Latest news with #educationcosts
The Sun
04-06-2025
- Business
- The Sun
I've forked out £3,000 a year to help my son's primary school – but I'm fed up and already struggling to make ends meet
SINGLE mum Nilufer Atik, 48, a PR and writer from London, is at her wits' end over her nine-year-old son's school asking for money to cover the cost of trips, fundraisers and even books. With half-term costs adding to her woes, she asks why has school become so expensive? 4 WALKING through my front door after the morning school drop-off, I hear my phone ping. I groan inwardly, knowing who the WhatsApp message is from before I've even glanced at the screen. 'Ice lolly sale outside the school gates at pick-up today. Please bring your spare change,' the text reads. It's from the class rep at my son's school and it is the fourth money request I've received on the parents' WhatsApp group in the space of a week. While I know it's not unusual for mums and dads to get together for the odd bake sale or fundraiser to pay for a school trip or a nice treat for the kids, the number of times I'm asked to donate to my nine-year-old son Jake's school is bordering on the ridiculous. Just last month, a report from the Child Poverty Action Group and the Centre for Research in Social Policy revealed that it now costs more than £1,000 a year to send a child to state primary school in the UK. That figure has gone up 16 per cent since 2022, when the cost was around £865. For secondary school, it is even higher, at £2,275 a year. In the past four weeks alone I've been asked to buy doughnuts at the gates, a brick to commemorate an anniversary and raffle tickets for a bingo night as well as make two voluntary donations for school trips to locations that are free. SCHOOLKIDS were left devastated after hardline council chiefs tore down banners made by pupils to help save a cycle and walking path But most shocking of all was the request from the head teacher to pay for my son's reading books. When I got the message, my jaw hit the floor. Despite paying taxes that are meant to cover my little boy's primary state education, I'm now expected to fund all of his reading books which, once all the kids in class have finished reading them, remain at the school. Jake doesn't even get to bring the books I've bought home. It may sound like only a few pounds here and there, but it all adds up. JAW HIT THE FLOOR Over the past year, I reckon I've spent at least £500 forking out for extras on top of essentials like his uniform, lunches and wraparound care while I work two jobs to make ends meet. This means I often flop into bed at 1am, exhausted. But when you are a single parent with multiple bills and an extortionate rent to pay, not to mention new school clothes and shoes every few months, daily packed lunches and after-school clubs, there is no choice. And frankly, I'm fed up of it. It's not a recent thing, either. The Parent Teachers' Association has been putting on the pressure to pay out around £10 a week since Jake first started school aged four. 4 That means I've handed over more than £3,000 so far — money I simply can't afford to shell out as a single parent on an average income. Parents will have just forked out a fortune to get through the recent half-term break and when summer comes in a few weeks, I will have to cover the cost of holiday clubs at £40-£50 a day. I know other single parents struggle with this too and, come September, when you have to pay out for new school uniforms, many of them will be broke, like me. For some parents the extra costs are manageable. I rent a small, two-bed flat in an affluent area where the majority of residents live in their own homes valued at over £1million. Throwing the odd £20 note away is no big deal for them and probably makes them feel charitable but it's not the same for me. Many of the mums don't work because their partners have top-paying jobs. Throwing the odd £20 note away is no big deal for them and probably makes them feel charitable. But it's not the same for me. That money could cover a day's travel to the office or Jake's school snacks for a week — yes, I have to pay for those too. The Child Poverty Action Group report stated that for parents of secondary school pupils, one of the drivers behind this rise in costs was having to supply materials and equipment for some of their subjects, as well as textbooks and stationery. But I'm already having to do this now, so God knows how I'm going to manage when Jake is older — I can just about survive each month as it is. Books should surely be a basic provision in any classroom, part of the school fixtures and fittings. It makes me wonder what I'm actually paying my taxes for. UNDER PRESSURE Then there are the never-ending events to raise additional money — quiz nights, school fairs, discos, raffles and end-of-term gifts for the teachers who earn a lot more than I do. The list is relentless and I feel constantly under pressure to hand over money I simply don't have. While a lot of the time these 'donations' are listed as optional, nobody wants to be the parent who is too tight to pay for anything. It makes me feel like the poor relative if everyone else in Jake's class has donated a fiver for a school trip and his mum is the only one who hasn't. It's the same if he can't enjoy extra-curricular activities because I'm unable or unwilling to pay. I don't want my son to feel different to his peers. While none of the rich mums say anything, the snootiest ones don't acknowledge me or Jake at the school gates and never let their children play with him. It makes me feel like the poor relative if everyone else in Jake's class has donated a fiver for a school trip and his mum is the only one who hasn't. I can tell by the hushed silences sometimes as I approach that they talk about me behind my back. I know it's not the school's fault. Despite being in a well-to-do area, I'm told that the head increasingly struggles to make ends meet each term. For this financial year, the Department of Education gives heads £8,210 per pupil to last the year. FLEECING MUMS This needs to cover all the essentials — staffing, equipment, maintenance and energy bills. The only extras are if a child is Pupil Premium, meaning from a disadvantaged background, or they have an Education, Health and Social Care Plan. There are a few extra pots of money they can apply for, but they are battling the cost-of-living crisis like the rest of us. The Government needs to pull its finger out. Tax money needs to properly fund our most vital services — like educating the next generation. Fleecing hard-working mums and dads isn't fair and isn't going to plug the gap.
Forbes
09-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
The Student Loan Repayment Restart Will Deepen Economic Inequality
Student Loan Repayment Will Affect Black Women Most, Understanding The Double Bind Of Race And Gender In Student Debt A federal student loan repayments resumed at the beginning of the month after a prolonged pause due to the pandemic, millions of Americans face a daunting financial reckoning. According to the Department of Education, nearly 43 million borrowers owe more than $1.6 billion in loan debt. A majority of borrowers are not current on their payments, and it's estimated that 10 million borrowers, representing a quarter of the federal student loan debt portfolio, will be delinquent within a few months. The Office of Federal Student Aid's plans to address this include garnishing the wages of those who are unable to make payments. This moment exposes not only the immediate challenges borrowers face but also the deeper, systemic failures embedded in our higher education and economic systems. The crisis is not simply a matter of individual responsibility or financial mismanagement. Instead, it is the result of decades of policy decisions and structural inequities that have driven the soaring cost of education, entrenched racial wealth disparities, and perpetuated a transactional model of access that favors the privileged few over the many. Over the past several decades, the cost of higher education has risen dramatically, far outpacing inflation and wage growth. According to the Education Data Initiative, the average annual cost of tuition increased by over 36% for four-year public universities between 2010 and 2023 — the years when many borrowers who are about to begin repayments attended school. This increase is minor in comparison to public tuition rates when Baby Boomers started attending college, with the inflation-adjusted price of tuition jumping nearly 200% since 1963. This steep rise in costs has pushed students and families to rely heavily on loans to finance college, disproportionately impacting low-income students and students of color who lack generational wealth or other financial safety nets. The California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation reports that 90% of Black students and 72% of Latino students in the state take out student loans, compared to 66% of white students, highlighting how borrowing is not just a financial decision, but a racialized necessity. Black women, in particular, bear the brunt of the student debt crisis. They hold the largest share of student debt among any demographic group, with an average federal undergraduate loan balance a year after graduation of $38,800, which rises to $58,252 for those who pursue graduate degrees. Despite this significant investment in their education, Black women face persistent and specific wage disparities. Economist Michelle Holder's research led her to dub the uphill battle Black women face financially as the 'double gap,' — since they are subject to both the racial and gender wealth and income gaps in this country. Holder predicts that over the course of a 40-year career, this double gap can amount to almost $1 million lost in pre-tax earnings that could have otherwise been used to finance a college education or pay down debts. This wage gap is compounded by the fact that many Black women attend college while supporting extended families and juggling caregiving responsibilities; approximately 40% are mothers during their studies, the most of any group. Their disposable income is often stretched thin, directed toward family needs rather than wealth-building or loan repayment. The consequences of this debt burden stay with Black borrowers far longer. Twenty years after entering college, the median Black borrower still owes 95% of their original loan balance, while the median white borrower has paid off nearly all of theirs. This stark disparity deepens the racial wealth gap, which is already staggering. When student debt is factored in, Black households hold only 5% of the wealth of white households, down from 15% when excluding debt. This means that student debt is not merely a singular financial burden, but a mechanism that perpetuates systemic racial inequities like the ability to own a home, pass on generational wealth, or just maintain a healthy emergency savings account. The institutional nature of these disparities is furthered by the role of nepotism and legacy admissions in higher education. These practices favor applicants with family connections and family wealth, effectively treating access to education as a transactional privilege rather than a universal right. We see this in a study published by the Bureau of Economic Research, which found 70% of Harvard's legacy admissions were white. This entrenched favoritism ensures that those from affluent backgrounds continue to secure educational opportunities, while marginalized communities are left to navigate an increasingly costly and exclusionary system. The result is an inequitable cycle where wealth begets opportunity and opportunity begets more wealth — leaving others trapped in debt and diminished prospects. For borrowers currently struggling with consumer prices that are more than 20% higher than before the pandemic, the resumption of student loan repayments is a financial cliff. Aggressive collection efforts, such as wage garnishments, are likely to lead many to D183CA turn to payday loans and other predatory financial products to cover basic living expenses. As I've covered here before, the payday loan industry alone extracted $2.4 billion in fees from low-income borrowers in 2022, with average annual percentage rates (APRs) that can top 500%. These loans trap vulnerable borrowers even further in cycles of debt — compounding economic instability and widening racial and gender wealth gaps. This crisis is not isolated to student loans; it reflects a broader government and private sector failure to invest in equitable education, fair wages, and robust borrower protections. As a report funded by the nonpartisan Annie E. Casey Foundation recommends, policymakers could intervene in a number of ways, including passing better protections against predatory lenders and expanding access to more affordable community college programs. According to the study's authors, the business world can also implement a win-win strategy, using student debt payments as an incentive to attract talent. Until systemic reforms such as these are enacted, restarting student loan payments will not only burden individual borrowers but also perpetuate entrenched racial and economic inequities. The current moment offers a critical opportunity to rethink and rebuild a more just and inclusive system that values education as a pathway to opportunity for all, not a debt trap for the many and already overburdened.
BBC News
08-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
NI education: Sports kits 'drive up' school uniform costs
Sports kits 'drive up' school uniform costs says retailer Just now Share Save Robbie Meredith and Andrew McNair BBC News NI Share Save Getty Images 'Many parents now are paying more for their child's PE kit than they are for their uniform', MLAs have been told Branded school sports kits have driven up the cost of school uniform and "ruined the reputation" of sellers, a retailer has said. Jan Buchanan told MLAs in Stormont's Education Committee that many parents were now are paying more for their child's physical education (PE) kit than they are for their uniform. She was one of a number of retailers who gave evidence to the committee about proposed laws to limit the price of school uniforms. One parent told BBC News NI that rising costs of uniforms made it "exceptionally difficult". As well as a maximum price limit, Education Minister Paul Givan also said that there could be a limit on the number of branded items, such as PE kits, a school could ask parents to buy. The School Uniforms (Guidelines and Allowances) Bill is currently being scrutinised by the education committee. Significant amount of money Kerri Denvir Kerri Denvir has two children aged five and nine Kerri Denvir has two children in primary school in Newtownabbey, County Antrim. She told BBC News NI that items often need replaced throughout the year, and that costs were "going up, and up, and up". "They just don't last and they're growing out of them very quickly," Ms Denvir said. "They fall in the playground and get a hole in the joggers, and that's another £20. You're constantly having to replace things," she said. "Sometimes there will be a deal in August, but when you go in during the winter to replace it the price has gone up. "It's not two or three pounds, it's a significant amount of money, and the cost goes up maybe £20 or £30 a year." 'Exceptionally difficult' Tina Mellon, a single mother-of-three, said the rising cost of uniforms was "exceptionally difficult to manage". She told BBC News NI that her son, who is in primary school, requires a branded PE kit as well as his main school uniform. "I feel many unbranded items would be just as acceptable, particularly for primary school children and most certainly for physical activity," she said. Tina Mellon Tina Mellon says branded PE kits make it "exceptionally difficult" for parents 'Northern Ireland falls short'
