Private School Opportunity Cost Calculator

Private school fees are among the most expensive single line items in family budgets. Typical day school fees 15,000-25,000/year (junior), 20,000-35,000/year (senior). Full boarding schools 35,000-50,000+/year. Over 13 years of schooling, total spend can exceed 400,000.

The calculator shows the opportunity cost: what the same money invested at realistic returns would become by graduation. 20,000/year invested at 6% real return over 13 years produces roughly 400,000 in today's money. That's a significant alternative — house deposit for the young adult, fund toward university tuition, substantial wealth transfer.

This isn't an argument against private education. Some families genuinely value specific educational advantages and find them worth the cost. The calculator makes the financial alternative visible so the decision is conscious rather than assumed. Many families also use mixed strategies (state primary, private senior) that reduce total cost while retaining perceived benefits.

How to use it

Input annual school fees (in current money — fees rise with inflation but so would investment value), years of schooling, expected real investment return (5-7% reasonable), and child's starting age if relevant. The tool shows total fees and invested alternative.

What the result means

Total fees is the direct cost over all years. Invested alternative is what the same annual contribution would produce in a low-cost index fund at the expected return. Difference shows the opportunity cost — money that exists in one option but not the other.

Decision tool, not financial or education advice.

A worked example

Try the defaults: annual school fees of 20,000, years of schooling of 13, investment return of 6%. The tool returns 377,642.75. You can adjust any input and the result updates as you type — no submit button, no reload. That's the real power here: seeing how sensitive the output is to one or two assumptions.

What moves the number most

The result responds to Annual School Fees, Years of Schooling, and Investment Return.

The formula behind this

Future value of annual annuity at the expected return over years of schooling. Compares to cumulative fees paid. Everything the calculator does is shown in the formula box below, so you can check the math against your own spreadsheet if you want.

Spreading the cost

Starting earlier always costs less per month than starting late. That's the main lever this tool surfaces. Whatever the total, dividing it by the months until the event gives a monthly target that's easier to build into a budget.

What this doesn't capture

Life events generate side costs the figure doesn't include: time off work, lost income, travel for others, aftercare. Add 10–15% to the direct number as a buffer; the items you haven't thought of usually fill most of it.