How much it costs to send a child to school in South Africa vs the world
The latest International School Fees Survey for 2017, conducted by expat portal ExpatFinder.com, shows how the cost to educate a child in South Africa compares to the rest of the world.
The survey is based on a comprehensive market survey of 1,576 international schools across 117 countries, and examines the growing financial burden of international education faced by expats worldwide.
According to Sébastien Deschamps, CEO and co-founder of ExpatFinder.com, there has been 2% year-on-year increase in international school fees globally, however this can vary wildly from market to market.
“The rising cost of international education is exacerbated by increased demand from wealthy or even middle-class families of emerging nations in Asia and the Middle East who want a grounding in international curricula for their children,” he said.
“We have also seen significant reductions in subsidies offered by home governments and international schools, further compounding the financial outlay of expat parents who may already find fees at top-end international schools out of reach.”
Based on the median yearly cost of tuition fees, the group found that Switzerland (US$29,711 per annum), Austria (U$25,957) and China (US$25,820 per annum) lead the rankings as the most expensive countries in the world for international education.
However, when prices are adjusted for the cost of living in a given nation, the picture changes, with Kazakhstan catapulting to the top of the list, with Switzerland dropping to 21st place.
South Africa
South Africa currently ranks 62nd out of the 117 countries surveyed with the yearly cost of tuition fees being US$7,090 (R92,600), the group said.
The total cost per child (educated from 6 to 18 years old) comes to US$85,084 (R1.1 million).
When tuition costs are adjusted for the relative cost of living, South Africa moves up to 47th place in the rankings.
“Although this is a bit of a jump, it isn’t as high as other countries we’ve seen, suggesting that the school prices are pretty reasonable for the region,” ExpatFinder said.
In an African context, South Africa’s fees are the 9th highest, with Nigeria, Sudan and Oman leading the continental ranking.
Africa, as a whole, has an average yearly cost of US$4,244, meaning that South Africa’s average is around 67% higher than the African average.
Contrary to the global increase in tuition fees of 2%, Africa saw fees decrease by 2%, year-on-year the group said.
“Overall both Africa as a continent, and South Africa as a country offer amazing value for money when it comes to international schools, and are much much cheaper than a lot of the world. After all, the global average for tuition fees is US$19,183 per year,” the group said.
Conversions done at 1 USD = 13.06 ZAR
Read: The South African private school that’s cheaper than some government schools
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