Private schools (hidden extra fees)

Ger1966 said:
Hi Anntionette, I get where you're coming from about putting them into primary school in 2nd or 3rd class in order to secure a place in secondary by default. Does the secondary school have a "siblings" rule i.e. if a child already has a brother / sister in the school then he/she will automatically get a place?

If so, would you consider just sending child #1 to the primary school in order to get them into the "secondary system" and then use the sibling rule to secure a place for child #2? It could save you ~€24K (assuming you were planning to send child #2 from 3rd class @ €6K per year). I know this might be seen as treating your kids differently, but if your main reason for doing this is just to secure a place in the secondary school, why would you pay on the double to achieve it?

My last child is nearly finished secondary school, but I must admit that my wife and I found it a struggle to put our 3 kids through private school, so I'd urge you to think long and hard about this. See this thread for more info:

Got a credit union loan to finance secondary and college fees, after remortgage refused

I have amended the title to reflect the outcome - Brendan Age: 48 Spouse age: 49 Annual gross income from employment or profession: €47K Annual gross income of spouse: €38K Type of employment self - Private Sector IT Type of employment spouse - Public Sector Rough value of home: €850000...
askaboutmoney.com
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Thanks Ger, thats an idea i'd not thought of and a good one.

I also read your attached thread on your struggle to put a financial plan in place to pay all the different fees. Its an eye opener when you see the road ahead and theres more then 1 child to consider and someone loses their job or other financial hardship rears its head. Its a long term commitment when you start on this road. I hadn't considered that. well done tho you'r on the home stretch now!
 
Thanks Anntionette.

I'm not really on the home stretch yet .... there's still 3rd level to fund, but that's cheaper than 2nd level.

As an aside, I sometimes ask myself "Was it worth it?" and I can't honestly say it was. I can't help but think that my pension fund would be a lot bigger if I didn't have to pay secondary school fees. Without doubt, our kids have made lovely friends, but I'm sure they'd have met equally as nice kids irrespective of the school they went to. Are they "academically smarter" as a result of their time in a private secondary school? I don't know! At the end of the day, when the examiner is marking their Leaving Cert paper he/she doesn't know whether the student went to a €6K per year school or a public school. They're marked on the answers that they submit and not on the "school tie" they're wearing .... and that's a good thing.
 
Interesting that your fil mentioned that they made the choice between private school and a potential second property. This is what's in my mind. Having rented for years while deciding where to settle, I'm of the belief that while my parents sacrificed for our third level, that for my kids a property or a large contribution to one will be required. I want them to have the choice at least to stay in Dublin. So I'd make the opposite choice of allocation of our income at the moment. Knowing that friends can be made at 3rd level too, and that if you're the type of person who can leverage contacts then you will do that anyway. Also in the knowledge that one of my children will probably want to work in a not very well paid field. It's a minefield!
 
I recently went to a Boot Camp held in St Mary's Rathmines for a few months and was surprised at how grubby the changing rooms and facilities were given the cost of going to school there. I suppose that's teenage boys and keeping the place in decent nick would be tricky but it was in worse nick than my own ordinary secondary school.
Having gone to that ordinary school I don't think too much of the old school tie helping you out with contacts, maybe it will but it won't keep you in a job if you're not up to it, maybe back in the day but not now.
Depending on where you live, Templeogue or Coláiste Éanna (my old school) might be better bets, no idea what Synge Street is like now.
Nothing I've heard about St Marys would indicate it's any better than Terenure or High School which I presume would be at similar cost levels, or Gonzaga, Michaels, St Andrews which presumably would be more - though I'm totally out of touch.
Where do you live?
 
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