Fees at Canberra's most expensive private schools are nearing $30,000 as some advocates fear middle-income families are being priced out of the sector.
Most Canberra schools will be increasing their fees by about 5 to 7 per cent in 2023 after a couple of years of modest increases, but non-government schools remain confident they offer good value for money.
Canberra Grammar School, has raised fees by up to 5.7 per cent, meaning tuition fees for year 11 and 12 students will be $28,475.
Canberra Girls Grammar has raised fees by 4.7 per cent across the year levels so that families will fork out $27,630 per year for year 11 and 12 students.
Radford College fees will cross the $20,000 threshold for year 11 and 12 this year, with an increase of about 5 per cent for all year levels.
However, Canberra's top private schools don't come close to the $45,000 annual fees for a senior student at Victoria's Geelong Grammar School and Sydney's Kambala and SCEGGS Darlinghurst.
Author of Waiting for Gonski: How Australia failed its schools Tom Greenwell said increasing fees were part of a two-decade pattern which was making private schools unaffordable for middle and low-income households.
"It's as inevitable as Christmas and the Boxing Day Test that each summer we see massive private school fee increases," he said.
"Parents pay the annual tuition fee and then they find there are other levies called the capital levy and the curriculum levy and the excursions and the uniforms and so it just keeps piling up."
Mr Greenwell said non-government schools did not have any obligations to be accessible to the community, despite receiving public money.
"If the government is not going to in any way regulate or demand transparency, fees are just going to keep continuing as they have year-in year-out for decades."
A Finder survey of 1032 Australian parents of children under 12 found 17 per cent of respondents were considering moving their child from a private school to a public school as costs rise while 10 per cent said they already made the switch. But 22 per cent said they would not switch schools.
Association of Independent Schools of the ACT executive director Andrew Wrigley said the increasing enrolment numbers indicated that parents believed independent schools provide value for money.
He said the schools were accessible for middle and low- income households as there was a very wide range of fees across independent schools.
"Schools also offer fee concessions for families on low to middle incomes, and many schools offer bursaries," Mr Wrigley said.
"Schools would be mindful of the changing needs of their communities and might anticipate an increased number of families which might require support. In at least one school, staff contribute to a fund which provides support for families."
Mr Wrigley said costs across all parts of a school's operation have increased, including the cost of teacher salaries, interest rates for school servicing loans, non-teaching labour costs and even supplies for electives such as hospitality and technology.
He said schools were transparent about how funding was spent as they are required to publish data via the MySchool website and provide publicly available financial statements.
ACT Catholic systemic schools will be raising fees by 7 per cent, with inflation and territory and federal government funding decisions blamed for putting pressure on fees.
Catholic Education Canberra Goulburn director Ross Fox said he was confident Catholic schools continued to provide good value.
"Catholic Education strives to keep fees as low as possible. In an ideal world, fees would never increase. Unfortunately, the reality is that the cost of resources schools need continue to increase," Mr Fox said.
"To meet parent and student expectations for a high-quality education, it's important that all income, including fees, keep pace with increasing education costs amidst the changing funding environment."
Mr Fox said he encouraged families who were concerned about fees to contact their principal to see what could be done.
Tuition fees for senior students have risen to $16,416 at Orana Steiner School, $13,650 at Burgmann Anglican School, $13,317 at Marist College and $11,096 at Daramalan.
Canberra Christian School hasn't raised its modest $4710 fee for upper primary since 2020, while Taqwa School has included an activities fee in the $3460 fee.
After two years of keeping fees on hold, Emmaus Christian School will raise fees between 9.5 and 28.8 per cent depending on the year level, with fees for a year 10 student costing $8720 per year.
Last year about 38 per cent of ACT preschool to year 12 students attended a non-government school.
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