The True Cost Of A Private School Education.

It’s important to start off by saying that we all have our own personal financial situations. It is also important to say that we all have a choice about what we want to spend our hard earned money on. And finally before I begin, it is important to say that this is not about judging anyone at all, it’s merely me sharing my opinions about a very important topic.

Private School Education…

All of our clients here at CMT have their own financial situations. Some talk to me about it and others don’t. Both are perfect. I speak very openly about my financial situation and others do not. There’s no right or wrong. We are free to choose!

I’ve been having many discussions with many of my clients in the last month or so about the cost of a private school education. Many of our clients are coming to the realisation that pretty soon they will need to choose the private school that they would like to send their children to. Up until this point it hasn’t been a reality for them and now it is.

It is important to note that I have personally been supporting children with their assessments for over 2 decades. This means that I have seen hundreds of journeys through a variety of different private schools. The good and the bad.

Everything in life is 50/50. Please don’t go thinking that it will all be sunshine and daisies. It won’t be.

There will be good aspects to a private school education.

There will be negative aspects to a private school education.

And when I talk about cost, I’m not just talking about financial costs either.

I’m talking about the time commitment that you will need to invest into your child’s education too. I’m talking about the emotional commitment too.

The average lifetime cost of a UK private school education ranges from £350,000 to over £535,000 per child for day schooling, and can exceed £440,000 to nearly £700,000 for boarding school, depending on location, age range, and recent 20% VAT changes on school fees.

Based on the ISC data, leading financial planning group Tilney estimates that for a child born this year (2026), whose parents intend for them to go to independent day schools from nursery at age 3, followed by prep school and then board at a senior school from age 11-18, the average total nominal cost of their education will be £534,702. This assumes an annual average school fee inflation rate of 3.7%.

To say that school fees represent a significant expense for many people who wish to give their child a private education is putting it lightly.

I personally believe that this is a substantial amount of money.

Ultimately it truly does come down to this as far as I’m concerned. Is it worth the nearly half a million pounds that you will be ultimately investing into your child to send them to a top private school?

If the answer for you is yes, go all in.

If the answer for you is not, find other solutions - there are many!

Drown out the noise. No one cares what Sarah Jane down the road is doing and what Karen thinks of your choices. Literally no one.

Choose your path. Choose the path for your child. And then be delighted with your choice. And if it’s not what you thought it would be, be prepared to pivot and make changes.

Will people judge you for what you choose to do? Oh, you’d better believe that they will.

Who on earth cares? Seriously though!

No one.