New data shows education costs increasing, with Melbourne most expensive for public schools
Parents across the country are being squeezed by the cost of sending their kids to school, with new data showing Melbourne is the most expensive city to send a child to public school. Meanwhile a survey has revealed parents of public school kids are particularly stressed when it comes to affording basic education items.
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00:00 This certainly really does reflect what so many parents around the country are experiencing
00:06 with this real cost of living crunch.
00:09 I know that I've certainly been looking at those social media parent groups trying to
00:14 troll for some of the second hand cheaper textbooks and that's just some of the costs
00:18 that parents have to incur.
00:20 And this is really reflected by this new research.
00:23 So we have seen research from this loans company Futurity which shows that the most expensive
00:31 places to actually have a child educated are in Melbourne and Sydney.
00:37 And if you take a look at public education, which there is no such thing as free public
00:43 education, the cost of actually putting a child through school from prep to year 12
00:49 around the nation on average is around $92,000.
00:54 And Melbourne is the most expensive place for public education.
00:58 That's just shy of $109,000.
01:02 If you take a look at private education, of course with the school fees being so much
01:06 higher than those in public education, Sydney is the most expensive place to do that.
01:11 Just shy of $358,000 for the lifetime.
01:16 And Canberra has the most expensive schooling according to this latest research for Catholic
01:22 education on average around the country.
01:25 If you want to send your child to a Catholic school, you're going to be looking at around
01:29 $195,000 over the child's schooling lifetime.
01:34 But Futurity says that what they have done is looked at not just those school fees both
01:38 for public, private and also Catholic schools, but also all of those other incidental add-on
01:45 costs that we all know as parents that we have to make.
01:48 Things like your computers or your laptops that the school requires.
01:52 Also having your necessary excursion money and camps and musical instruments or tutors
01:59 and the like.
02:00 And they say that around one in four of those parents are really struggling to pay their
02:04 household bills because of the cost of their student's education.
02:08 Now this cost of living crunch is also reflected in some of the latest data that we've got
02:13 from the charity, the Smith family as well.
02:15 They've actually surveyed more than 2,000 families that have come to them for help.
02:19 And it's found that around nine in ten of those families are really concerned that they're
02:24 going to be able to afford all of their child's basic schooling needs for this year.
02:30 We heard a little earlier from Doug Taylor, the CEO, who spoke on News Breakfast this
02:34 morning just about those huge challenges that so many parents face.
02:38 This is what he had to say.
02:40 About 50 per cent are particularly concerned about being able to afford those educational
02:45 essentials that frankly many of us would take for granted.
02:48 So school shoes, school uniforms, being able to attend excursions and the like.
02:54 Now all of those things are really important part of a great education but they're also
02:59 a really important way for young people to feel a part of a school community.
03:03 And we know that when a young person feels connected with their school, they'll make
03:07 the most of their education, which is what we want all young people to have the opportunity
03:11 to do.
03:12 Doug Taylor there, the CEO from the Smith family.
03:16 And when he's talking about more than half of the parents surveyed had real problems,
03:20 he was talking about things like uniforms and also shoes, which are just so important
03:25 in terms of children being able to feel as if they fit into school.
03:29 And that emotional involvement is so important.
03:31 Of course, if you're not a happy person, you can't learn properly when you're at school.
03:36 Also around one in three parents feel that they probably won't be able to afford excursions.
03:42 Around half are finding it difficult to be able to afford those digital devices.
03:47 So I know, for example, my son needs a $250 calculator on top of the laptop that we've
03:52 had to get him for year 10.
03:55 And so all of those costs add up, as well as around one in six of the parents who say
04:00 that they don't even have internet access.
04:02 And of course, you can imagine just how hard that will be for children, especially as they
04:07 head into high school, without those necessary internet tools to be able to continue their
04:12 education.
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