Credit Crunch Parents Go Online For Help With Independent School Fees

June 20, 2009 - PRLog -- Parents looking to send their children to private schools should not simply assume that the costs will be unaffordable but they should rather thoroughly research the costs and implications of independent education, according to Jane White, the co-founder of a new website (www.allaboutschoolfees.com) which helps parents do just that.
www.allaboutschoolfees.com is a one-stop source of information for anyone who has committed to, or is considering, private education for their children or grandchildren.
"With the worst credit crunch under way in the UK for the past few decades, private school fees are bound to be one of the heaviest victims, especially as parents are continually hit with inflation-busting rises in fees," says Mrs White. "The launch of www.allaboutschoolfees.com should, however, go a long way to assisting in the planning process for credit crunch-hit parents."
More than 630,000 children are educated privately in the UK each year at an average cost of £3,700 per term – that’s a total of £6.9 billion in fees a year. Independent schools are reporting growing numbers of parents who are struggling to meet the cost of this private education, with some even having to withdraw their children from school.
An average private education for children, starting at five years old and finishing at 18, will cost around £145,000; boarding could cost considerably more,” explains Mrs White.
“The purpose of www.allaboutschoolfees.com is to help people forecast what private education would realistically cost, rather than simply relying on average data to work it out , especially if you are thinking about private education in a few years’ time. The site will help you estimate what you will need to pay and when, and help you create a savings plan that matches your savings with your expenses.”
The primary feature of the site is the Allabout Modeller ™, a unique piece of software that the developers believe is the first of its kind in the world. It allows users to look up the current school fees of a private education establishment in the UK, estimate how those fees will increase over the course of a child’s education, and how much parents need to save to meet those fees at any time in the future.
The unique calculations enable people to forecast for lump sums such as bonuses, savings holidays, changing between schools and for more than one child. Users can play with inflation and interest rates, and even input current savings and see what shortfall or surplus they will be left with over any period of time.
Says Mrs White: “Remortgaging or drawing against the equity in a family home used to be one of the most popular ways to pay school fees. However, with the housing market in free fall, this may not be the best option - parents will be hundreds of thousands of pounds better off if they plan ahead and save instead.
“Whilst it might seem strange to be launching a new company in the face of a steep recession, we believe www.allaboutschoolfees.com is the perfect credit crunch company."

Boilerplate
www.allaboutschoolfees.com is a new website that is dedicated to helping plan for the cost of private education in the UK.  It contains a comprehensive library of articles as well as an innovative tool that allows parents or advisors to interrogate an extremely comprehensive, yet user friendly, database of information on private schools.  The tool allows subscribers to produce bespoke inflation and returns adjusted fee payment schedules.

For more information or requests for free subscription accounts please contact:
Jane White or Ronnie Wagstaff
URL: www.allaboutschoolfees.com
Email:janeandronnie@allaboutschoolfees.com
Tel:01923 610 766

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Amazing UK school fees site with unique school fees and savings modeller, free school fees library and school micro-sites.