By Lucy Carroll
Parents who send their children to private schools in Sydney’s inner west, east and south have been hit with the sharpest rises in fees this year, an analysis of tuition costs at almost 200 NSW schools has shown.
NSW is home to nine of the 10 most expensive schools in Australia, with the median fee at non-government schools in Sydney’s east rising to $42,000, more than seven times the median fee at schools in the city’s west and south-west.
Education finance firm Edstart said its analysis highlighted a clear geographic divide in average school fee hikes between Sydney’s eastern and western suburbs.
Parents at schools in the east, inner west, north and south will pay almost 9 per cent more on average for tuition this year, while families in the west, south-west and north-west will pay about 5.6 per cent more.
After this year’s price increases, north shore and northern beaches private schools will charge a median of $30,024 for year 12, eastern suburbs schools will charge $42,003, while schools in Sydney’s south-west will charge a median of $5780.
Victoria’s Geelong Grammar tops the list as the country’s most expensive school for year 12, with fees exceeding the $50,000 mark for the first time, followed by Sydney all-girls school Kambala with fees at $49,825 for the final year (the school charges $51,385 for years 9 and 10). NSW claims all other spots in the nation’s top 10 most expensive schools.
The median fee at non-government schools Sydney’s east has risen to $42,000.Credit: Arsineh Houspian
Association of Independent Schools of NSW chief executive Margery Evans said demand for places in the state’s private schools had grown strongly over five years, with preliminary data showing private school enrolments grew by at least 7000 students in 2023, taking the sector’s total above 235,000.
“Many independent schools have long waiting lists because enrolment caps limit the number of students they are allowed to enrol,” she said. Private school principals have previously pushed to have their caps increased, saying restrictive limits are creating massive enrolment pressures.
The Edstart report, which analysed fees at 197 independent and Catholic schools in NSW, shows the median charge was $11,194 for year 12, with an overall rise of 6.84 per cent across NSW.
Evans said the “Capacity to Contribute” (CTC) scores, the metric that calculates how much parents can afford by tracking their taxable income, was one reason for the increases and differences in fees.
“More than 70 NSW schools are dealing with a CTC-related cut in their government funding in 2024 – many by well over 4 per cent,” she said.
“Some western Sydney schools educating children from lower-income households have been assigned a lower CTC score for 2024 and will have a slight increase in their government funding, lessening their need to increase fees.”
NSW Parents’ Council president Rose Cantali said many families were struggling with cost-of-living pressures and were “concerned about the future, and if they will be able to afford to keep their children at their current schools.
“Some are considering if they will have to switch schools; families are also questioning the fees and if they are getting value for money,” Cantali said.
Increases were most prominent in the north, where high-fee schools such as Barker College and Knox Grammar lifted fees more than 8 per cent to more than $40,000, while the mid-range St Pius X College grew by almost 9 per cent to $14,272.
In the inner west, MLC lifted fees by 8.5 per cent to $39,648.00, while Rosebank College lifted fees by 13 per cent to $13,710.
Sydney’s south-west and west are home to the most affordable non-government schools, where the median fee hikes for 2024 are between 5 and 5.5 per cent. Penola Catholic College Emu Plains lifted fees by 1.5 per cent to $5976, while Patrician Brothers’ College Blacktown fees rose 3.5 per cent to $6819. Our Lady of Mercy College in Parramatta lifted fees about 6 per cent to $16,185.
Edstart chief executive officer Jack Stevens said many schools were grappling with a dramatic increase in operational costs, with salaries and wages typically making up 70 per cent of a school’s cost base.
“Insurance in some cases has increased by 30 to 50 per cent and construction costs in some instances have increased more than 25 per cent,” Stevens said.
“The vast majority of private schools are priced in the range of $5000 to $10,000. Fee increases for these schools in many cases are in line with or below CPI which will therefore provide great relief to the majority of households.”
Former King’s School headmaster Tim Hawkes said there had long been “regional discrepancies in fee increases”, and price hikes at high-fee institutions were largely due to government funding cuts and rising teacher salaries.
“Other discrepancies in fee increases arise due to differences in state funding and differences in community expectations. Many parents are prepared to make huge sacrifices to secure a good education for their children – so quality schools will always thrive, with many still having significant waiting lists.”
A Herald analysis of fees at Sydney’s most expensive schools revealed this year’s price hikes were largely attributed to rising operational costs and higher staff and teacher salaries.
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