How much does it cost to send you child to school in New Zealand?

January 14, 2009 by
Filed under: General Budgeting, Life in New Zealand 

A lot, according to an article in the Sunday Star Times 11.1.09.

Now, I don’t have children, so this doesn’t actually affect me, but one thing does really make my blood boil: The “Voluntary” “donation”.

This is something that is charged to parents by the school, and from what I’ve heard, for the most part is it neither Voluntary, nor is it a donation. It is a charge levied on parents by the schools. Legally – it has to be voluntary – but in this case the law is a bit “wobbly”.

Earlier this year, a school was turning away students whose parents had not paid the “donation”.

It’s a bit like some of the UK’s biggest and most famous Cathedrals. There is a “suggested donation”, but you cannot get in until you have paid it.

Anyway – I digress – and I’m in danger of getting peeved .

So what do you need to pay for and how much is it?

According to the article, for a spread of schools it looks like:

“Donation”                      $75 – $200 (up to $575 for the “best” schools.
NZQA exam fees –         $75 (Urggh – you have PAY for the privilege of sitting exams???)
Uniforms                          $300 – $400

On top of that – you will often have to pay:
Stationary
Sports lessons
Music lessons
Extra fees for some subjects
Fees to enter competitions
fees for extra tuition if the school provides exam preparation tutors.funny-pictures-cat-makes-a-raspberry-at-you1

The mind boggles.

All we had to pay for when I was at school was extra outings.

Bear in mind – these are not Private schools – they are state schools: and there is supposed to be a free education system in New Zealand. But it is not free, and you will have to spend money so that child can go to school – over and above what you might have expected.

So, make sure you take this into account when planning a new life here. If you are choosing schools for your children – remember to ask for a list of all fees that you could incur during the year, and make sure you set aside some money to cover that. If you don’t budget for it – you could end up with problems.

Related posts:

  1. How much does it cost to send you child to school in New Zealand? – Follow up.
  2. Watch those School “Donations” when you move to New Zealand.
  3. Would you sell your home to pay for school donations?
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Comments

5 Comments on How much does it cost to send you child to school in New Zealand?

  1. » How much does it cost to send you child to school in New Zealand? on Wed, 14th Jan 2009 6:26 pm

    2. [...] [Technorati] Tag results for finance wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptHow much does it cost to send you child to school in New Zealand? January 14th, 2009 A lot, according to an article in the Sunday Star Times 11.1.09. Now, I don’t have children, so this doesn’t actually affect me, but one thing does really make my blood boil: The “Voluntary” “donation”. This is something that is charged to parents by the school, and from what I’ve heard, for the most part is it neither Voluntary, nor is it a donation. It is a charge levied on parents by the schools. Legally [...]

  2. Naomi on Thu, 15th Jan 2009 3:58 pm

    3. I agree too that the “voluntary ” donation is a joke because half the parents do not even pay this. The rest who pay makes up for it! I think it stinks.
    Naomi.

  3. Dinah on Fri, 16th Jan 2009 8:31 am

    4. Everything you say here is true, the fees came as quite a shock to us – and like you say, a lot of the time we were asked to pay for things which we (naturally) presumed would be ‘free’ for a state school. Also – the education isn’t worth ‘tuppence’ – asking us to pay for the watered down services they call teaching added insult to injury.

  4. Christine on Fri, 16th Jan 2009 11:45 am

    5. When I first arrived I too felt the term ‘donation’ was a bit cheeky. We’re lucky at our school as the parents have some say as to where the money is spent and on the whole I feel it is spent well.

    I think the term ‘donation’ is also used so that you can claim a refund against tax:

    http://www.ird.govt.nz/income-tax-individual/end-year/dch-rebates/

    In addition to these fees there tends to be a lot of fundraising activity and ‘extras’ to be paid for. Once again, I suspect how you feel about the school and how it spends it money, will affect as to whether you feel these are a good thing or not.

  5. Avalon on Fri, 16th Jan 2009 2:58 pm

    6. Christine, thanks for the info – thats really useful :)
    Hugs
    Hxxx

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