School Fees - Time to Re-Mortgage The House
Around a third of Australian school kids now attend a non-Government school. The difference between school fees can be enormous, even for schools in the same catchment area. 
For example, my children are in the Catholic system and the fees are around $10,000 a year just for tuition. A non-Catholic private school in the same area charges around $30,000.
With school fees accounting for a massive slice of any family budget, it’s worth considering whether your focus should be on the fees being charged, rather than the name or social standing of the school.
When I added up the total cost of putting my three children through high school (tuition only), it worked out at $150,000. When I added in Primary school fees it worked out at a total of nearly $50,000. Then the add-ons come in:
Primary School
Building Levy $940.00 per family
Resources Fee: $997.56 per child
P&F Levy $100.00 per family
Swim Fee: Kindergarten – Year 4 @ $60.00 per child
Year 5 Camp: $295.00 per child
Year 6 Camp: $310.00 per child
High School
Voluntary Tax-Deductible Building Fund - $410 per family
Donation (suggested amount) - $400 pa
Of course on top of this you have uniforms and books as well as “Co-curricular and sport registrations and activities that will incur additional costs”.
Oh, and don’t forget things like mufti day (gold coin donation), the annual Art Show, Founders Day and various other fund-raising activities.
For parents who have just finished forking out up to $150 a day for Day Care, school can look like a relative walk-in-the-park!
According to the Australian Financial Review, tuition fees at some of Australia's private schools continue to soar at almost double the rate of inflation, with one increasing costs by 6.7 per cent.
Be wary of Education Funding products. According to Vince Scully from LifeSherpa, the two most popular products, Lifeplan and Australian Scholarships Group are better suited to funding University expenses.
A couple of times in the course of my children’s education I have found it difficult to make the payments, once when I divorced and again when I was made redundant. Both times I informed the school straight away and they were very accommodating when it came to switching to a monthly payment plan.
I have two children still in high school, one leaving this year so I can finally see light at the end of the tunnel.
https://lifesherpa.com.au/grow/articles/how_to_manage_school_fees_on_a_tight_budget
