Private school enrolments usually reflect broader economic movements, but the pandemic experience has changed the ball game.
Private school parents are extending the length of their mortgages and are turning in increasing numbers to dedicated education funding groups to stay on top of “eye popping” school fees as cost of living pressures rise.
“There’s definitely a trend towards grandparents helping out with school fees which is accelerating, but we’ve also seen an increase in the inquiries for lending assistance next year,” Futurity Investment Group chief executive Kate Hill told“COVID made parents really look at their kids’ education when they were learning from home, but now people are really feeling the pain of inflation and rates increasing, and that’s flowing into more inquiries.
Parents with children in private schools emerged from the lockdowns even more convinced of the schools’ value proposition, she said, and are more determined to keep their child in school even as interest rates rise and the burden of school fees becomes tougher to shoulder. Jack Stevens – who heads Sydney-based education finance outfit EdStart – said that demand for private school places usually tracks the broader economy, with parents enrolling when money is cheap and pulling back when interest rates rise.
But neither Mr Stevens nor Ms Hill expects enrolments to fall as the cost of living goes up, with both describing education as a “sticky” commodity, which means parents will make other sacrifices before changing schools.“It’s the last thing parents will give up,” Ms Hill said. ”And we have parents who are looking how long the credit squeeze will last, asking themselves, ‘Realistically, how long will we be under this amount of pressure? We’ll just have to work through it’.
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