Why do parents who can afford to pay school fees not choose independent schools?
It’s a problem that has puzzled the sector for years: why do families who could afford to send their children to independent schools not do so? A new mtmconsulting survey explains why.
Some parents may have political or philosophical objections to an independent education. Many will be perfectly happy with the doubtless very good state schools serving their middle-class communities. But is it really true that the current size of the independent sector – give or take the odd few thousand – represents the sector’s maximum penetration of the available market?
This pioneering new mtmconsulting report suggests that that is far from true. After studying in detail responses from more than 800 high-income families, it suggests that there may be as many as 100,000 other families that can both afford to pay school fees and who, if their doubts and concerns were better addressed, might be persuaded to take advantage of what independent schools have to offer.
Even if only a third of those families could be persuaded to change their decisions, the sector would grow immediately by 5 per cent.
The Missing Million is available from: mtmconsulting ltd, Portland House, 43 High Street, Southwold, Suffolk, IP18 6AB (tel 01502 722787; emailoffice@mtmconsulting.co.uk), price £47 + VAT & postage.
