It is a widely accepted fact that the mounting cost of education in the recent years has eaten into a major part of the household budget, be it higher education or education at the school level.
Apart from the tuition fees, there are various other latent "tertiary" costs associated with school education, the burden of which is borne solely by the parents, right from the day their child enters school. Thus, it becomes inevitable for parents to plan well in advance to meet these costs.
WHAT THE STATISTICS SAY:
Going by the data, an Assocham survey showed that 65% of parents spend more than half their take-home pay on their children's education. According to the survey, parents spending on a single child's education has gone up from Rs 35,000 to over Rs 94,000 within the last decade on such items and activities as integral to the school curriculum like transport books, uniform, stationery, building fund, educational trips, extra tuitions and extra-curricular activities.Majority of parents spend on an average, more than Rs 18 lakh-20 lakh in raising a child by the time their teen graduates from high school. In most cases, the real amount is much higher.
While the annual fees are on average Rs. 65,000 to Rs. 1,25,000 on single child for regular schools, following are the overhead expenses
Cost | Annual Cost- For One Child |
Shirt/ Trousers/ Skirts | 2500 |
Shoes | 3500 |
Bag / Bottles | 1500 |
Sports Kit | 2000 |
Text books | 3400 |
School trips | 2500 |
School Clubs | 1500 |
Technology | 1500 |
Pack lunches + Transport + Tution | 35,000 |
Building Fund | 25,000 |
Fairs | 6,000 |
Stationery/ Newspaper | 5,000 |
Tuition/ coaching Expenses |
|
· Primary Level | 5,000 |
· Secondary Level | 25,000 |
Extra Co-curricular Expense |
|
· Primary Level | 3,000 |
· Secondary Level | 8,000 |
The estimated cost is an apporximation of the following survey
Thus total tertiary cost of raising a child of Primary student is approx. 98K/year and a secondary student is 1.23 Lakhs per year.
To sum up the overall education cost of the child for Primary Student will be 1.5 lakhs/year and for a Secondary Student be almost 2 Lakh/year
But given the fact that private schools are constantly upgrading study-techniques and providing better opportunities for students, all these amenities prove to be worthy of the expenditure incurred in the long run.
With public spending on education stuck at the woefully low level of government expenditure, Indian parents are being forced to burn an increasingly large hole through their pockets to ensure that their children can get a decent education at the private schools.
Thus, it isn't wrong to say that these tertiary costs account for a large share in the expenditure made towards obtaining quality education at a private school and shouldn't be overlooked upon.
But the parent who visualises a bright future for his child bears all this with a hope that this investment will eventually pay back some day in the form of better returns!
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