Two South African governing body associations have advised the country\u2019s 3,000 fee-paying schools against price hikes for next year.<\/p>\n
The Sunday Times<\/a> reported that the Independent Schools Association of Southern Africa (Isasa) – which represents 793 member schools including Hilton, Michaelhouse and Kearsney College – confirmed that for the first time its members will levy no fee increase or a below-inflation increase.<\/p>\n In addition, independent school education providers Spark Schools and AdvTech have indicated that they will not increase fees next year.<\/p>\n Paul Colditz, chief executive of the Federation of Governing Bodies of South African Schools said the financial hardships caused by the Covid-19 pandemic had hit private schools harder than public schools. \u201cI think you will see a decrease in enrolment in private schools next year,” he said.<\/p>\n Anthea Cereseto, national chief executive of the Governing Body Foundation, said the federation did not advise schools not to increase fees, but to ‘limit it as far as possible’.<\/p>\n “We would consider it somewhat reckless if an ordinary public school took no notice of the economic position of families. We are really emphasising cutbacks and delaying the implementation of proposed projects.”<\/p>\n Price increase\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Data from a\u00a0BusinessTech’s <\/a><\/strong>2020 private school analysis found that the average fee hike among the 20 most private expensive schools is around 7%.<\/p>\n When BusinessTech\u00a0first started tracking the most expensive schools in 2014<\/a><\/strong>, only one school (Hilton College) was priced over R200,000 for boarding and tuition \u2013 now in 2020, over 30 schools have moved into that price bracket.<\/p>\n Hilton, and nearby MichaelHouse, have since pushed into the R300,000 per year bracket.<\/p>\n