PRIVATE FEE-PAYING schools are continuing to attract students in record numbers, despite the recession.
Amid strong demand from parents, eight fee-paying schools in Dublin are raising their fees this year. Several others, including Wesley and Castleknock College, are increasing their intake as enrolment rises.
In St Gerard’s, Bray, Co Wicklow – one of the most expensive fee paying schools in the State – enrolment is up from 464 pupils two years ago to 496 in 2011. Overall, the school has registered a 28 per cent increase in enrolment over the past decade.
One of the largest increases in enrolment is at Mount Anville in Goatstown, south Dublin, where pupil numbers have jumped from 618 to 640 over the past year.
A broadly similar pattern is evident at Belvedere College (enrolment is up from 997 to 1,005) and at Wesley College, Ballinteer, which is increasing its first-year intake from 150 to 167 pupils.
Castleknock College also records an increased demand for places in the school, and is taking in 567 pupils – an increase of 29 – this year. St Andrew’s College in Booterstown, which has 988 pupils, is full and has a long waiting list.
Overall, some 26,000 students are enrolled in the 56 private schools in the State. Many of the big-name schools have seen remarkable growth in pupil numbers over the past decade including Gonzaga (up 11 per cent), Belvedere and CUS (both up 10 per cent ) and Blackrock College (up 4 per cent). Enrolment is either holding firm or rising at these schools.
The boom in private education is continuing despite fees averaging more than €5,000 for day pupils and more than €15,000 for boarders.
Fees are increasing this year at several fee paying schools including several Protestant schools who must cope with the withdrawal of the ancillary education grant. Fees at The High School, a Church of Ireland school in Rathgar, rise from €4,950 to € 5,050.
Wesley College has raised its fee slightly, from €5,500 to €5,560, an increase of just over one per cent.
Alexander College in Milltown is increasing its fee from €6,150 to €6,250, a rise of 1.6 per cent. In 2007, the school charged €5,620. Two year ago, the school was widely criticised when it removed a Junior Cert student because of a dispute with her parents over unpaid fees.
In the boarding sector, Glenstal Abbey, a prestigious Catholic school run by the Benedictine monks, is increasing its fee from €15,100 to €15,400.
The State subsidises private schools to the tune of €100 million, most of which is used to pay teachers’ salaries. Private schools generate an additional €100 million in fee income.