School Fee Plan: How lockdown has increased demand for places at independent schools

The Independent school sector doesn’t miss a beat when it comes to educating the leaders of tomorrow. Whether these students come from affluent backgrounds or are singularly exceptional academically; providing children with the right tools can and will help them especially during these tumultuous times.

A recent article published in IE Today featured research commissioned from MTM on how parents of state school children are looking to make the financial commitment to send them to an independent school (read the full article here), this is reflective of our findings from the hundreds of schools we work with atSchool Fee Plan (SFP).  Our team have seen an extraordinary surge in enquiries from parents of state school pupils, demonstrating that the desire to provide your child with the best possible education is a given but the key to making this a reality, is to help parents bridge that financial gap in the switch to an independent school. 

Many will note that independent school fees have risen ahead of the average salary over the last 10 years; as such finding the money to pay school fees has been more difficult for many households. With the levels of means-tested bursaries now exceeding £1bn, schools are working extremely hard to support this transition.  Hand in hand with this, a simple monthly payment option goes a long way to helping families manage this new and potentially unbudgeted cost. 

School Fee Plan provides parents with the option to pay school fees and extras in monthly instalments, just as they do with their mortgages or any other high-value expense. At the schools we work with, registrars and admissions teams are including information on School Fee Plan at open days and with the prospectus so that parents are aware of a monthly instalment option at the outset. Schools themselves benefit from receiving fees from us in full at the outset of each term and don’t have to manage a monthly payment option in-house.  This aids cash flow, helps with annual budgeting and removes a layer of administration keeping costs as low as possible.

One of our parents couldn’t have said it better, “Without your assistance my son couldn’t have continued in private school because I could not have been able to afford the termly fees in a lump sum. I used to pay every term in his previous school but then money was not as tight as now.”

To find out more about how SFP can support you please speak to our team of experts on: 0330 123 9720 or you can email our team: sfp@pcl.co.uk