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Private education is becoming “increasingly unaffordable” for the middle-classes following a four-fold rise in school fees in little over 20 years, according to a major study.
Parents in traditionally well-paid careers such as accountancy, law, finance and academia are now less likely to afford an independent education than plumbers were in the early 90s, it emerged.
In a report, it was claimed that the rise in school fees had outstripped wages by such an extent that private schools were increasingly becoming the preserve of super-rich foreigners.
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However, Janette Wallis, senior editor of the Guide, said schools were “increasingly aware that if they do not want to end up with their schools stripped of British children they need to rein in fee increases”.
2013, the number of pupils recruited from Russia increased by 27 per cent, while entrants from Nigeria were up 16 per cent and Chinese admissions grew by five per cent.
“The international market may be relatively immune to fee rises, but few British families are,” she said. “No school wants to end up as a finishing school for the super-rich.”
The Guide revealed evidence of schools going to extra lengths to ensure that British parents are not excluded from independent education for financial reasons, including some actually cutting fees.
It emerged that:
• Warminster School in Wiltshire has set up a scheme – primarily aimed at families living in London and the surrounding area – to provide weekly boarding. Under the programme, parents can receive a discount of up to £9,000 off annual £25,590 boarding fees for week night accommodation, with a travel service also being provided to and from the capital;
• Milton Abbey in Dorset has taken the unusual step of actually cutting its fees for day pupils by £6,000 a year from September, making them more appealing to families who live within commuting distance of the school;
• Large numbers of schools are charging higher fees to international students, including a number of institutions that only make scholarships available to children from British families.
Mrs Wallis said: “Schools are very conscious that it is the ‘English’ nature of the top traditional schools that most families from abroad want.
“British boarding may cease to be so attractive to overseas parents if there are no British families there to rub shoulders with.”
