Geelong parents’ extremes to get into independent and Catholic schools

A Geelong Advertiser investigation can reveal the extreme lengths parents are going to to secure their kids spots at the region’s most popular schools.

The application fee for Geelong College is the highest in the state, at $500 upfront. Exterior.

Parents are getting baptised and forking out for extra-curricular activities and pricey education from kinder to score their kids spots in top Geelong schools.

And schools are charging as much as $500 just to put a child on a waiting list.

Drysdale resident Vivian Lun started thinking about her son’s high school application while he was still in a pram.

She said he was sent to Christ the King in Newcomb to increase his chances of getting into Catholic school St Ignatius College Geelong from year seven.

“You had to pretend you go to church semi-regularly to make sure you could get in (to a Catholic high school),” she said.

“He was already at a Catholic school, but I knew the competition was really high, so we went to baptise him and I got baptised myself as well, to show we were involved in the church community.”

St Joseph's College Newtown.

Her son, who she did not wish to name, also joined community tennis club, signed up to scouts and started taking music lessons.

“You need to make sure you have things on,” Ms Lun said.

“We needed to push our child so we could write on his resume – well, it’s like his resume.”

While Ms Lun’s son was accepted to St Ignatius College, he ended up attending Christian College, which required an interview and application fee.

Application fees do not count towards enrolment costs, and are often non-refundable.

Christian College and Kardinia International College charge $250 for application fees.

Christian College has an application fee of $250, which lowers for siblings.

The Geelong Grammar application fee is $350, and jumps to $500 for overseas students.

Geelong College’s registration fee is the highest in the state at $500, with early applications and those from alumni families or for children with currently enrolled siblings receiving priority.

Geelong College principal Dr Peter Miller said interest in student enrolment had increased significantly across every year level, especially since 2020.

“As you would expect, there are limits to the capacity of our student numbers and we are currently operating close to 100 per cent in all year levels,” Dr Miller said.

He said after a year group was full registrations moved to a waiting list, but did not reveal the current waitlist length.

Geelong College principal Dr Peter Miller at the Newtown Campus. Photo: DANNIKA BONSER

At Catholic schools St Joseph’s College Geelong (SJC) and St Ignatius there is no fee for registration.

A SJC spokesman said while the registrations continued to increase in recent years, jumping from 308 for Years 7 in 2024 to 336 in 2025, there was not a waitlist.

He said school tours happened a year before students started secondary school, with alumni families, kids with currently enrolled siblings and students from registered Catholic primary schools receiving priority.

“St Joseph’s is a school based on Catholic values where every family is welcome rather than a school just for Catholic families,” the spokesman said.

Originally published as Geelong parents’ extremes to get into independent and Catholic schools