SERVICE PARENTS' GUIDE TO BOARDING SCHOOLS • SPRING 2022 / PAYING THE FEES / 151
Fees
? “Parents are looking at a good education as an investment with a high potential long-term return.”
– where do they go? Parents contemplating school bills have often found them difficult to fathom. Increases in school fees have several causes. These include the salaries and employee benefits for academic and administrative staff. Schools must also maintain
Andrew Ashton Bursar, Radley College
buildings and facilities and absorb increases in the costs of books, materials and utilities. Even schools with endowments and trust fund investments have rarely found income
expand, to avoid affecting their character
Parents are looking at a good education
matching inflation.
and tradition. Schools that have changed
as an investment with a high potential
to co-education have tested their ability
long-term return. They place the highest
These are all survival factors, but schools
to cope with extra numbers and the
emphasis on academic results and
wish to maintain and improve standards.
changes which accompany them. Pupils
character education. Before choosing a
This means attracting bright children,
require provision for academic interests
school for their child they want to know if
good teachers and providing facilities
and recreational and social pursuits. Many
individual tutoring is available, the numbers
which answer the needs of the decade.
schools have maintained numbers by
of pupils per class, examination results,
At the same time most, but by no means
expanding their preparatory and pre-prep
positions in the various league tables, and
all, schools try to avoid the temptation to
intakes.
if teachers are easily accessible.
