Struggling families give up the scramble for fee-paying schools
THE recession has put a halt to the scramble to get children into fee-paying schools.
Financial pressures have ended the boom in enrolments to schools charging thousands of euro a year.
As the downturn started to bite last autumn, enrolments dropped in half of the 57 fee-paying schools, including boarding schools, when compared with 2007/08.
Overall, pupil numbers levelled off in the sector in the past year as many families suffered a massive income shock.
New financial realities are also reflected in what schools are charging -- a few have cut fees; many have left them unchanged; and increases, where they occurred, were modest.
The biggest jump in fees is in the Protestant school sector -- particularly hard hit by cutbacks introduced in last year's Budget -- although their charges remain among the lowest.
The so-called grind schools, which also enjoyed unprecedented popularity in recent years, have suffered drops of up to 30pc in student numbers and revenue.
Sutton Park, on Dublin's northside, remains the most expensive boarding school at €25,000 -- there was no increase in fees this year, although its charge for day pupils is down. St Columba's in Rathfarnham, south Dublin, has the highest day pupil fees, at €12,750, up 8pc since last year.
Advantage
Demand for places in the country's fee-paying and grind schools shot up during the Celtic Tiger era when increasing numbers of middle-income parents sought educational advantage for their children.
The pressure for places was fuelled by higher salaries, combined with the abolition of third-level fees freeing up household funds that many parents diverted to second-level education.
But salary cuts, levies and job losses over the past year have left many families struggling to pay household bills.
The feared return of third-level fees also forced many parents to rethink their plans, although this proposal was later removed from the political agenda.
Overall, pupil numbers in the fee-paying schools rose by 0.4pc to 26,685 in 2008/09, compared with 26,582 in 2007/08 -- up from 21,372 20 years ago.
While many fee-paying schools report that first-year enrolments are holding up, waiting lists have certainly eased. The 21 Protestant fee-paying schools suffered the biggest cuts in last year's Budget, losing a special grant worth €2.8m paid to take account of their minority status and the lack of school choice for their community.
Many Protestant parents on very modest incomes have no option but to send their children to boarding school in order to ensure they receive an education in their own ethos, and the State grant provided a financial cushion for the school.
All fee-paying schools took a bigger hit than those in the free-education scheme, losing more State-paid teachers in last year's Budget, leading to speculation of a big jump in fees this year.
As the recession took hold, schools were left with no option but to take a more measured approach to any increase and many applied a rise of only 2pc.
Cuts
Fee-paying schools receive over €100m in state support in the form of teachers' salaries, and the Department of Finance wants that cut by €47m.
Many of the high-profile fee-paying and grind schools have a tradition of sending large numbers of pupils to University College Dublin.
- Katherine Donnelly and Shane Hickey
Irish Independent
