School fee relief for Catholic families but others miss out
Thousands of Catholic school families across Victoria are expected to take up an offer of fee relief as many reel from coronavirus’ financial impact — but not all schools qualify. Here’s why.
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Families of more than 200,000 Victorian Catholic school students will be able to access fee relief due to financial stress because of the coronavirus.
Up to one in four Catholic school families are expected to take up the offer as all four Victorian diocese agreed to use existing funds and cash reserves to waive fees.
Principals will work with families to determine the level of relief they require, with Catholic Education Melbourne expecting 10 to 25 per cent of its community to seek out a payment reduction or cancellation.
“I would encourage any parents or guardians that have been impacted financially by the
coronavirus pandemic to make contact with their school to discuss how the school can help
with fee support,” CEM acting executive director Jim Miles said.
Mum Pannee Agathos said it was a welcome relief as she knew “lots of people in our school community that have been impacted by coronavirus”.
“It’s been a stressful time for the community — you can find yourself in very dire straits very quickly,” she said.
“This has given us a bit of light at the end of the tunnel.”
But the offer — for about 20 per cent of the state’s students — may not impact some high-fee Catholic schools, which are order-run and their own incorporated entities, meaning they determine their own rules around payments.
That includes Xavier College and Genazzano, which are refusing to cut fees for students working from home, despite annual fees of more than $30,000.
A letter to Genazzano parents notes “a number of families have now experienced a loss of income” due to the coronavirus but the school was “unable to offer any general fee relief for 2020”.
Genazzano is deferring fees on a case-by-case basis and asking parents to disclose the value of their mortgage balance, significant assets and family trusts.
The school is also not offering any discounts for the Early Learning Centre, and any parent withdrawing pupils for safety or health reasons still has to pay term two fees.
Wesley College is also not offering overall fee reductions, and those in hardship are only being given more time to pay fees.
One parent with a number of children at Wesley said he had been unable to negotiate fee relief with the school which “expects us to stay at home and expects parents to pay full fees”.
However, a range of elite private schools are offering across-the-board fee cuts to all families, putting up to $5000 per term back in parents’ pockets.
Trinity Grammar in Kew is offering all parents 15 per cent off fees, a 50 per cent rebate for Early Learning Centre students, the removal of fixed charges, and an extension for fees due and additional hardship provisions.
Schools offering similar packages include Methodist Ladies’ College, Camberwell Grammar and PEGS.
Ivanhoe Grammar is giving ten per cent off for all parents.