Fees/charges: How much parents are forking out for Gold Coast schools

The most expensive and cheapest schools on the Gold Coast have been revealed with some parents forking out tens of thousands of dollars to send their kids to school. SEE HOW YOUR SCHOOL COMPARES

GOLD COAST parents shelled out a staggering $259 million to send their kids to local schools in a single year, exclusive analysis reveals.

One of the Gold Coast’s most elite private schools finished in the top 10 most expensive in the state, according to My School data exclusively analysed by Newscorp.

The Southport School ranked at number one on the Gold Coast and was the only school outside Brisbane to make the top 10 in the state, with $17,642 spent per student.

St Hilda’s School came in as the second most expensive on the Gold Coast with average parental contributions totalling $16,033.

Somerset College followed with an average of $15,065 in fees and AB Paterson College at $10,590.

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Queensland executive Director David Robertson of independent schools Queensland said parents “also contributed a further $300 million on school infrastructure”.

“This private investment by parents represents an extraordinary saving to governments and taxpayers.

“School governing bodies are very mindful of the investment parents make from their after-tax incomes in their child’s education.

“They carefully consider their local community context, parental capacity, wage cost increases, public funding and general economic conditions when setting school fees each year.”

Queensland Catholic Education Commission Executive Director Dr Lee-Anne Perry said fees were determined by each Catholic School Authority and determined based on each particular school.

“Providing the option of a Catholic education is equally important in metropolitan, regional and rural communities and irrespective of the socio-economic circumstances of families,” she said.
“Catholic schools also have fee relief policies, scholarships or bursaries for families that might encounter difficulties meeting their fee commitments.”

Queensland Academy for Health Sciences, a specialist government school, had the highest parental contributions per student at $3228.

The second most expensive public school was Miami State High School with an average of $1544 in parental contributions.

Keebra Park State High School and Robina State High School were next charging $1348 and $1303 respectively.

The lowest contributions per student on the Gold Coast were at Merrimac State School with an average annual contribution of $84.

The Education Department said every school is different and data may capture funding schools generate themselves through parent contributions for certain programs.

“Including through external arrangements such as hire fees for school facilities, P & C funding, fees for excursions and camps, international student fees,” a spokesman said.

Originally published as Fees/charges: How much parents are forking out for Gold Coast schools