The increasing costs have resulted in the number of WA students Edstart is managing fees for (through payment plans) quadrupling in the past 12 months.
A Methodist Ladies’ College spokeswoman, one of the most expensive schools in Perth, said the decision to increase fees was “not taken lightly.”
“Following a period of time, during the COVID-19 pandemic when fee increases were minimised, and, in 2021, frozen, the College, like many educational institutions has needed to factor rising inflation, insurance premiums, staffing costs and the government funding framework into future planning,” she said.
“MLC has managed to keep our fee increase in line with other schools and lower than the current inflation rates as a result of responsible fiscal planning, with our aim always, to provide quality education, co-curricular programs and facilities for our students.”
A Catholic Education WA spokesman said 54 Catholic schools would increase fees by between 0 and 5 per cent and five would increase by 4-8 per cent.
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But he said almost a third of schools would be decreasing fees by 2-15 per cent and almost a fifth would be freezing fees.
“We acknowledge that cost of living pressures are impacting families across Western Australia. Our focus has been to minimise any increases to fees in 2023,” he said.
“The changes to school fees have come about as a result of changes to the overall funding model for Catholic schools in Western Australia. Schools and Catholic Education WA are able to utilise a greater level of data to inform how we determine fees in a way that better matches our school and community’s unique context.”
Edstart will release a full report detailing the changing cost of both tuition and boarding fees for all private schools later this month.
Even though education fees are climbing, they are not yet close to rivalling those in the eastern states, with fees there breaking through the $45,000 mark.
In September, Blueprint Institute analysed fee rises at almost 700 private schools nationally and found they were “spiralling out of reach for all but the wealthiest.”
The report states private school fees rose by an average of 50 per cent nationally in the decade to 2020, outstripping inflation at 22 per cent and wage growth at 29 per cent.
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