Victorian private school fees are costing families more and more
The rising cost of sending a child to a private school means Victorian households are taking a significant hit. Here’s what it’ll cost to send your kids to these elite schools.
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It could cut 20 years off the average mortgage, buy a Porsche 911 Carrera or give your child a private high school education.
New figures show that educating your high school child in Victoria could set you back as much as $270,000 with the cost of the top schools spiking.
Geelong Grammar School has taken out the title of Australia’s most expensive school at $269,820 for senior school, due to compulsory boarding fees.
Mount Scopus Memorial College is the second most expensive at $226,640 and St Catherine’s School third at $223,920.
The cheapest of the top 50 schools is The Knox School at $142,258 for high school.
But as much as it hurts the hip pocket, parents have been given a breather against massive price hikes on private school fees with more mid to low tier schools responding to increasing pressure on family budgets.
A new national report from Edstart, a lender that specialises in helping families pay for education costs, shows the national rate of increase in private school fees fell in 2020, with the average increase at 2.8 per cent, compared to 3.1 per cent last year and 3.2 per cent in 2018.
Across the country Geelong Grammar School in Victoria was the most expensive followed by The King’s School in Sydney, $41,074.
In Queensland, the highest paying school was Brisbane Grammar with parents shelling out $28,725, in Western Australia PLC costs $29,635, South Australia’s Walford Anglican School for Girls is $27,409, ACT has Canberra Grammar at $25,750 and Tasmania’s The Friends’ School is $19, 920.
Victoria also lead the country in terms of increases where the average rise was 3.16 per cent, followed by QLD at 3.06 per cent and NSW was 3.01 per cent.
“Victoria also has the highest percentage of students in private schools in the country, in fact just over 45 per cent of Year 12 students attend a non-government school. More higher fee schools in the state have driven up the overall average fee increase,” Edstart CEO Jack Stevens said.
Victoria and NSW are by far the most costly states to send your child to a private school, with some schools breaking the $40,000 a year barrier in fees and within Victoria there is a $127,562 difference between Geelong Grammar School and The Knox School, in terms of the total cost of high school, according to data compiled by News Corp. For parents shelling out to pay for year 12 students the compulsory fee per year for students at Geelong Grammar was $42,500 a year compared to The Knox School at $25,580.
The increases are a significant hit to households with parents forking out 35 per cent of their budget on private school fees.
“This inflation number has a far bigger impact on families than other household costs because so much of the family budget is tied up in school fees, when we talk about electricity or gas rises we are talking two to five per cent of the family budget whereas school fees are more like 35 per cent,” Edstart’s CEO Jack Stevens said.
“It’s similar to mortgage rates in terms of the significance on the household budget. And parents will choose a school at the upper end of their affordability level.”
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Melbourne father of three John Williams sends his three boys to Camberwell Grammar School and said the sacrifices are ones he and his wife are prepared to make.
“We did a lot of research and looked at all the different benefits of each and for us it was really about private because of the support and class sizes and the way different children with different learning styles could be accommodated,” he said.
“Teachers in the public sector do an amazing job but it must be challenging with so many kids with different needs different needs and styles of learning,” he said.
“Some of them do perform exceptionally well but for us making the decision was that if our children became academically inclined they could be supported, and if they weren’t they could be supported to achieve and become the best person they could be.”
Australian Parents Council president Jennifer Rickard said their research showed 85 per cent of parents with children at non-government schools said they would have to make substantial sacrifices if fees were raised significantly.
“There are parents who struggle to budget and go and get loans because it is something they value, people do make their choice as to their values and as to their priorities in any way they can,” she said.
Independent Schools Council of Australia CEO Dr David Mulford said independent schools provide different options for parents.
“Independent schools reflect the social and economic diversity of Australia and are predominantly attended by middle-income families. Fees vary greatly, with the majority charging below $10,000 per annum,” he said.