‘The fee increases for 2024 represents a reset of our fee schedule’: GGS

Elite Geelong Grammar School has hiked its fees — with many families set to be slugged almost $85,000 a year — in a move it says is in response to increasing staff salaries and funding cuts.

Elite Geelong Grammar will charge $85,000 for full time boarding students next year.

Victoria’s most expensive private school has hiked its fees the biggest amount in years, with families set to be slugged almost $85,000 for full time boarding students.

The Herald Sun can reveal Geelong Grammar has increased its schools fees by eight per cent, with tuition next year costing $49,720 for years 10 to 12 non-boarding students at the Corio campus.

It will also cost $84,240 to send a year 9 full time boarding student to the school’s Timbertop Campus, while a year 7 to 8 day pupil at the Corio Campus will fork out $41,060.

The school has blamed the fee hikes on the “rising costs of staff salaries and other fixed expenses (and utilities), as well as a reduction in our government funding and changes to payroll tax exemptions”.

“Staff salaries represent more than 64 per cent of the school’s overall costs, while student services and utilities account for 16 per cent.

“After due diligence and deliberation, the (school) council recently ratified an eight per cent fee increase for 2024,” the letter said.

Geelong Grammar has upped its schools fees by eight per cent for next year.

The school added: “As we navigated our way through and beyond the Covid-19 pandemic, the school council showed restraint on the level of fee increases passed on to parents, with no increase in 2021.

“A modest increase of two per cent in 2022 and an increase of six per cent in 2023, which across this period kept fee increases below the average for non-government schools and below the Consumer Price Index.
“The fee increases for 2024 represents a reset of our fee schedule.”

During the pandemic, the school received more than $10m in Job Keeper payments – one of the highest handouts in the state.

Earlier this year, Geelong Grammar raised its fees by 5.4 per cent to $46,020 for year 12 day-boarding students for the 2023 school year.

It was the most dramatic increase in five years after the school froze fees for a year in 2021 at $41,792.

Jewish school Mount Scopus Memorial College also raised their fees to tip over the $40,000 mark – increasing from $38,960 in 2022 to $40,860 in 2023.

Other expensive private schools currently charging more than $38,000 for a Year 12 student include Lauriston, St Catherine’s, Scotch College and Melbourne Girls Grammar.

It comes as the state government announced the parameters for the controversial school payroll tax in June this year.

Education Minister Natalie Hutchins said at the time the exemption would instead be removed from just 60 schools.

Non-government schools with fees per student of more than $15,000 will be affected.

A total of 54 independent schools enrolling 63,123 students will be subject to the tax from July 1 next year.

Modelling by Independent Schools Victoria shows they will have to cough up a combined total of $78,543,093, averaging $1155 per student.

Geelong Grammar was contacted for comment.