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Victorian families are increasingly paying soaring tuition fees despite the cost-of-living crisis, with data showing a growing number of students enrolling in private schools.
The latest report on Australian schools and education from the Australian Bureau of Statistics also shows a slight increase in the number of state school enrolments in Victoria, bucking the national trend.
The number of students enrolled in Victoria’s private schools grew to almost 179,000 last year, a 3.5 per cent increase on 2024, the bureau said in its annual schools snapshot on Thursday.
Catholic school enrolments grew by 1.1 per cent to 218,000, while there were more than 665,000 students in the government system, a 0.5 per cent year-on-year increase.
Public school enrolments went backwards in most of the other states and territories.
Independent schools have almost reached parity with Catholic education providers as the second most popular choice for secondary schooling in the state, although at primary level, the Catholic system remains a more popular option for non-government education.
Private schools lobby group Independent Schools Victoria said the growth in the sector was driven by low-fee schools thriving in Melbourne’s growth corridors. The number of students in Wyndham, Hume, Melton, Casey and Whittlesea grew by more than 3100 in 12 months.
Independent Schools Victoria chief executive Rachel Holthouse also pointed to a rise in special assistance schools, which were proliferating due to an increasing number of students with complex needs.
Holthouse said the numbers of special assistance and specialist learning needs schools had grown to 32, a 150 per cent increase in five years, and enrolments had surged by 20 per cent a year since 2020.
“For many families, independent schools are the only setting that reflects their faith, culture or educational philosophy,” Holthouse said.
The Avenue School in Ferntree Gully opened its doors last year offering a “trauma-informed” approach to teaching students who had struggled or dropped out of mainstream schooling. Principal Jarrid Bartle said enrolments had gone from 20 to 37 students this year and could reach about 100 in 2027.
Bartle said The Avenue, designated an independent school but heavily reliant on government funding, charged families $1250 a year, or $625 for concession cardholders, and took a non-traditional, student-centred approach to teaching and retention.
The principal said schools like The Avenue challenged preconceptions about independent education.
“What an independent school looks like is not the leafy, ivy-covered building up in Kew,” he said.
“There are so many options, and that gives students a voice and choice, rather than the elite sort of idea that some people might have.”
Mount Alexander College in Flemington is at the coalface of demand for places in high-performing government schools.
Principal Dani Angelico said the school, which faced the threat of closure a decade ago, was now going “gangbusters” and had become the school of choice for most local parents, even as surrounding neighbourhoods rapidly gentrified.
“The majority of students of high school age who live in our zone come here, which is really great because we’ve got a lot of choice in private schools around us, and parents in our demographic definitely could afford to send their students to fee-paying schools,” Angelico said.
“That’s testament to the calibre of the work the school is doing, the programs, a unique curriculum program and our success in the VCE over the past decade, which now puts us in the top 40 governments schools.
“Those are all drawcards.”
Associate Professor Paul Kidson, of Australian Catholic University, said that while the cost of living was biting, education appeared to be a priority for parents.
He also pointed to a growth in faith-based schools, particularly in Melbourne’s south-east, which was contributing to a rise in independent school enrolments.
However, he said the data wasn’t necessarily a vote of no confidence in government schools.
“There is often a lag following policy or funding changes such as we’ve seen with explicit teaching and learning or the Better Schools Agreement,” he said.
Australia Institute researcher Skye Predavec said the growth in students attending private schools did not come as a surprise.
Research published by the think tank in January showed Australia had the second most privatised high school system in the OECD, after Chile.
“The cost doesn’t seem to put people off,” she said. “It becomes a bit of a status symbol. It’s like having a luxury handbag. If it costs more, it must be better.”
State Education Minister Ben Carroll welcomed the ABS data, pointing to teacher-student ratios and a 2.2 per cent increase in teaching staff in a system that has been gripped by a teacher shortage.
“This data cements Victoria’s position as a leader in public education – with high enrolment growth, a strong and growing teacher workforce, and more new schools than any other state or territory.”
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