My parents pay £90k a year for my kids’ private school fees… now they’re broke and I’m furious with them

A MOTHER OF THREE has expressed her frustration after her parents were no longer able to fund her grandchildren’s school fees.

According to data from Killik & Co, a staggering 18 percent of parents with children attending private schools received financial help from their parents.

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But now one mother, Diana Smith*, has revealed how relying on her parents to pay her fees has taken a terrible turn, what I reported.

According to their mother, the couple have three daughters – who are in 12th, 9th and 7th year – and they have all studied at the same independent school in London since they were seven years old ”and are all very happy”.

The school, which has not been named, offers “impressive resources for music, art and sport, and achieves really good academic results”.

The girls, said their mother, have loved the “intimate feeling” and overall seem to be “thriving” in the small environment – ​​so much so that the eldest achieved grades 8 and 9 at GCSES.

However, it was never the parents who paid the fees – according to the mother, the couple’s combined family income is £93,000 before tax, which is equivalent to the total cost of the girl’s school fees per year.

The independent school charges £10,000 per term per child, which brings the total to £30,000 per term – or an astronomical £90,000 per year.

“We do the extras – the school trips, uniforms and that sort of thing – but they cover the fees.

”I am extremely grateful to my parents for what they did for us.”

The mother insisted that when the pair had their first daughter, her parents told them they would like to pay for her private education – and she was more than “thrilled” about it.

Despite the husband’s initial reluctance and fear that the child would grow up “elegant and noble”, the couple “found the right school” – and has remained there ever since.

Children, she added, realize that they have “a very privileged school existence” – but they are aware that this is not the case for the majority and appreciate their position.

When the mother gave birth to her second and third child, the parents said they also had the funds to pay the fees – although she said it would be completely acceptable to have just one girl at the private school if they couldn’t pay for all of them. three.

“They assured me that this was what they wanted to do and that they felt no obligation, just a desire to help.”

The parents have a lot of money and lead a frugal lifestyle with the huge sums they have.

His impressive assets come down to a combination of a large inheritance, “excellent and lucky investments in the 1980s, a huge house in London that they bought in the 1970s, which they sold and made a huge profit from,” as well as his “father having a well-paying finance job.”

Instead of transferring it to cash and resources upon death, making it subject to inheritance tax, the pair – both in their seventies – decided to spend money on their children’s education.

However, recently things changed drastically when her father dropped a major bombshell, announcing that he and his wife didn’t have enough money to keep the funds going.

There are many reasons for this, including their mother’s care for Alzheimer’s disease, as well as some investment-related issues that they decided to resolve.

The parents also revealed that the hefty sum of £90,000 a year for several years has had a bigger impact on their savings than they realized and, in general, the “dad is too scared to continue”.

Since hearing the news, the couple has been extremely shocked and the mother has “barely slept” since the announcement.

Although the girls have not yet been informed, as the pair “try to figure out what this means for them”, the mother said she was “furious” at the parents.

But at the same time, she also admitted to feeling “guilty for feeling that way, because they were so generous and so well-intentioned.”

Now, she feels “stupid for having depended so much on her finances” and insists it is difficult to see any other option than taking the girls out of school.

But although she was convinced that this drastic measure would “enormously disrupt the girls’ education, exams, social life, everything”, the mother was aware that even with her husband’s income, the pair would not be able to cover the costs. . .

”I’m very worried about how they will adapt to a large, more anonymous school, where they will be much more left to their own devices and will have less attention.

”I know there are a lot of amazing state schools, I just feel like the transition can be really difficult, especially without much advance notice.”

Now, assessing the situation, the mother considered that perhaps the couple “should have sent them to a normal school all along”.

”I’m saying all this because I know a lot of people whose parents or in-laws pay their school fees, and while grandparents’ generosity is incredible, it can also go wrong.”