Private Education on average income? Anyone else?

MrsE_2

ViolaLass wrote: »

I've just checked and my sixth form school now charges £9900 a year, which is a bit of a leap since I left which wasn't that long ago. I totally appreciate your point about being able to afford it for more than one child though. My parents did it for four children but they had help from my grandmother and in retrospect, I can see that we lived very frugally. As a musician, who benefitted enormously from being in private education from the age of 11, I am very grateful to them. It would have been difficult to find the same opportunities in a state school.

It's worth adding that I was able to get a 50% scholarship and free music lessons thanks to my abilities so my dad got something (financially) out of it too.
.

So you're school was todays equivalent of just under 10k a year & there was 4 of you. You got a 50% scholarship, so your parents education bill was around 35k per year & thats without extras & uniform & you don't think its for wealthy people.

Like I said, a different world;)

lostinrates

MrsE wrote: »

So you're school was todays equivalent of just under 10k a year & there was 4 of you. You got a 50% scholarship, so your parents education bill was around 35k per year & thats without extras & uniform & you don't think its for wealthy people.

Like I said, a different world;)

There are, or were, sort of insurance policies many parents of multiple children take out when their children are young, which they pay into for fees, this spreads the cost of fees for multiple child families further, from the birth of the child probably til the retirement of the parent. My best friend's parents had one of these policies, which is the only way I've ever heard of it, but I understood from her parents it was not uncommon in such situations. I don't know what they are called Additionally, subsequent children often get a discount for the same school. Not a huge amount, but enough to help.

edit: I suppose this sort of thing....
http://www.schoolfeesadvice.co.uk/spreadcost/index.htm

ViolaLass

MrsE wrote: »

So you're school was todays equivalent of just under 10k a year & there was 4 of you. You got a 50% scholarship, so your parents education bill was around 35k per year & thats without extras & uniform & you don't think its for wealthy people.

Like I said, a different world;)

Not quite right. When I was in sixth form, my siblings had long left home. We're quite spread out age wise and the other schools were cheaper. Also, the school costs £10k a year now. It didn't when I was there - it has grown by more than inflation.

But, to be honest, I think you've decided we were wealthy and that that means that I can't possibly know that there were not so wealthy people at my school, and shall withdraw.

MrsE_2

ViolaLass wrote: »

Not quite right. When I was in sixth form, my siblings had long left home. We're quite spread out age wise and the other schools were cheaper. Also, the school costs £10k a year now. It didn't when I was there - it has grown by more than inflation.

But, to be honest, I think you've decided we were wealthy and shall withdraw.

With four children in private education there is now way on earth they went one after the other, they would all have to be born 13 years apart. Times 4, that just isn't possible;)

Private education is for higher income familes. Its not something you can afford on minimum wage or average income.

lostinrates

MrsE wrote: »

Its not something you can afford on minimum wage or average income.

Agree that its not something people can afford at full price on minimum income. For some there are options.

The other poster said she went at 11, so 11-18 is 7 years. could have been 5..till sixth form. Easily possible, though unusual to go one after the other in that time frame.

I'm withdrawing too. Hope OP finds a god solution for her child.

Person_one

cheepskate wrote: »

You dont need money to do things with the kids , but i think we tend to think we have to.

I spent a day and all of about £2 going with son to see what hills were locally so we could sledge down, he had great fun.
Just in Oct there we went to Disneyland and spent at least £5000 in total, and he hated it , all he wanted to do was sit in the pool with any kid that was there


(QUOTE) believes in supporting a system that contributes to massive inequality and who deny their children the full range of social experiences that come with attending a state school.

Had to laugh at this one,

(QUOTE)That education is a privilege for those who can afford it rather than a basic human right for everybody?

Education is free, Loads of people on here saying mainstream education is good and how well they did and at times better than independant schools, so where's the problem.

Why did you have to laugh? Learning to be around all sorts of different people from different backgrounds is a great experience.

Where's the problem? Well private schools (and faith schools) often cream off the most able pupils and the most committed parents, if every child just went to their nearest state school they would almost certainly be better. Privately educated children still take up far more university places (especially at Oxbridge and the other 'top' ones) proportionally than state pupils, are they all so much more intelligent or did they get an unfair leg up? Every child should have an equal chance in life. Its probably never going to happen and education certainly isn't the only thing that causes unfairness, but it doesn't mean we have to put up with that.

To the poster who claimed that all parents would give up their principles when it comes to their own children, this is not true. There are plenty of parents who believe so strongly in educational equality that they send their children to comps despite being able to afford any school they want. Paul McCartney springs to my mind! Plenty of well off people don't opt for private healthcare either, because it undermines the NHS which they strongly believe in.

Lunar_Eclipse

MrsE wrote: »

Private education is for higher income familes. Its not something you can afford on minimum wage or average income.

True. But in my opinion, and I appreciate it is completely subjective, higher income does not mean wealthy.

A family of four earning 100k with four children in private education would be living very frugally. Most people would assume they couldn't afford it, even for two children on that salary, others lead a different lifestyle to do so.

I know a family with a below average income with children in private school. They are bright and the education is fully funded (scholarships & bursaries) by the schools. They are by no means wealthy; they have three children and live in a two bedroom terraced house.

Lunar_Eclipse

Person_one wrote: »

Learning to be around all sorts of different people from different backgrounds is a great experience.

Every child should have an equal chance in life.

I totally agree with you. Yet at the same time, I know it's an idealistic view and impossible when considering the world as a whole.

Additionally, whilst it's an invaluable skill to be able to connect with people from all walks of life, I'm not convinced this is something that is dependent on whether or not you pay school fees! It's all a trade off when you're choosing a school for your child/ren. (And yes, I know some parents don't give it a seconds thought and thus don't 'choose' one, but that's a separate debate imo) There is no such thing as a perfect school that has it all. So as parents, the best we can do is choose the closest fit, be them private or state options, depending on budget and other factors. The mix of people at particular schools is not something on my priority list, unless they all look well presented and happy or scruffy and depressed, in which case it does! So happiness and self esteem of the children is paramount, followed by the location and provision from the school, quality of teaching, general ethos, sport and art facilities etc.

Finally, I know there are parents who stick to their principles, but children of people like Paul McCartney have already had the biggest possible leg up in life simply by nature of who they were born to. Many have said he was cruel sending them to their local school, because it was probably the most normal (alieneven?) aspect of their whole life, or draining public resources unnecessarily. I also think it makes a great deal of difference which their local school was. But I do understand the point you were making.

money_honey

OP, just in my opinion it seems very unfair that one of your children should get the opportunity to go to private school and the other two won't. They will end up resenting her and probably you for it. This is exactly what happened to a friend of mine who went to private school and her two younger brothers did not as her parents felt they couldn't afford it - they are now adults and none of the family are close at all. My friend is a doctor and her brothers see her as 'too good' for the rest of the family. There is no way I would ever just send one of my children to private school. It would be all, or none.

But as I said, that's just my opinion. Your family may not be the resenting type and no-one will mind her going to private school. Good luck with whatever you decide.

kegg_2

Paul McCartney did opt to send his children to state schools but then he wasn't living in a run down area with a failing schools but on his large Peasmarsh Estate. Stella went to Bexhill college where 98% of students pass A levels. It is easy to have principles when you haver money to buy a house in the area of the best state schools. Paul himself passed his 11 plus and went to grammar school so he might want to display himself as working boy made good but he had access to an education that many dont as well.
Funny now that Stella has choosen private education for her own children.