Can you afford your children’s school fees? (2)

As discussed in the first part of this article, the school your children attend is your choice. Rather than stick to a choice that gives you sleepless nights and premature grey hairs, you have options that can relieve that pressure and give you a breathing space so that you can focus on building the required cash flow to enable you afford on a sustainable basis the education you desire for your children. Sending your children to expensive private schools is nice, but if the effort is wiping you out financially, you are shooting yourself in the foot, and putting yourself and your family under undue pressure. It is not a do-or-die affair.

In the 1980s, those of us who attended top tier federal universities thought we were superior to others from ‘lesser’ federal and state universities. While we still greet ourselves with shouts of great UNILAG, UI, Ife, UNIBEN, UNN, ABU etc., in the corporate and business world, it is hard to tell who attended one of the ‘great’ universities and those who didn’t. Researchers have since found out that emotional intelligence is a better indicator of future success in life than academic intelligence.

It makes more sense, therefore, to focus more on building our income earning capability than weakening ourselves financially by liquidating our assets to pay expensive school fees. It is like the goose and the golden egg. If we kill the goose, the golden egg stops coming. If you find yourself getting overwhelmed by your children’s school fees, you have at least four options without having to go to friends and family for temporary bail-out

Moving to a cheaper private school

You can move your children to a cheaper private school. This may dent your ego, but the amount charged is not necessarily an indicator of the quality of education offered by the school. More often than not, the fees charged depend on the location of the school rather than the quality of teachers or the curriculum. An easy way to confirm this is to check out the fees charged by a group of schools with branches in different locations. They charge different fees based on location, although they run the same curriculum and use the same pool of teachers.

This means in effect that much of what you pay for is the location and not the output. If you want lower fees, you can achieve that by simply moving your children to a location with cheaper schools, which in some instances, is closer home. Some parents send their children far away to attend expensive schools. This means the children are usually the first to be picked up by the school bus before the sun rises, and the last to be dropped off.

Moving to a public school

Most parents would die of shame if their children went to a public school. For them, it is not an option. This is despite the fact that some public schools are better than some of the so called private schools. The Lagos State Government, for example, has modernised a lot of public schools, which now have modern classrooms, science labs, computers etc. Some international oil companies have also assisted by upgrading some public schools in their areas of operation. Some private schools were shut down a while ago by the state government due to lack of basic amenities.

Even in the event that the output of a public school is not up to the desired standard, the parents can teach the child after school to close the identified gaps. This is much cheaper than going cap in hand looking for temporary bail-out from friends and family.

Home tutoring

This option is not popular in Nigeria but is doable. If the mum, for example, is not working, she can teach the child at home for external exams. This method is recognised by some education authorities in Europe and the United States. All that is required is to get the curriculum, textbooks etc. and register the child for external exams when due. Registering the child for certificate exams can be a challenge but it can be arranged through a private school. I have not confirmed if that can be done through a public school.

I know a lot of people will say it is not possible. I know folks who registered for exams as external students, prepared for them and came from outside to take them. If the mother is a graduate, she can teach all the subjects, especially at the primary school level. This spares the family the expense of school fees, while the child gets quality education at home pending when things improve financially. With the Internet, the child can also enrol in a school online.

Staying home for a year

This is the worst case scenario when your finances are in a very bad shape. Rather than bury yourself deeper in debt, the children can stay at home for a year till things improve. This formula is common among those of us from large families who grew up in the village. If our parents could not meet up with school fees, some of us simply stayed back at home to work in the farm until the situation improved. Your classmates will leave you behind for sure, but in the game of life, you find out that it is not he who finishes first that wins. Ten years after graduation, it does not matter who graduated first.

One advantage of losing a year is that you become more mature. Nowadays, parents rush their children through school. They move their children from year four or five years straight to secondary school. In the United Kingdom, which we model our educational system after; children are placed in classes based on their ages. After secondary school, they do A Levels, have a gap year when they work or travel round the world to discover themselves before going to universities. In the US, you cannot read Law as a first degree. You have to grow up first. Life is a marathon. Leading the pack in the first kilometre does not guarantee you will win the race.

Different strokes for different folks

We all have different circumstances; so, there is no one solution that fits all. What is required is the courage to be true to yourself no matter what others may think. It is important you cut your coat according to your cloth and in the process, teach your child to do same. That legacy will stand your child in a much better stead than going to any fancy school will

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