School Fees - How Much And For What Age

[torrenova]

Following on from the other thread on school fees I wanted to get an updated idea of school fees around Pattaya for various ages, the entrance fees charged and whether people were paying themselves or whether their employer was covering the bill.

I'm particularly interested in any trade offs people paying their own fees had to make or decided to make because the fees were too high.

My brief investigation a while ago seemed to throw up large signing up fees which were high enough so trap some people to a school when they would prefer to move their children. Annual fees seemed quite western in terms of price and yet the feeling I got was that the results did not justify the fees and the real beneficiaries were the school owners.

Whilst my current interest is focussed on the younger years, I would like to hear from people with experience and knowledge covering the whole academic time from the earliest years to the end of school life and preparation for university.

Any observations and comments welcome as well as some accurate figures.

[ktamp]

I have a son in primary at regents. The fees are just under 100,000 thb per term. That includes his lunches provided by the school. I do not remember the application fee as it was some time ago but I believe it was around 30,000 thb. Uniforms ran us about 10,000 thb for a set of 5. In hindsight, I would have only bought 3 and saved some money. When you have a maid doing laundry every day, there isn't really a need to have 5 sets of school uniforms. This included socks, swimsuit, and a regents hat. Bussing is an additional fee and it depends on where you live. I am not sure of this as we decided not to send our son on the bus and take him every day instead.

The fees are paid by my husband's employer. When we were looking at schools, it seemed the fees were pretty close to the other international schools here.....st andrews and ISE.

The fees are pretty expensive I think for what we would pay in the states for a private school. And regents has had it's issues for us. But we have been extremely pleased with the curriculum and the quality of the education our son is getting so we keep him there. I do think they nickel and dime to death. Everything is an extra fee. field trips and school festivities and such. I had to pay 30 baht for a krathong for their loy krathong festival. Not alot but it annoys me that the fees are so high and they can't provide a krathong for the children. There is no doubt the owner of the school is the real benificiary of the fees.

[Nio]

I have a son in primary at regents. The fees are just under 100,000 thb per term. That includes his lunches provided by the school. I do not remember the application fee as it was some time ago but I believe it was around 30,000 thb. Uniforms ran us about 10,000 thb for a set of 5. In hindsight, I would have only bought 3 and saved some money. When you have a maid doing laundry every day, there isn't really a need to have 5 sets of school uniforms. This included socks, swimsuit, and a regents hat. Bussing is an additional fee and it depends on where you live. I am not sure of this as we decided not to send our son on the bus and take him every day instead.

The fees are paid by my husband's employer. When we were looking at schools, it seemed the fees were pretty close to the other international schools here.....st andrews and ISE.

The fees are pretty expensive I think for what we would pay in the states for a private school. And regents has had it's issues for us. But we have been extremely pleased with the curriculum and the quality of the education our son is getting so we keep him there. I do think they nickel and dime to death. Everything is an extra fee. field trips and school festivities and such. I had to pay 30 baht for a krathong for their loy krathong festival. Not alot but it annoys me that the fees are so high and they can't provide a krathong for the children. There is no doubt the owner of the school is the real benificiary of the fees.

I feel the same way, schools are run as businesses and not educational facilities. Every single baht they can get, they will find a way to get it from you. I for one am no longer a believer in the school system here. Not because of fee's but because of the teacher student ratio's. If you have a child in international school that can speak both English and Thai, they will waste a good part of everyday doing nothing while the teacher explains over and over and over to the students that cannot understand English or Thai. I have witnessed such as waste of time at the school and kids just sitting there bored, not learning and being easily distracted.

After spending half a year researching home schooling, this term I decided to withdraw my son and use a private US school curriculum at home (4rth grade)

The curriculum is set up so there are certains pages in the books from each section, English, Math, Reading, Writing, Reading Comprehension, Science and Thinking Skills that are to be finished each day.

I can honestly say this schoolwork to do the daily assignments takes less than 2 hours total and once you are done that is it for that day.

I have a Thai tutor come in the afternoon.

Our Moo Ban has plenty of kids and a great park so he gets all the social interaction action he can handle.

With the one on one time explaining things to my son, not only does he learn, but weeks later he remembers everything.

I decided to use a US private school curriculum in the event we ever go back to the USA he will be right where he is suppose to.

This has left us more time to visit other places (field trips) and get actual experience learning from doing.

The good thing is my son is so motivated to learn this way and he enjoys this time 100%

[PattayaParent]

100k per term for Year 1 in St. Andrews, fees paid by me.

[NanLaew]

323,500 THB per term (3) at Gordonstoun.

Kinda puts the private 'education' system here in some sort of perspective regards getting what you pay for IMHO.

Edited November 19, 2009 by NanLaew

[Thaifan2]

Aksorn School ,Nakula ,central Pattaya and south Pattaya .Ist term for Thai daughter 6 year old B12,500 ,and second term around B8,000 but we have taken her out as we move soon to Chiang Mai .She was getting one hour English lessons a day .They have a swimming pool and playing fields .

PS,It was a shock to me to have to pay such fees as state Education in Ireland ( my home country ) is free up to 18 years old .

Edited November 19, 2009 by Thaifan2

[torrenova]

323,500 THB per term (3) at Gordonstoun.

Kinda puts the private 'education' system here in some sort of perspective regards getting what you pay for IMHO.

Yes, but boarding is not for all and Gordonstoun is "famous". I do agree though that 1m at Gordonstoun is perceived as better value than 500k at one of the Pattaya schools.

[torrenova]

If you have a child in international school that can speak both English and Thai, they will waste a good part of everyday doing nothing while the teacher explains over and over and over to the students that cannot understand English or Thai. I have witnessed such as waste of time at the school and kids just sitting there bored, not learning and being easily distracted.

I don't believe that is correct. Instruction is given in one language and that is English. There are certainly classes for children whose first language is not English and I would presume that there are language classes for foreign languages, one would assume including Thai. I do not think they have a mixed class with them teaching half in Thai and half in English. That would be stupid.

[torrenova]

I have a son in primary at regents. The fees are just under 100,000 thb per term. That includes his lunches provided by the school. I do not remember the application fee as it was some time ago but I believe it was around 30,000 thb. Uniforms ran us about 10,000 thb for a set of 5. In hindsight, I would have only bought 3 and saved some money. When you have a maid doing laundry every day, there isn't really a need to have 5 sets of school uniforms. This included socks, swimsuit, and a regents hat. Bussing is an additional fee and it depends on where you live. I am not sure of this as we decided not to send our son on the bus and take him every day instead.

The fees are paid by my husband's employer. When we were looking at schools, it seemed the fees were pretty close to the other international schools here.....st andrews and ISE.

The fees are pretty expensive I think for what we would pay in the states for a private school. And regents has had it's issues for us. But we have been extremely pleased with the curriculum and the quality of the education our son is getting so we keep him there. I do think they nickel and dime to death. Everything is an extra fee. field trips and school festivities and such. I had to pay 30 baht for a krathong for their loy krathong festival. Not alot but it annoys me that the fees are so high and they can't provide a krathong for the children. There is no doubt the owner of the school is the real benificiary of the fees.

Looking at their websites, just why would they feel the need to add in the separated cost for compulsory school lunches seems stupid. It just makes people think that they know their fees are on the high side and cannot perhaps be justified.

My gut feeling is that they are the best of a limited choice and that if you have the resources, whether corporate or personal, then you use them.

[ktamp]

I have a son in primary at regents. The fees are just under 100,000 thb per term. That includes his lunches provided by the school. I do not remember the application fee as it was some time ago but I believe it was around 30,000 thb. Uniforms ran us about 10,000 thb for a set of 5. In hindsight, I would have only bought 3 and saved some money. When you have a maid doing laundry every day, there isn't really a need to have 5 sets of school uniforms. This included socks, swimsuit, and a regents hat. Bussing is an additional fee and it depends on where you live. I am not sure of this as we decided not to send our son on the bus and take him every day instead.

The fees are paid by my husband's employer. When we were looking at schools, it seemed the fees were pretty close to the other international schools here.....st andrews and ISE.

The fees are pretty expensive I think for what we would pay in the states for a private school. And regents has had it's issues for us. But we have been extremely pleased with the curriculum and the quality of the education our son is getting so we keep him there. I do think they nickel and dime to death. Everything is an extra fee. field trips and school festivities and such. I had to pay 30 baht for a krathong for their loy krathong festival. Not alot but it annoys me that the fees are so high and they can't provide a krathong for the children. There is no doubt the owner of the school is the real benificiary of the fees.

Looking at their websites, just why would they feel the need to add in the separated cost for compulsory school lunches seems stupid. It just makes people think that they know their fees are on the high side and cannot perhaps be justified.

My gut feeling is that they are the best of a limited choice and that if you have the resources, whether corporate or personal, then you use them.

I have friends with children at both ISE and st andrews and they are happy with their choice. I don't necessarily think regents is better but it was the best fit for us I felt. I get annoyed with all the extra fees and I think they could have been less obvious about it. Such as just adding the cost of the school lunches into the tuition so it's not apparent how they nickel and dime to death. Its not true as a previous poster has said about teaching in both english and thai. All the curriculum is taught in english. Thai is a requirement and the students get two lessons a week in primary. Starting in year 3 I believe they can choose another foreign language. There is a nice english as a second language program to help those who are not native english speakers. I have no complaints about the curriculum and the quality of the education so I try to overlook the stuff that does bug me.

[mogy]

Our first lad is in year 3 in Regents. Around 130,000+ per term at the moment. Paying for it ourselves unfortunately. Each year on the increase which is an extreme source of irritation for me. Even this year they managed to tack on 2% from last year and this notice letter came a week after it was reported in the Bangkok Post that the cost of living for the previous year in Thailand had decreased by 2% - thus a 4% overall increase in fees. The usual increase has been 5% each year. Like 'ktamp' indicates, the little bits they beg for throughout the year are also annoying. They also indicate that school lunch fee is mandatory but my wife cooks for ours and we don't pay.

Our boy does like the school and he has loved the teachers he's had so far and from the interaction I have had with them they seem genuine, interested and good with the kids. The colourfull class environment seems to be good also - especially when remembering the drabness of my own schools growing up.....

He has done well in his classes so far. I'm not sure about the homework side of it though since he doesn't seem to get too much this year during the week. Don't really know how that works since I would have expected a little bit more this year but the teacher says it will be coming.

It's British curriculum all in English with obligatory Thai lessons during the week.

Prior to this he was in St.Andrews for 2 years and loved it there also. Slightly cheaper than Regents but close enough to the 100,000 per term and I think from other posts on thaivisa recently that they have been upping their prices also. Again his teachers were very good and he came on in leaps and bounds with his english and maths. We had to transfer to Regents after the arrival of our second since the journey too and fro was too much for my wife since we don't have a maid - my wife refuses to get one ...anyway can't afford one with the school fees..... . However the school did seem good and the teacher he had seemed good also.

Same again with all British curriculum in English and I'm not sure about the Thai lessons side since he didn't have any at that age.

Our second lad is now in the montessori school MCC in Naklua - kindergarden. We can't afford the two of them in Regents together for now. Cost of MCC is around 40,000 per term I think - maybe a little more. His teacher seems to be very good also and seems to have a great relationship with the kids in the class. She seems to be after having a big influence on our fella anyway cos he's calmed down immensely and is able to take instructions much better after only the few months he's been there - he was wired before he went there. The school's environment I have to say is a great place for young kids.

The school is a bit old and requires refurbishment but they are opening a new school near crocodile farm junction next year and will be accepting all grades right up to (and including ?? not sure) secondary school. Unfortunately the costs will undoubtedly rise accordingly.

The main problem with the fees in the Pattaya area is we are a captive audience and the schools know they will always have the majority 'company paying families' to provide the main bulk of income and since companies aren't generally really bothered about the prices the schools have a free hand to increase year-on-year.

Hope the above is of use to you.

Now, I better get back to work to pay for next years fees...

[torrenova]

Our first lad is in year 3 in Regents. Around 130,000+ per term at the moment. Paying for it ourselves unfortunately. Each year on the increase which is an extreme source of irritation for me. Even this year they managed to tack on 2% from last year and this notice letter came a week after it was reported in the Bangkok Post that the cost of living for the previous year in Thailand had decreased by 2% - thus a 4% overall increase in fees. The usual increase has been 5% each year. Like 'ktamp' indicates, the little bits they beg for throughout the year are also annoying. They also indicate that school lunch fee is mandatory but my wife cooks for ours and we don't pay.

Our boy does like the school and he has loved the teachers he's had so far and from the interaction I have had with them they seem genuine, interested and good with the kids. The colourfull class environment seems to be good also - especially when remembering the drabness of my own schools growing up.....

He has done well in his classes so far. I'm not sure about the homework side of it though since he doesn't seem to get too much this year during the week. Don't really know how that works since I would have expected a little bit more this year but the teacher says it will be coming.

It's British curriculum all in English with obligatory Thai lessons during the week.

Prior to this he was in St.Andrews for 2 years and loved it there also. Slightly cheaper than Regents but close enough to the 100,000 per term and I think from other posts on thaivisa recently that they have been upping their prices also. Again his teachers were very good and he came on in leaps and bounds with his english and maths. We had to transfer to Regents after the arrival of our second since the journey too and fro was too much for my wife since we don't have a maid - my wife refuses to get one ...anyway can't afford one with the school fees..... . However the school did seem good and the teacher he had seemed good also.

Same again with all British curriculum in English and I'm not sure about the Thai lessons side since he didn't have any at that age.

Our second lad is now in the montessori school MCC in Naklua - kindergarden. We can't afford the two of them in Regents together for now. Cost of MCC is around 40,000 per term I think - maybe a little more. His teacher seems to be very good also and seems to have a great relationship with the kids in the class. She seems to be after having a big influence on our fella anyway cos he's calmed down immensely and is able to take instructions much better after only the few months he's been there - he was wired before he went there. The school's environment I have to say is a great place for young kids.

The school is a bit old and requires refurbishment but they are opening a new school near crocodile farm junction next year and will be accepting all grades right up to (and including ?? not sure) secondary school. Unfortunately the costs will undoubtedly rise accordingly.

The main problem with the fees in the Pattaya area is we are a captive audience and the schools know they will always have the majority 'company paying families' to provide the main bulk of income and since companies aren't generally really bothered about the prices the schools have a free hand to increase year-on-year.

Hope the above is of use to you.

Now, I better get back to work to pay for next years fees...

I've seen this price increase for the sake of increasing the price and without any reference to the "real" world. As you rightly say, a company which has an employee costing millions of baht is not going to be too bothered about a few tens of thousands more on school fees. For the self paying folks, it can be a struggle I can understand. Mine is just 2 years old and at the very beginning of the educational ladder (which will undoubtedly leave me with many bills over the next 20 years !).

Historically I bandied around the Bt1m a year as the cost of schooling and whilst I knew the lower levels would not come to that, I anticipated foreign trips and other expenses once they reached 11 or so and with all the ancillary add ons, would get near that number. I also thought that going to university would cost so many millions a year that budgeting 1m a year (and investing any surplus) would be needed. I guess I am not that far off realistically.

Bt1m a year for 20 years is around £360,000 at current rates or about $625,000. That is a fair chunk of change to pay for an education and it would look much better in my bank than in a private school !

Thanks for the comments and keep them coming.

[PattayaParent]

Looking at their websites, just why would they feel the need to add in the separated cost for compulsory school lunches seems stupid. It just makes people think that they know their fees are on the high side and cannot perhaps be justified.

My gut feeling is that they are the best of a limited choice and that if you have the resources, whether corporate or personal, then you use them.

The school lunches are not compulsory.

[PattayaParent]

If you have a child in international school that can speak both English and Thai, they will waste a good part of everyday doing nothing while the teacher explains over and over and over to the students that cannot understand English or Thai. I have witnessed such as waste of time at the school and kids just sitting there bored, not learning and being easily distracted.

I don't believe that is correct. Instruction is given in one language and that is English. There are certainly classes for children whose first language is not English and I would presume that there are language classes for foreign languages, one would assume including Thai. I do not think they have a mixed class with them teaching half in Thai and half in English. That would be stupid.

Quite correct torrenova.

[PattayaParent]

I've seen this price increase for the sake of increasing the price and without any reference to the "real" world.

Don't you get anuual pay rises in your occupation?

Or do you expect that teachers (and other school employees) shouldn't get pay rises?

[mogy]

I've seen this price increase for the sake of increasing the price and without any reference to the "real" world.

Don't you get anuual pay rises in your occupation?

Or do you expect that teachers (and other school employees) shouldn't get pay rises?

You reckon the teachers receive a 5% pay rise each year ??

[PattayaParent]

I get a minimum of 10% in my company so I would see 5% as too little.

Besides which at St. Andrews in the last 2 years there has been capital investment in the form of 2 new buildings and more capital investment planned in the coming year(s).

This needs to be funded from school fees.

[basjke]

I get a minimum of 10% in my company so I would see 5% as too little.

Besides which at St. Andrews in the last 2 years there has been capital investment in the form of 2 new buildings and more capital investment planned in the coming year(s).

This needs to be funded from school fees.

Not so long ago i had an oil service done for my car and in the garage was also a hummer,you know those 20 million baht jeeps, with a Regents school entrance sticker on the front windscreen.I doubt it was a teacher's car.

[tvaddict]

If cost is such a concern to the posters above then I find it surprising that you haven't considered Garden International School in Ban Chang. It is the cheapest in the region and also offers a quality of education at the same level as Regents / St Andrews. There are many students travelling the 40 minute journy from Pattaya daily to take advantage of this.