So, if more parents in Canada and BC are choosing to send their children to private school is this an indication that private schools are really better than public schools? Before you enroll your child, make sure you’ll be getting your money’s worth. By  Average Tuition. The books they were going to read, what different courses of study they were going to be at — this is what we will cover in sciences, this is what we will cover in language arts. Contrary to popular belief, most private schools are not crammed to the rafters with state-of-the-art computers and Guadagnini violins. Furthermore, at the point of publication, we do our best to ensure the information we produce is accurate, however, sometimes prices and terms of the products are changed by the provider without notice to us. However, a private school can be expensive. Student loan refinancing can mean big savings in the right circumstances. Schools with fewer than 20 students at Year 12 were excluded, as were select-entry public schools. In the US there is a very small sector of non-sectarian private schools with high fees, but most private schools are, again, religious, with much lower fees than here. This is larger than student enrolment increases by 54.6%, and larger than funding increases for public schools by 90.0%. If you don’t, then public grade school is a good choice as well. “Students in public schools in a similar socio-economic context as private schools tend to do equally well,” according to the OECD report, which concluded that “there is no evidence to suggest that private schools help to raise the level of performance of the school system, as a whole” (OECD, Private schools: Who benefits?). MoneySense will always make updates and changes to correct factual errors. Between 2000–01 and 2016–17, funding for BC independent schools increased by 95.9%. Who will go on to make more money in life? However, private colleges can be quite expensive. Despite its international “superpower” status, a majority of Canadians don’t believe their public schools measure up to private schools. Anyone who scrolls through the rankings of BC schools will find evidence that students who attend private schools have better on average academic performance than public school students. High Schools. Where to buy real estate now: How we found the best deals in Canada, A guide to the best robo-advisors in Canada for 2020, Best high-interest savings accounts in Canada 2020, Compare the Best GIC Rates in Canada 2020. “What else are you sacrificing in the life of your family to do that — and even in the life of your kid?” If paying for private school means you forgo life-enriching family outings and vacations, maybe it’s not worth the sacrifice. In British Columbia, there has been a 12% drop in public school enrolment since 2000. Many parents think that tuition insurance is a waste of money or that they really don’t need it. In their 2013 book, The Public School Advantage, University of Illinois researchers Sarah Theule Lubienski and Christopher Lubienski found that compared to private schools students, public school students performed the same if not better on achievement tests once demographic factors were taken into account. Photo created by freepik - www.freepik.com. For tips on how to do that, see Class distinctions. IPE/BC Fellows on privatization and distributed learning, The State of Education in British Columbia, Annual Update: Public Subsidies to Private Schools, “How Canada Became an Education Superpower.”, Statistics Canada: Academic Outcomes of Public and Private High School Students: What Lies Behind the Differences? If your child is entering Grade 5 and up, it’s important to get her take on the teachers, as well. Private schools, on the other hand, can be run by a single person with no accountability. “In the public system, people shop around too, especially at the high school level,” says Paul Axelrod, Dean of the Faculty of Education at York University. If that contentment is missing, or their outlook on teaching doesn’t match what you have in mind for your kid, you’ll be able to tell very quickly in the course of even a casual conversation. In addition, Pianta and Ansari found no evidence to suggest that low-income children or children enrolled in urban schools, benefited from private school enrolment. Private school is a money pit from the moment you apply to the day your kid closes her last book. Over the years — or sometimes overnight — your child’s needs could change. The return on college investment is declining Is your credit card’s travel insurance enough? All of that, it was tougher for them.”. As for the duration and the beginning of the school year in private schools in Canada, it begins in September, and ends in May. Sarah Theule Lubienski didn’t set out to compare public schools and private schools. Here’s what you need to know, More on private schools from the September/October 2014 edition of, Calculating how much money you’ll need at retirement. © 2002-2020 Ratehub Inc. All rights reserved. They may not be included with tuition, so getting your kid involved could cost you extra. Conventional wisdom may say they are, but the evidence suggests that is a myth. “I often had kids who would say to me, ‘my friend who goes to public school has a higher average than I do and I work so much harder’,” McCauley recalls from her years as a private school guidance counsellor. Start by trying to find a school for your child, not trying to make your child fit a school.” You don’t have to be an expert like McCauley to find the right school for your kids; you just have to know your kids. Any school outside the public system tends to get labelled as “private,” in the same way that we tend to refer to all tissues as Kleenex, or all bubbly water as Perrier. Take any school that doesn’t satisfy off your shortlist. “What you’re guaranteed when you go into private is you’ve got teachers who are there by choice, as opposed to being placed there [as they often are in public school systems]. Lower cost than other private schools. Perspectives is an opportunity for Fellows and others to share their ideas in short, accessible essays. Share on Email, Your email address will not be published. Independent schools often outline their students’ courses of study right on their Web sites or in their brochures. For what it's worth I would recommend only considering schools that have been accredited. If your child has zero interest in a traditional school setting but wants to be a game developer, a private high school may not be worth the cost. They either felt really good, or they decided it wasn’t for them. It is by no means true that a private school is always better than a public school, and it is true that public schools can often be more diverse than many private schools. Less than seven percent of Canadian students attend private schools, but the majority of Canadians believe private schools provide a better education than public schools. “There are private schools now that are fly-by-night places. Average class size is 12 to 22 students. Sandra E. Martin  on August 8, 2019, By  The good news is that with a little effort, you can find a high-quality school, and protect yourself and your child from such fly-by-night operations. The national average private school tuition is approximately $11,004 per year (2020-21). Private Grade School Is Worth It If You Can Afford It If you make at least 5X the private grade school tuition per child, I think private grade school is worth it. According to Private School Review, the national average private school tuition is approximately $10,671 per year. But at least they knew.”. I mean look at what it costs. In other words, you could be paying for your child to receive a lesser education, in poorer conditions, than she would receive in your neighbourhood public school. Sandra E. Martin  on August 8, 2019. Between 2000–01 and 2016–17, the full-time equivalent (FTE) student enrolment in BC independent schools increased from 57,462.7 to 81,180.6. Ditto. “It costs parents a lot to send their kids and they might think therefore that those schools are just flowing in resources, but generally they’re not. With only a few exceptions, including in British Columbia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, independent schools are not required to hire certified teachers. “The teachers are all well-dressed, well-spoken, and they’re strong women — and those are the kinds of people I want to teach her.”, Nancy Ng had a similar experience on a tour of La Citadelle, which nailed the decision to enroll her son, Ian, in the Toronto school’s pre-Kindergarten program. “We’ve been there many times for open houses,” Wille says. Check out a website for Canadian Accreddited Independent Schools. Like most parents, you’ve probably wondered how much private school really costs. While the left side of your brain says you can’t afford it, the right side of your brain counters with the very compelling argument that hundreds of rich, influential and wildly successful men have graduated from this place: Galen Weston, Michael Ignatieff, Robertson Davies. To find CAIS member schools in your area, log on to www.cais.ca and click on Listings. Most schools levy a one-time, nonrefundable “registration fee” or “new student fee” of up to $9,000 the first year your child is enrolled. However, by simply controlling for the socio-demographic characteristics that selected children and families into these schools, all of the advantages of private school education were eliminated.”. In my area, it's about $10K per year per kid, and I'm told that is really cheap compared to places like the Bay Area and D.C. where it might be $30K per year per kid. Do private schools provide a better quality education than public schools? Those steps can be essential to finding the right fit, especially in schools where the number of applications far exceeds the number of empty desks. Some preparatory schools are more competitive than others. If public school isn’t the right choice for your child, but private school seems cost prohibitive, Catholic schools might be worth looking into for their price tag alone. Preparatory school sizes can range from 150 – 1000 students. That’s why, in addition to having their academic record looked at, children are often asked to write essays and sit through personal interviews before a school gives them the green light. “I loved the environment,” she says. To a certain degree, you can rely on the admissions department to determine whether the school and your kid are made for each other. But they can be tiring and stressful for your kid, not to mention expensive for you — private schools charge a fee for each application, which means that putting your kid’s name in at a half dozen places could set you back close to a grand. But, reality is more than appearances and focusing exclusively on appearances—on the evidence that strikes us immediately and directly—can be misleading. Read How does assisted dying impact survivor pensions? Recognize that they’re individuals with their own specific strengths and interests and you’re halfway there. Required fields are marked *. Enrolling your child in any school isn’t a lifetime commitment. “If they get a reputation as having a school that families abandon ship from, that’s a problem. They’re doing it for noble reasons. In order to enter a private Canadian boarding school, following documents are required: A copy of the student's passport or ID card Average Private School Tuition Cost (2020-21) State. There are many reasons to be skeptical of international rankings based upon a single test given to 15 year-olds. For more research-based resources on private schools see “Resources on Private Schools” by National Education Policy Center at the University of Colorado. On top of that, some also require you to make a “loan” to the school help pay for upgrades and maintenance of the facilities. Statistics Canada echoed these findings in a 2015 report, which found students in Canadian private schools have more educational success than their public school counterparts because of their socio-economic characteristics, not because of private schools themselves. But, there is substantial and growing evidence that there is no value-added in private school education. When you add in books, uniforms and lunches (which sometimes cost extra), a year of private school for a student within daily commuting distance can easily inch towards $40,000 a year. On average, the cost of private school tuition for the 2011-2012 school year was $10,740 per child, according to the NCES. The provincial government partially funds private schools according to the quality of education that they provide. Our goal is to provide the most relevant and up-to-date information as possible, but, as with all things you read on the internet, we recommend you digest our content critically and cross-reference with your own sources, especially before making a financial decision. A recent study using 2013/14 enrolment data provided by provincial ministries of education for every independent school (that’s a more appropriate term to describe schools not ensconced in the public systems) in Canada revealed a landscape contrary to the stereotype. Read “How do I become a money coach in Canada?”, Read Strategies for smarter charitable giving. It makes a big difference what any teacher can both see and accomplish with 12 kids vs 24 kids. Shockingly, there are no laws in place to stop a person with zero educational training to hang a shingle outside their door and start enrolling students. All of these factors feed the idea there is a private school advantage. We are unable to control and are not responsible for any of the content on external sites that we may link to. And those fantastic athletic programs or music facilities that sold you on private school in the first place? That’s a significant burden for a middle-class family. Last year the BBC ran a story with the headline “How Canada Became an Education Superpower.”  The BBC pointed out that Singapore, South Korea and Finland usually get mentioned as the world’s top performing education systems, “but with much less recognition, Canada has climbed to the top tier of international rankings.”. If you start your kid in Grade 7, you’re looking at a $200,000-plus investment in his education — before university. They’re run on a shoestring,” says York University’s Paul Axelrod. As public schools face budget cuts that lead to larger class sizes and fewer resources, many private schools continue to flourish. 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