If you want your children to enjoy a top-notch private school education, sending them to the U.K. could be prudent.
While top American and British private education is costly for anyone, according to U.K.-based Abbey DLD Group of Colleges, independent schools in Great Britain are slightly more affordable. U.S. private schools range from $20,000 to $45,000 annually, while the U.K. equivalent ranges from £15,000 to £30,000 ($19,500 to $39,000).
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It’s not a perfect science as schools in more expensive areas in the Northeast and California are generally more expensive than elsewhere in the U.S, and those in and around London are pricier than other places in the UK. Elite British private schools like Eton or Harrow charge around £50,000 per year, the BBC says, although the average is around £15,000.
The reputation of a school can also be a big factor. The exchange rate between the pound and the dollar also plays a role. Recently, amid the economic tariff uncertainty and inflation, the dollar has dropped, meaning that earnings in pounds may give you more dollars than it once did. That is always liable to change, though.
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Soaring U.K. Private School Fees
Private school fees in the U.K. have soared by 22.6% in the last year, according to The Independent, bringing the average annual cost to over $22,000. The increase comes on the back of the government’s value added tax on private school fees of 20%, introduced on Jan. 1. However, U.S. private school tuition has also gone up, seeing the biggest increase of a decade, according to Bloomberg, with inflation partly to blame. Yearly fees at U.S. day schools are now $49,284, a 7.4 percent increase from last year.
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The BBC estimates that the additional tax levied on British private schools will generate £460 million in the 2024 to 2025 financial year, rising to £1. 7 billion by 2029 to 2030. Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves said “every single penny” will go to state schools, the BBC reports. This includes funding the recruitment of 6,500 new teachers in England. A legal case has been brought by parents of private school children, the outcome of which has not been decided.
Private School Education Is Increasingly Unaffordable For Many British Parents
The Private Education Policy Forum says that about 5% of British private school students are from overseas, with parents living in the U.K. The increase in school tuition, coupled with the increased cost of living in the U.K. has put a private school education increasingly out of reach for many British parents who no longer choose a private school based on name reputation or have decided not to board their children.
“In the past, you wouldn’t choose a school just because it was cheaper; you would go for what you felt was right for your family,” Harry Cobb, a director at the education consultants Bonas MacFarlane, told the Times of London. “But we have had calls from people looking outside of boarding now because they feel there is more value for money in day schools, despite having to pay for childcare or other costs.”
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Also, although the top British private schools have traditionally provided the nation’s most successful executives and politicians, exam results show that in core subjects, once socio-economic factors are accounted for, state school pupils have closed the gaps on their expensively educated fellow students
The Arts Have A Strong Tradition In Private Education
What might also appeal to American parents who are concerned about the more regimented curriculum that has pervaded the U.S. education system recently is that U.K. private schools, according to the Times, embrace the arts. Statistics show that top-selling musicians are six times more likely to have attended British private schools, while BAFTA-nominated actors have five times the probability of having done so.
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