These are the most expensive private schools in South Africa in 2023

Private schools in South Africa have hiked fees for 2023, with at least nine now charging more than R300,000 a year for boarding and tuition.

Hilton College in the KwaZulu-Natal midlands retains its title as the most expensive school in the country, with its annual fees (which only allows for boarding) at R369,920 for 2023 – up 7.8% from last year.

When BusinessTech first began to track the most expensive schools in 2014, Hilton College was the only school priced over R200,000 for boarding and tuition. In 2023, all schools tracked have breached that figure.

In 2023, nine elite schools now exceed R300,000 for tuition and boarding, with St Mary’s in Waverly, Bishops College in Cape Town and St Alban’s College in Pretoria now joining six other schools in the R300,000-plus club.

Three more schools are extremely close to this threshold as well, with Diocesan School for Girls, St Andrew’s School for Girls and Kingswood College approaching R300,000.

2022 marked the first time a private school in South Africa passed the R200,000 mark for day school learners.

In 2023, Kearsney College is still the only day school in South Africa over this mark, now charging R224,620 for tuition – however, at least two other schools – St John’s and Rodean School for girls – are approaching this threshold.

Day school fees are also slowly escalating across the board, with at least 43 other schools now priced over R120,000 a year (or R10,000 a month).

Fees for day schoolers increased at an average of 6% across the schools we assessed, though the range is quite wide – from a decrease of almost 17% at one school, to hikes up to 10% at another. Among the top 10 most expensive schools, the hikes were around 8%.

For boarding schools, a similar pattern was seen, with an average increase of around 6.5%, and the upper end at 7-8%.

The price hikes are in line with inflation in 2022, which ended the year at 7.4% in November. However, the increases come as households in South Africa – including the wealthy – come under pressure.

Speaking to the Sunday Times in November, economists warned that private schools in South Africa could see more learners dropping out and returning to former model C schools in 2023 as parents’ salaries struggle to match high levels of inflation and a higher cost of living in the country.

They said that salaries in South Africa, particularly for small business owners, have not been keeping up with inflation and that compromises needed to be made in many households.

For education, this would be taking kids out of expensive private schools and placing them in ‘lower class’ schools where the fees are cheaper and the standard of education is still acceptable.

Note: The fees listed below are as they appear on the various schools’ web pages, and cover termly board and/or annual tuition only. Fees are for the highest level of learning available (up to grade 12). We’ve included the annual increase for schools where we have historic data. Lists are not comprehensive as some schools have not publicly published 2022 fee schedules.

Bishops College, which joined the R300,000 club in 2023.

Boarding schools

Day schools

Kearsney College

Read: ‘Fly-by-night’ school warning in South Africa