{"id":263609,"date":"2018-08-07T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-08-07T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=263609"},"modified":"2018-08-07T17:20:13","modified_gmt":"2018-08-07T15:20:13","slug":"it-costs-over-r400000-a-year-to-attend-south-africas-most-expensive-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/263609\/it-costs-over-r400000-a-year-to-attend-south-africas-most-expensive-school\/","title":{"rendered":"It costs over R400,000 a year to attend South Africa’s most expensive school"},"content":{"rendered":"

Located in Honeydew, on the outskirts of Johannesburg, South Africa’s most expensive school isn’t a school in the traditional sense – but sees itself as a launchpad for Africa’s future leaders.<\/p>\n

The African Leadership Academy (ALA) is unlike other South African schools in that it does not offer a National Senior Certificate or IEB equivalent, instead focusing on training youths to realise their leadership potential.<\/p>\n

It’s a two-year pre-university programme offered to 16-19 year olds, that focuses on unique curriculum for candidates who show strong academic performance, leadership potential, entrepreneurial spirit and a “passion” and commitment to Africa.<\/p>\n

Students who make it through the strict admissions process will study the core offering of English, Mathematics, Entrepreneurial Leadership, African Studies and Writing and Rhetoric, along with a combination of Cambridge-administered IGCSE, AS or A2 electives that can include courses from the Natural Sciences, the Humanities and Languages and Commerce.<\/p>\n

Because prospective candidates have to be between the ages of 16 and 19, the entry requirements are strict, and strong academic performance in all subjects at the schools attended before applying for the ALA is a prerequisite.<\/p>\n

For academic certification, the group examines students with the Cambridge International Examinations – or A-levels as they are known in the UK.<\/p>\n

The academy, which started in 2004, only takes 120 students after screening thousands of prospectives.<\/p>\n

It also points out that it does not discriminate on the basis of gender (identity or expression), race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, nationality, ethnicity (or tribal affiliation), wealth or income when selecting successful candidates.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The cost<\/strong><\/p>\n

The school has a fixed, all-inclusive fee, set at $30,900 per year. At current rates, that translates to about R411,400 – slightly lower than the cost in 2017, due to a more favourable exchange rate.<\/p>\n

Even though ALA’s prices have not changed since 2017, it still remains the most expensive schooling option, when compared to the likes of Hilton College and MichaelHouse in the KZN midlands.<\/p>\n

ALA is approximately 50% more expensive than Hilton, which often carries the title of the most expensive ‘traditional’ school in the country – however this gap is narrowing, as private schools in South Africa experience fee increases as high as 10%, while the ALA has kept its fees stable.<\/p>\n

The table below outlines how ALA’s annual costs compare to the most expensive schools in South Africa.<\/p>\n

Most expensive schools in SA<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
School<\/th>\n2018<\/th>\n2017<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
African Leadership Academy<\/td>\nR411 400<\/td>\nR411 730<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Hilton<\/td>\nR276 560<\/td>\nR253 660<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
MichaelHouse<\/td>\nR265 680<\/td>\nR240 000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0St Andrew’s College, Grahamstown<\/td>\nR252 990<\/td>\nR235 335<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0Roedean School for Girls<\/td>\nR252 341<\/td>\nR236 795<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0Kearnsney College<\/td>\nR242 220<\/td>\nR225 940<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0Bishops, Rondebosch<\/td>\nR240 380<\/td>\nR219 510<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0St Mary’s, Waverley<\/td>\nR234 540<\/td>\nR215 200<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0St Andrew’s School for Girls, Senderwood<\/td>\nR233 810<\/td>\nR219 450<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0St Stithians<\/td>\nR232 640<\/td>\nR229 010<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0St Martin’s<\/td>\nR232 120<\/td>\nR217 330<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0St Alban’s College<\/td>\nR229 410<\/td>\nR212 600<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0St John’s College<\/td>\nR227 815<\/td>\nR226 965<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0Kingswood College<\/td>\nR221 370<\/td>\nR203 400<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0Diocesan School for Girls,\u00a0Grahamstown<\/td>\nR219 420<\/td>\nR203 190<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0St Mary’s DSG, Pretoria<\/td>\nR209 675<\/td>\nR194 940<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0Somerset College<\/td>\nR208 515<\/td>\nR196 712<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0St Cyprian’s<\/td>\nR204 000<\/td>\nR191 550<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0The Wykeham Collegiate<\/td>\nR196 600<\/td>\nR182 140<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0Treverton College<\/td>\nR191 840<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0Herschel Girls’ School<\/td>\nR190 150<\/td>\nR180 040<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n

Read:\u00a0Top private and public schools in South Africa: cost vs performance<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Located in Honeydew, on the outskirts of Johannesburg, South Africa’s most expensive school isn’t a school in the traditional sense – but sees itself as a launchpad for Africa’s future leaders.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":191604,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9876],"tags":[13265,26],"class_list":["post-263609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-african-leadership-academy","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=263609"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263609\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":263755,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263609\/revisions\/263755"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}