Victorian parents paying more for private school than any other state

February 18, 2025 journo

Victorian parents are paying higher tuition fees for private and Catholic schools than those in any other state, with statewide median charges rising to more than $11,200 this year.

The hip pocket pain is being felt most sharply in Melbourne’s inner south-east, where school fees have soared nearly 8 per cent – well above the national average of 6 per cent – in 2025, bringing the median annual tuition fee in the area to nearly $41,000.

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics this week showed enrolments at Victorian non-government schools increased by 2.6 per cent in 2024, bringing the proportion of all the state’s students enrolled in private schools to 37 per cent.

NSW experienced the sharpest average fee rise among the states this year – 7.16 per cent, compared with 5.9 per cent in Victoria – according to an analysis of 902 schools across Australia by education finance provider Edstart.

But at $9315, the median fees there will still be nearly $1900 less than those in Victoria. In Queensland, the median fee is $9295.

Only parents in the ACT, a statistical outlier where median fees will be more than $17,000 this year, are paying more this year than Victorian families for independent education.

Edstart said a key driver of the rise in Victorian private school fees was the state Labor government’s payroll tax changes, which came into force in July last year for schools charging more than $15,000 a year.

The survey found prices rising more sharply at Victoria’s high-fee-paying prestige schools, which were passing their newly increased tax bills onto parents, than at the more modestly priced independent schools, which were exempt from the tax increase.

That trend was the opposite of NSW, Queensland and South Australia, where lower-priced schools were leading the market upward.

Edstart said the steep rise in fees in NSW was driven by recent improved pay deals for that state’s independent school teachers, resulting in schools passing their higher wage bills onto fee-paying parents.

A big recent pay win for Victorian TAFE teachers is expected to put upward pressure on wages in the Victorian education sector, while the Independent Education Union told The Age this week that it would push hard for a significant pay rise in the sector when bargaining begins this year.

Non-Catholic private schools in Victoria bargain with their staff individually and several recent deals suggest that wages are moving upward in that sector too.

But Edstart chief executive Jack Stevens told The Age that there was hope that Victorian parents would not be suddenly asked to pay more to fund rising teacher wages.

“I’m not convinced that you’re going to see a massive increases flow through the Victorian system,” he said.

“There’s not a lot of room for that to be absorbed by the system on top of the payroll tax, because that’s already just jammed a big challenge into the budgets of every schools that are getting hit with it.”

Rachel Holthouse, chief executive of lobby group Independent Schools Victoria, said schools were “acutely conscious of the pressures on family budgets” when setting fees.

“Schools are not immune to the rising costs affecting the entire community,” Holthouse said.

“They face increasing costs in areas like utilities, insurance and especially staff salaries, which make up the largest component of their operating expenses.

“The Edstart report confirms the harmful impact on families of payroll tax imposed on a growing number of independent schools by the Victorian government.”

Education Minister Ben Carroll defended the payroll tax settings, saying the system was fair.

“Every government school in Victoria pays payroll tax so it’s only fair that the highest-fee private schools now also contribute,” a spokesperson said.

“We listened closely to schools on this policy – keeping over 90 per cent of Victoria’s non-government schools exempt and increasing the threshold to make sure only the high-fee schools are subject to payroll tax.”

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