Melbourne education costs among Australia’s highest, regardless of where student goes
Melbourne parents are battling some of the highest education costs in Australia — no matter where the student goes. This is how hard your child’s education is hitting your hip pocket.
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Melbourne parents are battling some of the highest education costs in Australia — no matter where the student goes — new research shows.
At $70,604, the cost of sending a child to public school for 13 years in Melbourne was 2.7 per cent higher than the national average, and the second-most costly behind Brisbane.
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Figures from the ASG Planning for Education Index and Monash University reveal a private education in Melbourne — costing $438,390 across a child’s 13-year school life — is almost 50 per cent above the national average.
In addition, regional Victoria has been named the most expensive place in the nation to send a child to a private school.
While the cost of private metro schooling in Victoria is second only to Sydney as the most expensive, regional Victoria is comparatively the most expensive in the nation for an independent education.
ASG chief executive Ross Higgins said regional Victoria had “a number of elite schools” while metro Melbourne had a strong concentration of private schools with students from abroad and interstate.
“They’re the most affluent schools in the country and have a long history,” he said.
Meanwhile, the cost of sending a child to public school in Melbourne ($70,604) was 2.7 per cent higher than the national average, and the second most costly behind Brisbane.
But a Catholic education in Melbourne will cost 4.3 per cent less than the national average, at $121,547.
The ASG study also found hidden fees hit public school parents’ hip pocket more than the cost of tuition.
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Parents of public high school students and private school students in Melbourne face extra costs of more than $4000 a year.
Uniforms, devices, camps and excursions add $4336 to a metro public secondary student’s fees — $112 more in added costs than their private school counterparts.
“For the hidden costs, people are caught unaware,” Mr Higgins said. “I think people with kids in government schools do think it’s a free education — they don’t understand the magnitude of what that may mean for two or three kids.”
Mr Higgins said education costs have risen at more than double the rate of inflation over the past decade.
ANNUAL COST OF SCHOOL IN VICTORIA
METRO
Public
■ Tuition: Primary $241 Secondary $892
■ Total: Primary $3746 Secondary $5228
Catholic
■ Tuition: Primary $1335 Secondary $7108
■ Total: Primary $4526 Secondary $10,154
Independent
■ Tuition: Primary $17,420 Secondary $26,475
■ Total: Primary $21,867 Secondary $30,699
REGIONAL
Public
■ Tuition: Primary $191 Secondary $322
■ Total: Primary $2846 Secondary $3192
Catholic
■ Tuition: Primary $1201 Secondary $4286
■ Total: Primary $3924 Secondary $6,890
Independent
■ Tuition: Primary $9318 Secondary $14,384
■ Total: Primary $12,302 Secondary $17,595
MEDIAN EDUCATION COSTS FOR A STUDENT STARTING IN 2019
■ METROPOLITAN VICTORIA
Public: $70,604
Catholic: $121,547
Independent: $438,390
■ REGIONAL VICTORIA
Public: $47,224
Catholic: $88,581
Independent: $248,543
■ METROPOLITAN AUSTRALIA
Public: $68,727
Catholic: $127,027
Independent: $298,689
■ REGIONAL AUSTRALIA
Public: $57,994
Catholic: $109,877
Independent: $201,210
— Estimates from the ASG Planning for Education Index developed in partnership with Monash University