£500,000 bill for a boarding school education

‘Middle-class families have been priced out’

SENDING a child to boarding school from the ages of seven to 18 now costs up to half a million pounds, a study shows.

Boarding fees have seen an average annual rise of 4 per cent for each of the last five years, according to research from the Good Schools Guide.

The national average of 11 years at a boarding school is currently £415,000 – compared with £340,000 in 2013, says the study. And the bill for sending a child to one of the country’s most expensive establishments has now hit £500,000.

Increasingly, many schools are catering for excessively wealthy families from Russia, China and the Middle East, where a British public school education is highly prized.

Some experts have said this shift has contributed to the fee rises, since these families have vast wealth and are willing to pay almost anything. They also expect top-of-the-range facilities, which must be paid for by schools through the fees.

But it means aspirational middle class families who may have sent their children to boarding school in the past are now priced out. Despite the fee increases being much higher than the rate of inflation, many within the industry expect fees to rise at a similar level in the years to come.

Beth Noakes, editor of the The Good Schools Guide – Boarding Schools, said: ‘The outlay for a boarding school education would buy a small castle in some parts of the country.

‘There can be no doubt that many middle-class families, who once would have considered boarding, have now been priced out.’

Schools in London and the Home Counties tend to be more expensive but it is possible to experience a board for much less, with the cheapest schools costing a total of around £222,000.

At any boarding school, parents should expect to pay for uniform, sports kit, music tuition and school trips as well as the fees.

However, the research found that some schools are offering reduced fees to guarantee they continue to get middle class English children – while some even give away fully-funded places to outstanding pupils.