Cost of education continues to rise above rate of inflation – ASG

19 January 2016

Yesterday, the Australian Scholarships Group released its Planning for Education Index, which provides parents of children born this year an indication of how much they will need to save for public, private and religious schooling.

From the research, the index has showed that families could soon spend more than half a million dollars on one child’s education, according to a national costs forecast.

The index, which measured the response of 12,500 families from across the country, calculated the costs based on location, school fees, transport, uniforms, computers, school excursions and sports.

The ASG, a BCCM member, found that while the price of fuel and school supplies were down on last year, school fees continued to rise at twice the rate of inflation. In some cases, parents with two or more children were already spending more than the purchase price of a family home on private school education.

The index showed that for children born in 2016 the estimated cost for a private education in Sydney was about $552,351, 18 per cent above the national metropolitan average ($468,397) and significantly more expensive than Melbourne ($512,283), Canberra ($431,538) and Hobart ($421,309).

Brisbane was the most affordable city, with a projected average cost of $360,044. ASG CEO John Velegrinis says the cost of education continued to rise at more than twice the rate of inflation over the past decade.

“Regardless of whether you send your children to a government, systemic or private school, the costs of that education will clearly increase which is why we advocate that parents start planning for education as early as possible, even from the moment their child is born. We’re very fortunate in Australia to have a variety of excellent government, systemic and private schools.

If you have two or three children, the cost of a private education could be higher than the purchase price of the family home. We advocate parents use a disciplined approach by putting a little bit away each week so they financially can afford their children’s educational goals and aspirations.”