Don't you find this time of the year is a money burner?
$963 university fees for next paper
$500 "voluntary" school fees for state school including subject breakdown (I have issues with that as a school can not legally charge for something that is curriculum based...)
$500 for state high school uniform
$300 for another school uniform
$120 for 3 lots of school stationery
$3-600 for the so called have to have i-pad for school(do not have and will take laptop and see how we go...)
And then weekly public transport for two to get to school...
Isn't it horrific for a "free" education?! We had no idea that the state school fees were that high... i bought both uniforms just before Christmas thankfully, but with Christmas, where i don't buy stuff throughout the year as, you know, teenagers, they change their minds, all the time, and long school hols, which just eat money anyhow, how on earth do people in this country afford everything on our lowish wages???
The only thing that can get claimed back on taxes is the $300 "voluntary" fees NOT subject fees , which is outrageous to me.
So I've taken the attitude that the husband can sort all of this out... he can pay what he wants or not. Schools are in such a hard place in NZ - so under funded, but the things that students are asked to take now, funded by the parents, is getting quite crazy to me. Schools have choices and choose what they want to do with that money... sometimes i think they need to rethink. It is not always the parents putting pressure on schools. And a big hello to the one who has broken the copyright act with a resource this afternoon - the principal will be hearing from this librarian!
We have ditched all after school activties/ extra curriular bar scouts - scouts is cool and we have done it for 10 years now in this family. One is starting to learn the double bass and we will shortly have one to keep at home for the year, provided for free, by the school.
I do finally feel like a free women, driving straight home from my school and having all this free time and no school drop offs/pick ups!
oh it is awful to look at all those costs! you can see the gap widening when technology becomes an expectation as part of stationery, it makes me cross!
ReplyDeleteI am amazed by your requirement for 'voluntary' expenses Kimberley. In Scotland, if your children go to a state school, you don't pay anything towards the lessons. We have to buy school uniforms, but these are readily available at the supermarket, apart from the school blazer, which is not expensive, about £30.00. Stationary yes, but only pens and pencils, and the occasional notebook that the boys might want, all school jotters are provided by the school. And an I-pad for school??? Outrageous! We pay for extra curricular trips, such as outings, and residential trips, but none of these are compulsory. X
ReplyDeleteHere in France there's a long list of stationery and stuff for the students, but I don't know about tablets/i-pads etc. I don't have kids so it doersn't really affect me, but I can imagine how difficult it must be for families on a budget.
ReplyDelete