Private schools offering hefty fee discounts for 2022

Some of SA’s top private schools have slashed fees for next year by up to 20% in a bid to stop dwindling pupil enrolment.

St Martin’s School and Sacred Heart College, both in Johannesburg, are among those offering the hefty fee discounts.

The Independent Schools Association of Southern Africa (Isasa), which represents 879 schools, among them Hilton College, Michaelhouse and Kearsney, said some schools were struggling to fill places in certain grades.

Isasa executive director Lebogang Montjane told member schools this month that the independent schooling sector “could be facing a time of low to zero growth and a possible over supply of independent schools in certain areas”.

While some private schools have reduced fees, others have kept theirs at just above the 4.1% education inflation rate.

While some private schools have reduced fees, others have kept theirs at just above the 4.1% education inflation rate.

Next year’s fee increases at private schools include:

• Roedean (R176,204 a year for grades 10 to 12): 5%;
• St John’s College (R179,933 for grades 8 to 12): 4.5%;
• De la Salle Holy Cross College (R102,800 for grade 12): 4%;  and
• Epworth School (R134,028 for grade 12): 4.3%.

One school that opted to freeze fee hikes for grades 8 to 12 next year is Kingswood College in Makhanda (Grahamstown). The fee for grades 8 and 9 is R134,445 and R143,715 for grades 10 to 12.

St Martin’s School reduced its fees for pupils attending grades 000 to grade 7, but left those for grades 8 to 12 unchanged. The grade 7 fee was decreased by R23,515 (from R117,585 to R94,070) while grade 5 and 6 pupils will have their fees discounted by R22,231 to pay R88,940 instead of the R117,585 levied this year.

Pupils attending grades R, 1, 7 and 8 at Sacred Heart College next year will also benefit from generous fee reductions.

The grade 1 fee has been decreased by 13.9% or R13,764, from R98,764 to R85,000.

Heather Blanckensee, head of college at Sacred Heart, said by increasing enrolments, it could reduce fees. 

“Our pre-primary and primary school was hardest hit by the pandemic and we would rather avoid retrenching teachers by increasing the number of pupils per grade and filling empty seats,” she said.

The school has room for 50 pupils from creche to grade 10.

Our pre-primary and primary school was hardest hit by the pandemic and we would rather avoid retrenching teachers by increasing the number of pupils per grade and filling empty seats

—  Heather Blanckensee, head of college at Sacred Heart

Blanckensee said the economic climate and pandemic had affected the school’s  current and future families.

She said that many high-end private schools had not been able to fill all places for next year, especially in grades R, 1, 7 and 8. “The myth of the waiting list has been debunked in many independent schools,” said Blanckensee.

She said enrolment in the pre-primary section dropped significantly after many parents had made alternate child-minding arrangements such as hiring au pairs last year.

Thomas Hagspihl, headmaster of St Martin’s, said fees were reduced in response to the call for more affordable schooling, “given the hardships experienced by many families in the current economic environment”.

“We do have spaces available and we do not have an enrolment deadline closing date for new enrolments.”

He said while new enrolments for this year had been slightly lower, “we have seen a decrease in the number of pupils leaving the school”.

Soné Griesel, acting business manager at Kingswood College, said the school froze fees for day pupils in grades 8 to 12 because many parents were adversely affected by the pandemic.

The fee increase for grades 1 to 7 was kept at 3.5%.

“As our numbers stand we have limited spaces left for next year.”

Mari Lategan, spokesperson for Curro, which owns 178 schools, said while it increased fees for next year, it was not a blanket approach.

“Each school has been carefully considered and evaluated in the context of the economic climate.”

Pupil enrolment increased by 6% between 2019 and 2020.

Desiree Seaton, spokesperson for Advtech, which owns 96 schools in SA, including 19 Crawford International schools, said next year's fee increases would be in line with inflation. “We have seen a 6% increase in enrolment.”

In the past week I had five schools asking me whether they could withhold pupils’ reports to force parents to pay outstanding fees.

—  Naisa chair Mandla Mthembu

Montjane said it was the first time Isasa was seeing available places for grade 0 this late in the year.

“The high-fee schools, especially in the northern suburbs of Johannesburg, have never struggled with grade 0 and have always had far more demand than supply.”

Mandla Mthembu, chair of the National Alliance of Independent Schools’ Associations (Naisa), said the proliferation of online schools was also having an effect on enrolment.

He said private schools, especially mid-fee schools, were battling to collect fees from parents. “In the past week I had five schools asking me whether they could withhold pupils’ reports to force parents to pay outstanding fees.”

Jaco Deacon, CEO of the Federation of Governing Bodies of SA Schools, said public schools were likely to increase fees by between 4% and 6%.

He said the federation advised members when deciding on fee increases to be “sensitive to the hardships” parents were facing.