Low-Fee Education

Your child's school fee covers most expenses, including tuition, building levy contributions, school resources, course fees, and any planned excursions.

Tutition: This portion of the fee is set by the Catholic Education Office. It assists with the general operating costs related to providing a high-quality education as part of our Catholic system of schools.

Building levy: This portion is also set by the Catholic Education Office. It is used to provide capital grants to schools for new facilities and to meet loan payments for school buildings.

School resources: This portion is set by the school. It is used to pay for the specific resources and activities your child will require depending on the grade they are in. It also includes fees for some courses undertaken by secondary students.

We have a rich history of educating generations of families in our Catholic schools. That's why we offer significant discounts, including one annual tuition/building levy fee for families in primary school (no matter how many children you enrol) and sibling discounts in our secondary and K-12 schools (from 25 - 100% off depending on how many children are enrolled).

Primary schools

The tuition and building levy portions of your school fees are charged per family. That means no matter how many children you have enrolled at the same primary school at the same time, you will only pay the annual tuition and building levy portions once. Each child will still have their own school-based fee, because of the particular costs associated with the grade they are in.

• E.g. A family with three children (in Kindergarten, Year 2, and Year 4) at the same primary school would pay $10,040 before family discounts, and just $3,864 after the discount, saving $6,176 per year (example only).

Secondary and K-12 schools

In secondary schools, we apply a sibling discount to children from the same family enrolled at the same time. The tuition fee portion is discounted at 25% for your second child, 50% for your third, with any additional children paying no tuition fee at all. The building levy is discounted at 50% for your second child, with any additional children paying no building levy portion at all.

Siblings discounts only apply to siblings enrolled at the same secondary school at the same time. They do not apply across different schools (e.g. if you have two siblings enrolled at two different secondary schools, or one sibling enrolled at a primary school and another at a secondary school).

• E.g. A family with three children (in Year 7, Year 9, and Year 11) at the same secondary school would pay $14,760 before sibling discounts, and just $11,404 after the discount, saving $3,365 per year (example only).

School fees are due 30 days after invoicing, unless you request to pay by instalment. This allows you to pay fees over the course of the school year, rather than all at once. You can choose from quarterly, monthly, fortnightly, or weekly payment options.

We know how hard it is for families at times. If you're facing financial hardship, please don't hesitate to complete a Fee Concession Application. No student's enrolment will ever be impacted by a genuine inability to cover the cost of school fees.

We'll need some documentation to support your application, and you'll usually meet with your school principal to discuss your situation. We handle these matters with the utmost care and confidentiality.

What if my child is already enrolled?

We understand that circumstances can change unexpectedly. If your child is already enrolled in one of our schools, you may also be eligible for a fee concession in the event of genuine financial hardship.

Fee concessions are reviewed annually with up-to-date financial information required each year.

To give you a clear picture of the costs upfront, we send out annual invoices at the beginning of the year. This invoice covers most expenses, including tuition, building levy contributions, school resources, course fees, and any planned excursions.

While we try to keep unexpected costs to a minimum, there might be some small additional fees throughout the year. If this happens, your school will let you know in advance, and these fees are typically separate from your regular payments.

School fees are due 30 days after invoicing, unless you request a different payment option.

School fees are reviewed and updated annually, before the start of the new school year.

When you enrol your child, all parents/carers included on the enrolment documentation enter into an agreement with us about school fees. This means you're jointly and severally liable* for making sure fees are paid throughout your child's enrolment.

One school fee account allows us to manage your account as one debt in accordance with joint and several liability. Under joint and several liability, we are obligated to keep all parties informed of the status of their school fee account. Splitting fees and creating separate accounts with individual school fee statements does not align with this obligation.

We understand that separated parents might have different arrangements for paying school fees. We encourage you to work together to figure out what works best for your situation. We can only accept one Request to Pay School Fees by Instalment per account, but you're welcome to make additional payments whenever you'd like.

It's important to note that schools aren't legally required to split fee accounts, even if there are court orders related to child support or family law.

*Joint and several liability means that each person who has signed the contract for enrolment is individually responsible for payment of all school fees and levies. The contract for enrolment prior to 2022 is the Enrolment Application and from 2022, the Acceptance of an Offer of Enrolment.