Rising school fees could put private education out of reach for more parents

Rising school fees could take private education out of financial reach for more parents, according to online investment and coaching platform Bestinvest.

Private education has long been considered a luxury afforded by the few, but for many middle-income earners sending a child to private school was still achievable with a careful savings and financial plan. The recently published annual census from the Independent Schools Council (ISC), however, indicates that fees are now on the rise once again at a time when the sector is also at risk of seeing its costs spiralling upwards. This could force many school heads to make difficult decisions around fees and in turn parents to make difficult decisions about how to educate their offspring.
 
Average private school fees increased by 3% in the 12 months to January 2022 (when the census was carried out) – the second lowest increase since 2000, according to the latest ISC report census – with the increase lower than inflation of 5.5% for the same period. As most private pupils attend day schools, the average day school fee has increased 3.1% to between £3,000 and £5,500 per term.
 
Despite the rising fees and the impact of Covid-19 on the sector, pupil numbers at independent schools rose to 544,316, up 2.2% from the 532,237 attending in 2021 – and surpassing the record high of 537,315 seen in 2020 before the pandemic struck.  
 
What is notable about the overall 3% rise in school fees, however, is the big change on the previous 12-month period when two-thirds of the schools completing the census either froze or reduced their fees to compensate parents during the COVID-19 lockdowns when pupils were forced to sign into lessons from home. As a result, fees only increased 1.1% in the 12 months to January 2021 – the lowest rise in average school fees since 1974 - with many schools either freezing or reducing fees. That was a welcome relief to parents as they faced the threat of job loss or a reduced income during pandemic closures.
 
Now a storm of financial challenges, many of which have become evident since the ISC census was carried out in January this year, are set to put the sector under more pressure.

Alice Haine, Personal Finance Analyst at Bestinvest, the online investment and coaching platform for private investors, said: “While the average rise in private school fees was 3% - the second lowest increase since the turn of the century, private schools are being hit by a storm of financial pressures in the wake of the pandemic, including rising energy, labour and catering bills as the cost-of-living crisis escalates, supply chain disruption persists and the fallout from the war in Ukraine takes hold.
 
“This will put school budgets under strain and leave heads with difficult decisions to make going forward. This includes whether to hike fees to ensure they can pay escalating bills and continue to deliver the quality education expected of a private school, or whether to strive to cut costs to keep fees affordable for parents who also might be struggling with financial pressures amid the quadruple hit of rising inflation, soaring energy bills, higher interest rates and increasing taxes.
 
“With the cost-of-living crisis taking hold and fees likely to rise further, I would not be surprised to see some parents who were planning a private education in the future to reconsider that decision in favour of a cost-free state education.  
 
“Sadly, for some parents with children already in the private system, the added blow of rising school fees when they are already grappling with higher household bills may force them to move their child to a cheaper independent school or pull them out of private education altogether. If this happens, it means a private education really will become an option only for the super-privileged, those with a robust financial plan in place or parents with generous grandparents willing to contribute to the costs.”  

“Attending a private school comes with a hefty price tag. The average annual term fee for a senior day pupil now varies from £3,000 to £5,500 per term depending on which stage of the education your child is at.

The fee at a junior day school for example is £4,827 per term, versus £5,625 in the sixth form. If the same child was a day pupil at a boarding school, the fees would be £5,495 at a junior school and £7,684 in the sixth form.

While the average boarding fee is £12,344 per term, at the most prestigious public schools, parents are expected to shell out over £40,000 per year. This means that the cost of sending a child to a private boarding school for their secondary school education could easily be well in excess of an eye-watering £280,000 for a seven-year stint once you factor in all the extras that come with a private education such as uniform, trips, clubs, sports kit, charity donations and gifts for teachers.