‘Mates rates’ fee war erupts between Ballarat private schools

Alarmed at declining enrolments, St Patrick’s College in Ballarat has been offering slashed fees to parents to lure them away from a rival school just up the road— provoking outrage.

St Patricks College Ballarat is trying to lure students back. Picture: Rob Leeson

Putting the squeeze on Victoria’s movers, shakers and headline makers.

A “mates rates” tuition war has erupted at a private school hotspot.

Families who’ve entrusted generations of their male offspring to the kindly staff at St Patrick’s College in Ballarat are unhappy that generous fee reductions are being offered to less loyal families.

Alarmed at declining enrolments – a drop of 100 students in the past five years – St Pat’s staff have been approaching parents who took a spot at Damascus College up the road for year seven 2024.

The Damascus deserters have been given 25 per cent off the fees at St Pat’s in order to lure them back. That’s a saving of more than $1500 on a $7000 annual fee and neatly ensures St Pat’s becomes more affordable than Damascus.

The road to Damascus could be getting a lot busier, you could say.

The move has been dubbed a “self-inflicted public relations nightmare” by one commentator who’s got the good sense to stay anonymous. It’s not good timing, coming amid a six per cent fee increase at St Pat’s for next year.

The Damascus deserters have been offered 25 per cent off the fees at St Patrick’s College.

While such schools are generous in helping Catholic families in genuine hardship, “cherry-picking kids who’ve gone elsewhere and offering them discounts to shore up enrolments is unheard of,” another source said.

Funnily enough, Damascus College, which is run by the local Ballarat Catholic Diocese, has had an increase of 100 students over the past five years.

St Pat’s is run by Edmund Rice Education Australia (EREA), also known as the Christian Brothers, who are well known to followers of the Child Sex Abuse Royal Commission.

The fee offer comes as St Patrick’s is about to lose some highly regarded senior staff to Damascus College next year, with some objecting to the leadership style of principal Steven O’Connor.

O’Connor responded to the fee deal rumours, confirming that the school “reached out and followed up with a small number of people who had declined offers of enrolment for 2024 to enquire about their financial circumstance and if that was the reason they were unable to enrol”.

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