Parents hit by soaring school tuition fees

TUITION FEES: Increase in costs is unavoidable, say many private schools in the UAE.

Tuition fees for some grades at private schools in the UAE have rocketed by up to 50 percent amid a national shortage of spaces.

School administrators say the increases have been unavoidable, and are tied to the same inflationary spiral that has driven up the cost of everything, in particular housing and food.

The sharp rises have caused some parents to take drastic measures, including deferring the start of their children’s education until next year, reported UAE daily The National on Sunday.

“The reality in the UAE, with the majority of education being private, is that nearly 100 per cent of school revenue comes from tuition,” Jason McBride, the principal at the GEMS American Academy – Abu Dhabi, one of the few schools that did not raise its tuition fees this year, told the paper.

“Unfortunately, when inflation is high and the costs of food, housing and transportation skyrockets it impacts families, but it also raises the costs associated with running a school.”

The cost of bringing in North American-trained teachers and paying them a premium, housing them and transporting them, he said, continued to rise every year, and tuition must follow suit.

“If everything is going up, how do schools afford to operate? They have to raise tuition; an unfortunate double whammy to parents,” he said.

The American Community School (ACS) has raised fees by 15 per cent this year while at the British School – Al Khubairat, primary school fees have been raised by 27 percent, while secondary school charges have been increased 10 per cent.

The Sharjah English School this year put up annual fees for the first foundation year by 53 percent.

Schools say the tuition increases have been driven by sharp increases in their own costs, particularly rent.

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READERS' COMMENTS

bogus excuses
Posted by r, Dubai on Monday 1 September 2008 at 10:52 UAE time


With the American recession and the growing appeal of Dubai, it is not more but less expensive to get North American or even European teachers to the UAE.
Schools are simply reacting to the high demand and reaping the profits before this economy normalizes and competition kicks in – like any normal business would do.
All of the ME relies heavily on private schooling and qualified Middle Eastern teachers are ubiquitous, why don't schools turn to more cost effective teachers? It’s a mere business decision; with Middle Eastern teachers they can’t charge fees that are as high. Why don't schools push back on the UAE gov't to assist them? Why don't schools find ways of cutting costs like all businesses are doing in the current crunch? Simply because they don't want to, even with ridiculously high tuitions, they are filling their classes.
The only way to accept this is to think of schools as businesses – making the most of the boom. The question is, do we want to accept it?

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