Fee-paying schools: Almost €10,000 to attend most expensive day school in the country

Most of the 49 post-primary schools in the sector raised their charges from September, although a lot of the increases were modest.

Conscious of the pressure on household budgets, a small number avoided imposing a rise in fees this year.

The most expensive day school in the country remain St Columba’s, Rathfarnham, Co Dublin, where fees are €9,632 in the current year, up from €9,147 last year and €8,654 in 2019/2020.

This year’s increases have seen a number of schools raising fees to around €8,000 for day pupils, although many fall within the €4,500 to €7,000 bracket.

Church of Ireland schools, particularly in rural areas, tend to charge the least, with some at around €4,000 and Sligo Grammar School is the lowest, at €3,750.

A year ago, coming out of the Covid-19 pandemic, the strong economic recovery created conditions for schools to ask parents for more from September 2022. That confidence then took a dent with the squeeze on household incomes as a result of the impact of the Ukraine war, which kicked off in February.

Demand for a place in a fee-charging school remains high, but the sector lost another school this year, bringing the number to below 50.

While there is now one school less, individual school enrolments are steady. However, the current surge in post-primary pupil numbers generally sees the sector catering toa declining proportion of that population, to the order of 6pc-7pc. It was up to 9pc before the economic crash in 2008.

Many families are attracted to fee-charging schools by the social networking opportunities and advantages, such as smaller classes, that fees subsidise.

Pupils from these schools also tend to have the highest rates of progression to university, and to the most elite courses, such as medicine. This is particularly notable in the wealthy suburbs of south Dublin, which has a huge concentration of fee-charging schools and easy access to universities.

There is a wide variation in the financial circumstances of fee-charging schools, with some, including many in Dublin, well off and in a position to tap into affluent families for funding.

On the other hand, many Protestant-managed fee-charging schools serve widely dispersed communities, with families on lower incomes.

So, boards of management have to take into account the ability of parents to pay.

The financial pressure on Royal School, Cavan led to it entering the ‘free education’ scheme this year, opening the way for access to Department of Education building grants and other initiatives. It brings to five the number of Protestant schools that have left the sector in under a decade.

Some schools boost their incomes by offering day pupils a choice of options, with a basic day fee or a “day boarder” rate that includes supervised study and an evening meal.

Ongoing debate over the amount of State support for the sector is likely to intensify in the run-up to the next election, with Sinn Féin vowing to withdraw the taxpayer subsidy.

State funding is mainly picking up payroll costs, on the basis that if the schools were in the ‘free education’ scheme the State would be paying for the staff anyway.

In 2020/21, the last year for which the Department of Education has provided figures, it spent €121m on salaries for teachers and special needs assistants, including employers’ PRSI, in the sector.

While the department pays for most teachers, it is at a lower ratio than in ‘free education’ schools. However, the schools have fee income to employ more teachers and allow greater subject choice and smaller classes.

Schools in the fee-paying sector do not receive the annual capitation grant – a payment per pupil – to support day-to-day running expenses.

However, during the Covid-19 pandemic, they could, on an exceptional basis, seek assistance for public health measures and shared €3m under this heading in 2021.

All schools received some of this funding, but they had to open their books to do so. A Department of Education spokesperson said: “In these circumstances schools outside of the free scheme were required to clearly demonstrate their difficulties in implementing necessary control measures and how the provision of additional support would help to overcome those particular difficulties.”

The sector has been seeking a similar arrangement to help with the extraordinary rise in energy bills. Even schools that factored rising energy costs into their fees for 2022/23 have seen further increases since those fees were agreed.

Fee-charging schools have no entitlement to funding for building, although applications are considered on a case-by-case basis, and they may receive 50pc of the outlay. Since 2015/16, schools in the sector have received information and technology grant funding, under the Digital Strategy for Schools, at 50pc of the normal rate.