Prep school fees

Independent Schools as an alternative to Grammar

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Waiting_For_Godot
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Joined: Thu Aug 19, 2010 1:57 pm

Prep school fees

Post by Waiting_For_Godot »

I have started to notice recently that prep school fees, particularly boarding preps, have fees that are not that far off the senior schools that they feed to and yet their facilities, extra curric and other opportunities seem substandard in comparison to the independent schools. Of course they are not substandard but they don't have CCF, 25 metre swimming pools, vast land, numerous societies, similarly educated teachers, the list could go on! There are also a large number of preps thats day fee is higher than the day fee of St Pauls and they are not even in London!

I just wonder if this can be sustained or if parents, who pay full fees, will wake up to this. In some ways the Military bursary may have helped these schools to set such fees but I know many families who are losing this bursary.
mike1880
Posts: 2563
Joined: Sat Sep 27, 2008 10:51 pm

Re: Prep school fees

Post by mike1880 »

I noticed the same thing. I think it's probably because prep schools don't usually have the backing of substantial endowments that most senior schools have, so you literally get what you pay for, rather than what the benefactors of previous generations have paid for.

Mike
hermanmunster
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Joined: Fri Sep 15, 2006 9:51 am
Location: The Seaside

Re: Prep school fees

Post by hermanmunster »

Agreed could become a problem, particularly as a lot of people plan rather more for senior while assuming that they are paying for prep / primary level out of income.

There is one locally, I have just checked on the fees and did a double take :? !! They really have gone up - probably about 50% since I looked at it in 2004. It has fab grounds and facilities but these are what costs huge amounts to keep going.

I actually ended up using another prep, without the swimming pool and sports fields and acres of land - just checked the fees there and they are now 2k a term less than school (1) :shock: ....
doingmybest
Posts: 76
Joined: Fri Jan 28, 2011 3:53 pm

Re: Prep school fees

Post by doingmybest »

DS has offers at a couple of London Indy and whilst flicking around their websites I was shocked when I saw what their prep school fees are. KCS are charging £15.5k p.a, Collet Court a bargain at just under £15k.the senior schools are only about £1.5k more. DS's prep school is £10k, his school has swimming pool, theatre etc, but the games fields are rented and off site and the boys are bused out 2 afternoon a week. When you take into account the amount of "away" fixtures for sport this has never been a problem, and is a small inconvenience for £5.5k a year! I am going shopping!!
Waiting_For_Godot
Posts: 1446
Joined: Thu Aug 19, 2010 1:57 pm

Re: Prep school fees

Post by Waiting_For_Godot »

I think if I was to ever do it again with regards to prep school I wouldn't really bother about the big swimming pool because the lessons are never as good as private ones, the Saturday school (bain of my life) and the late finishes - that immediately saves £6k a year! Sports fields don't need to be massive but of good quality so the usual team games can go on. Still, we were fortunate with bursaries and then scholarships so we have not really felt the full impact of these fees.

Lol at doingmybest!
hermanmunster
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Joined: Fri Sep 15, 2006 9:51 am
Location: The Seaside

Re: Prep school fees

Post by hermanmunster »

Quite a few schools are discovering that running a swimming pool is too expensive so now hire local ones and bus the kids there.
sherry_d
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Joined: Tue Sep 01, 2009 4:38 pm
Location: Maidstone

Re: Prep school fees

Post by sherry_d »

I think its the prep day fees here that I found to be expensive around £4500 a term but I thought boarding prep fees were much more "reasonable" compared to senior schools. Prep boarding fees are around £6000 compared to £9000+ a term for senior schools. In my neck of woods I couldn't even find any day prep for less than £4K per term.

Whats CCF WFG?
Impossible is Nothing.
doingmybest
Posts: 76
Joined: Fri Jan 28, 2011 3:53 pm

Re: Prep school fees

Post by doingmybest »

Alternatively many schools are renting their facilities out to the public out of school hours to subsidise the running costs.
I was shocked at the Charterhouse open day to see that they have turned their sports facilities into "The Charterhouse Club" which is basically a David LLoyd type club with members having access all of the time. They obviously block off the pool and sports hall for their own scheduled activities but the public see a good more of these facilities than the boys do. When we arrived so was a huge party of children for a 7 year olds birthday party, it felt as exclusive as our local leisure centre.
All this for a bargain price of £30k per year!
Waiting_For_Godot
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Joined: Thu Aug 19, 2010 1:57 pm

Re: Prep school fees

Post by Waiting_For_Godot »

Boarding fees round our end are £7500+ for prep and these fees have had minute increases over the last few years and are struggling to balance the books! :shock:

Combined Cadet Force i.e. military training. Eton sent in an apache, they have a cavalry, RAF boys get pilots license etc. They also have famous ambassadors, scientists, sportsmen, UN secretaries speak in the past on a weekly basis. It has an observatory, Olympic rowing lake, beagles :lol: ! This is not an Eton boast as these facilities can be found in many schools, but for a couple of grand more it seems to offer much more value What does a prep school offer to justify it's huge fees. :?
sherry_d
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Joined: Tue Sep 01, 2009 4:38 pm
Location: Maidstone

Re: Prep school fees

Post by sherry_d »

doingmybest wrote:they have turned their sports facilities into "The Charterhouse Club" which is basically a David LLoyd type club with members having access all of the time.
Same at Kings Canterbury, they even have a website to market themselves like David Lloyds http://www.kingsrecreation.co.uk/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I thought CCF was only at schools like Gordonstoun :?
Waiting_For_Godot wrote:What does a prep school offer to justify it's huge fees. :?
13+ Common Entrance into Eton :lol:
Impossible is Nothing.
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