One in five NSW private schools freeze fees for 2021

One in five NSW private schools have not raised their fees while others reduced their usual price hike this year, leading to the lowest inflation rate for private school tuition in more than a decade.

The state's independent schools raised their fees by 1.74 per cent on average in 2021, down from 3 per cent last year, as they try to provide relief to families and keep enrolments amid the economic downturn and coronavirus pandemic.

But NSW has also become home to the most high-fee private schools in Australia, overtaking Victoria where the cost of tuition has stagnated due to the state's prolonged lockdown.

An analysis of fees at 400 Australian private schools, including 93 in NSW, by education lender Edstart showed fees rose an average 1.05 per cent this year, down from 2.83 per cent last year and 3.2 per cent in 2018.

Edstart chief executive Jack Stevens said the pandemic and its impact on the economy had accelerated an existing decline in the school fee inflation rate, as some tried to help families whose finances had been impacted.

"This has been the lowest fee increase for some of these schools in a decade," he said. Most of Sydney's high-fee independent schools increased fees by between 3.5 and 4 per cent last year; total fees have surged more than 30 per cent since 2013.

SCEGGS Darlinghurst kept to a 3.5 per cent fee increase this year and was Sydney's most expensive school. It cited salary costs, COVID-19 cleaning protocols and a pause on fundraising as its reasons for charging more than $41,000 for year 12. Kincoppal-Rose Bay also raised fees by 3.5 per cent and will charge $32,664 this year.

But The King's School in Parramatta, which has been the second-most expensive school, kept its cost of $38,284 for tuition plus $1080 in technology levies for year 12.

It was among 20 per cent of the state's private schools to freeze their fees compared with 7 per cent last year, according to Edstart.

Knox, Newington, St Joseph's College, Redlands, Roseville and Cranbrook also retained their 2020 fees. King's and St Joseph's, which house international boarding students, had qualified for the government's JobKeeper wage subsidy after hits to their revenue of 30 per cent or more due to the downturn.

Cranbrook headmaster Nicholas Sampson said his school, which has some of the steepest fees at $38,862, was aware that COVID-19 had an impact on many of its families.

Cranbrook headmaster Nicholas Sampson said his school, which has some of the steepest fees at $38,862, was aware that COVID-19 had an impact on many of its families.Credit: James Brickwood

"[We] are committed to offering support as best we can to ensure that both the school and our community emerge from this extraordinary period in robust health," he said. "It is in this context that the school has decided not to increase school fees in 2021."

But most high-fee private schools opted to incorporate smaller increases. The Scots College in Bellevue Hill has overtaken King's, raising its fees by 1.9 per cent to charge $39,930 for tuition.

Trinity Grammar School, MLC Burwood, Reddam and PLC Sydney raised fees by between 2 and 3 per cent.

Trinity headmaster Tim Bowden said his school had responded to the economic pressures of the pandemic early and provided a fee rebate to all parents in April.

"That rebate effectively froze or reduced fees compared to 2019. In 2021, we continue to be sensitive to the financial pressures on families," he said. "The school’s 2021 fee increase [is] the smallest it has been in decades."

St Andrew's Cathedral School raised fees by 1.9 per cent, Pymble Ladies College by 1.8 per cent and Ravenswood School for Girls by 1.5 per cent.

Fees for Ascham, Kambala, Shore and Sydney Grammar School, which are also among the state's most expensive schools, were not publicly available.

Some mid to low fee private schools - those that charge less than $30,000 - reduced their fees to provide relief to families. Tangara School for Girls and Redfield College, both run by Opus Dei, dropped fees by 6.84 per cent to $17,300.

Head of the NSW Parents' Council, Rose Cantali, said she thought schools had been cautious about increasing fees out of fear they might lose enrolments.

"We've had a lot of families who have decided to take their children out of private schools and put them in public schools, because they hadn't been able to afford school fees. Especially people in hospitality or who had their own businesses [and had to close them]," she said.

"Parents have been very grateful there hasn't been so much of an increase; sometimes it could be that extra thousand dollars in a year that could cause them to remove [their children] from that school. It would make a difference to them."

But the fee freeze was most pronounced in Victoria, where almost half of schools surveyed (46 per cent) did not raise costs. Six per cent of Victorian schools lowered their 2021 fees, contributing to an average hike of just 0.4 per cent across the state.

"This [has] led to a drop in the number of Victorian schools making up the list of the most expensive schools in the nation, with NSW overtaking Victoria in the number of schools making the highest fee ranking," Mr Stevens said.

NSW now accounts for 51 per cent of the most expensive private schools in the country; last year its schools made up 39 per cent of that list.

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