Cranbrook headmaster Nicholas Sampson said his school,which has some of the steepest fees at $38,862,was aware that COVID-19 had an impact on many of its families.Credit:James Brickwood
"[We] are committed to offering support as best we can to ensure that both the school and our community emerge from this extraordinary period in robust health,"he said."It is in this context that the school has decided not to increase school fees in 2021."
But most high-fee private schools opted to incorporate smaller increases. The Scots College in Bellevue Hill has overtaken King's,raising its fees by 1.9 per cent to charge $39,930 for tuition.
Trinity Grammar School,MLC Burwood,Reddam and PLC Sydney raised fees by between 2 and 3 per cent.
Trinity headmaster Tim Bowden said his school had responded to the economic pressures of the pandemic early and provided a fee rebate to all parents in April.
"That rebate effectively froze or reduced fees compared to 2019. In 2021,we continue to be sensitive to the financial pressures on families,"he said."The school’s 2021 fee increase[is] the smallest it has been in decades."
St Andrew's Cathedral School raised fees by 1.9 per cent,Pymble Ladies College by 1.8 per cent and Ravenswood School for Girls by 1.5 per cent.
Fees for Ascham,Kambala,Shore and Sydney Grammar School,which are also among the state's most expensive schools,were not publicly available.
Some mid to low fee private schools - those that charge less than $30,000 - reduced their fees to provide relief to families. Tangara School for Girls and Redfield College,both run by Opus Dei,dropped fees by 6.84 per cent to $17,300.
Head of the NSW Parents'Council,Rose Cantali,said she thought schools had been cautious about increasing fees out of fear they might lose enrolments.
"We've had a lot of families who have decided to take their children out of private schools and put them in public schools,because they hadn't been able to afford school fees. Especially people in hospitality or who had their own businesses[and had to close them],"she said.
"Parents have been very grateful there hasn't been so much of an increase;sometimes it could be that extra thousand dollars in a year that could cause them to remove[their children] from that school. It would make a difference to them."
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But the fee freeze was most pronounced in Victoria,where almost half of schools surveyed (46 per cent) did not raise costs. Six per cent of Victorian schools lowered their 2021 fees,contributing to an average hike of just 0.4 per cent across the state.
"This[has] led to a drop in the number of Victorian schools making up the list of the most expensive schools in the nation,with NSW overtaking Victoria in the number of schools making the highest fee ranking,"Mr Stevens said.
NSW now accounts for 51 per cent of the most expensive private schools in the country;last year its schools made up 39 per cent of that list.