 2016 to 30th in 2019.
“(Parents) who choose Cranbrook for their child’s education are investing in the opportunity to expand their son’s intellectual growth and personal development beyond the remit of the formal curriculum,” he said.
Top academic performer Sydney Grammar School on the city’s fringe increased fees by 3.9 per cent to $38,043, Knox Grammar on the north shore raised fees by 3.55 per cent to $34,110 and the inner west’s Newington College hiked its fees by 3.78 per cent to $35,271.
President of the NSW Parents’ Council Rose Cantali told The Daily Telegraph the prices would force some parents to pull their children out.
“There are also parents working two jobs to subsidise the fees, this would make it very difficult,” she said.
Private school insiders say the majority of a school’s outgoings was staffing costs. But independent Education Union deputy secretary Carol Matthews said under the current staffing agreement, teachers’ wages at private schools, other than Sydney Grammar, only increased by 2.5 per cent a year.