Melbourne worst for school costs

MELBOURNE has been named Australia’s most expensive city for government education.

It costs almost $9000 more for a public education in the nation’s most liveable city than the national average, and $33,525 more than in Hobart, new research reveals.

Research from the ASG Planning for Education Index predicts Melbourne parents could spend $75,263 for a government education for a child born in 2018 — 13 per cent above the national metropolitan average.

Private education in Melbourne was also among the most costly, at $536,683 and second only to Sydney. However, faith-based education was among the cheapest in both metropolitan ($223,318) and regional ($163,583) Victoria.

And costs reduced dramatically in Victoria’s regional areas — forecasted costs were $51,899 for public school, though that was 2 per cent more expensive than the Aus- tralian regional average.

The annual research was based on 13,500 responses nationwide and included school fees as well as fees from extracurricular activities, computers, travel, uniforms, excursions and camps.

School fees were found to be the major cost expense. ASG found estimated costs had skyrocketed across Australia in the past decade, up by 23 per cent in public schools, 54 per cent in faith-based schools and 61 per cent in private schools.