JCG fee hike ‘not linked with States funding cuts’

Friday 13 April 2018

Fees for Jersey College for Girls and its linked preparatory school are set to increase at the start of the new academic year – but Education officials say that this is not linked with States funding cuts.

Instead, they say it is due to the school’s endeavours to invest in facilities, bursaries and student wellbeing.

Parents and guardians will now have to pay £1,822 per term for the secondary school, while Jersey College Preparatory (JCP) will see its termly fees rise by 7% to £1,761.

It comes after the Education Department announced plans to reduce their funding to Jersey’s fee-paying schools by 3% over 2018 and 2019, resulting in Education Department savings of £600,000. 

The news sparked warnings from schools that parents would have to make up the shortfall.

Justifying the move at the time, however, Education Minister Deputy Rod Bryans said that any potential increases would still put the cost of private Education in Jersey below the UK average. A report detailing the Education's efficiencies plan also stated: "The Education Department and the schools remain mindful of financial pressures that families have experienced as a result of the economic downturn, and this saving has been kept as low as possible and scheduled sympathetically."

Pictured: Education Minister Deputy Rod Bryans previously stated that, regardless of potential fee hikes, the island's fee-paying schools would still cheaper than those in the UK.

They added that they felt fee-paying schools to be "well-placed financially" to absorb the funding cut. "They may wish to consider whether the saving can be achieved through internal efficiencies. If this is the case, the full 3% need not be passed on to parents."

While Education officials said that the JCG and JCP’s Board of Governors – those responsible for setting the fees – were “mindful” of the cuts, they added that this year’s funding drop of 1.5% was only one of many reasons behind the fee hike.

In line with the States’ financial regulations, all school fee increases over 2.5% have to be approved by the Education and Treasury Ministers.

An Education spokesperson told Express that in their application to do so, the school provided “multiple reasons” to back the move, including:

• Increased use and access to JCG facilities by the prep school
• Investment in the school buildings and facilities
• Investment in wellbeing
• Increases in bursaries
• Continued investment in teaching resources and standards including IT 

The fee increase will see the secondary school gain an additional income of £64,000 for 2018, and £256,000 for 2019. JCP, meanwhile, is expected to gain an extra £43,000 in 2018 and £175,00 in 2019.

JCG said that the Governors would not be making any comment.