School fees to spike in new year

Parents will have to pay more for school fees next year after private schools announced hikes of between 6.5% and 9.3%. 

While top government schools have yet to announce their fee increases, Shaun Simpson, principal of Rondebosch Boys’ High School in Cape Town, has predicted that fees at most former model C schools are likely to be increased by between 6% and 8%.

In August, the country’s inflation rate stood at 4.8%, lower than the proposed hikes.

Most state schools will be announcing their fee increases only over the next two months. 

Fee increases at some top private schools include: 

• St Benedict’s College, Johannesburg: 9.3% (R156,310 to R170,863) for grades 10-12;
• St Mary’s School, Waverley: 7.5% (R176,640 to R189,880) for grade 12;
• St Mary’s Diocesan School for Girls, Kloof: 7.5% (R146,820 to R157,920) for grades 11 and 12;
• Oakhill School, Knysna: 6.5% (R134,200 to R143,000) for grade 12;
• Bridge House School, Franschhoek: 6.4% (R142,600 to R151,800) for grade 12; and
• Marist Brothers Linmeyer, Johannesburg: 5% (R118,700 to R124,700) for grade 12; 
• HS Piet Potgieter, Limpopo: 7% (R23,100 to 24,750); and
• Pinelands North Primary, Cape Town: 6.49% (R23,546 to R25,074). 

Michael Gates, the principal of Rustenburg Girls’ High School in Cape Town, said a 5.5% fee increase for next year had been proposed at his school, while the fee hike for this year had been 6%.

Jacques Bartlett, principal of Pietersburg Laerskool in Limpopo, said their monthly fee of R1,500, payable over 11 months, would increase by only R40 next year “because we do not serve an affluent community”.

He said the percentage of parents who paid school fees in full had dropped from 55% last year to 49%. “A lot of people have lost their jobs, and they move. My community has moved to Pretoria to get work.”

About 250 of the school’s 912 pupils applied for fee exemptions this year, he said.  “We have handed over about R4m in outstanding fees for collection.” 

At Rondebosch Boys’ High, where this year’s fees were R65,000, Simpson said they expected this year’s increase to be close to CPI inflation because of the “financial constraints on parents”. 

The cost of purchasing goods and services required to run the school is routinely above inflation, particularly due to fuel, electricity and water cost increases

—  Shaun Simpson, principal of Rondebosch Boys’ High School 

“As a quintile-5 school, we receive R289 per pupil from the government, which translates into about R250,000 for our 870 pupils. Of our 64 teachers, 23 are paid department salaries.” 

“We still have far more parents requesting fee relief than in the period before 2020.” 

Simpson said they increased their fees by 2.5% in the year after the Covid-19 pandemic but this is not a sustainable trend “as just over 65% of the budget goes to staff salaries”. 

“The cost of purchasing goods and services required to run the school is routinely above inflation, particularly due to fuel, electricity and water cost increases. We have hostels to run where residents must be fed,” he said. 

Greg Theron, principal of the private Cornwall Hill College in Pretoria, said there was an increase in the number of parents struggling to pay fees “given financial circumstances”. 

“We have traditionally worked off a very low base of defaulters, and this remains, but there are approximately twice as many parents defaulting. This goes together with an increase in the number of parents who have inquired about financial aid,” he said 

School fees for grades 10-12 this year are R104,650. 

Peter Storrar, director of advancement at Hilton College, said they had seen a consistent increase in applications over the past five years, as well as “a corresponding increase in families seeking financial assistance”.

This year’s fees are R369,920. 

“Our financial assistance programme occasionally extends support to parents who, after enrolling their sons, encounter unforeseen circumstances that could necessitate [their] withdrawal. Withdrawing students due to unpaid fees, however, is a last resort.

Over the past five years, they had an average of one or two withdrawals per grade per year for financial reasons, he said. 

“We have been scrutinising our activities and expenditure to ensure that any fee increases for the forthcoming year are reasonable and justifiable. Our efforts have included a comprehensive review of costs from all our major suppliers.”

Tony Williams, executive head of Marist Brothers Linmeyer, said they were “extremely cognisant of the economic climate we currently operate in and the consistent financial pressure on our parents. We therefore continuously strive to keep our fee increase to a minimum and drive our costs down where possible.”   

While most private schools hiked fees, Sacred Heart College in Johannesburg reduced theirs by R398 — from R123,898 last year to R123,500 this year. 

Principal Heather Blanckensee said this was in response to the “economic downturn and recognising the financial pressure our families were facing”. 

“Sacred Heart College has always offered struggling families support. We have a financial assistance policy with vetted criteria to support families.” 

She said while their enrolment remained the same, they have seen parents withdrawing their children from the school because of the cash crunch. 

Anthea Cereseto, CEO of the Governing Body Foundation, said when they surveyed schools on the problems they faced, difficulty in recovering fees topped the list.