Parents taking out loans, remortgaging their homes to pay for private school as fees rise

Sending your children to a private school is the dream for some Melbourne families, but the real cost of getting an elite primary and secondary education is becoming unattainable. Here’s how much it costs to attend these private schools.

Families are remortgaging homes, relying on relatives or paying on credit to send children to private schools.

Parents are remortgaging their homes and getting personal loans to send their kids to increasingly expensive private schools.

As Victoria’s most elite school surpasses $40,000 a year in fees, new research shows one in eight parents (12%) can’t pay their primary-school aged child’s private school costs from their disposable income.

Fees for Geelong Grammar have reached $41,260 for a senior day boarder, which includes lunch, dinner and evening study — up more than 3 per cent in a year.

PRIVATE SCHOOLS MELBOURNE: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

INSIDE MELBOURNE’S BEST PRIVATE SCHOOLS

PARENTS PAY FOR PRIVATE SCHOOL WAITING LISTS

Geelong Grammar fees have surpassed $40,000.

Bialik College, which boasted 2018’s best VCE class, increased its fees by 4 per cent, to $35,950, while Haileybury, Carey and Lauriston were up more than $1000.

Nationally, 73,000 families admit to using credit cards and 36,000 to remortgaging their house to raise enough cash for private school, new figures from comparison site Finder show.

And 100,000 Aussie families relied on relatives or personal loans.

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO EDUCATE YOUR CHILD?

Director of Regent Consulting Paul O’Shannassy, whose company finds the right private school fit for students, said about one in 20 families that came to him planned to remortgage their homes to pay fees.

“A lot of grandparents pay — that’s more prevalent than people would think,” he said.

“Mum will go back to work full time or the family will have special arrangements with the school.

“For many people they will pay $700-$800,000 from Prep to Year 12 — it’s the biggest thing they will buy outside of their house in their life.”

The Finder analysis revealed nearly one in four Victorian parents dip into savings to send their child to the state’s top schools.

Olivia White said the decision to send her two girls to a private primary school in Gippsland was made easier after tours of nearby public schools, which had high enrolments, bad reputations or principals whose views didn’t align with her family’s.

Fees were $8000 a year for her eldest child, this year in Prep, but will rise to about $20,000 by the time her two daughters reach high school.

“We just figure that their education is an investment,” she said.

“It is a lot of money over that period of time but hopefully that will mean they get the best chance with whatever they want to do.”

Mrs White said the school fees will be paid weekly on a credit card because “the money is better in our back pocket for as long as it can be” while there was a backup plan to sell a property in the future.

Finder money specialist Sophie Walsh said some parents didn’t know their financial limits and “go to great lengths to send their kids to a certain school”.

“If you don’t want to get caught out make sure you start saving early,” she said.

“Open an account solely for school fees and put away a little each month.”

[e-mail]

@ashargoon

VICTORIA’S MOST EXPENSIVE PRIVATE SCHOOLS

Year 12, 2019

Geelong Grammar

$41,260

(Day boarder, incl lunch, dinner, evening study)

Mt Scopus

$37,880

(Plus $510 supplementary security levy)

Melbourne Girls’ Grammar

$36,276

Bialak

$35,950

(incl composite fee, security levy)

Lauriston Girls

$34,528

Melbourne Grammar

$34,260

Scotch College

$33,276

Korowa Anglican Girls

$33,456

(Includes consolidated fee)

Ruyton

$33,246

PLC

$32,959

(Incl compulsory $1,300 consolidated levy)

Carey

$32,824

(Incl compulsory $888 consolidated fee)

Brighton Grammar

$32,693

(Incl consolidated fee)

Trinity Grammar

$32,280

MLC

$32,130

Haileybury

$32,580

St Michaels Grammar

$32,535

(Incl tuition and levy fees)

Firbank

$32,085

Fintona

$30,340

(incl camps and excursions)

You'll love these offers.
Sport tickets, wine deals, exclusive competitions, free movies plus cut-price magazines and books. Heraldsun.com.au subscribers enjoy a great range of benefits. Click here to start browsing +Rewards and redeem today.