From $50,826 a year to $2,380: 11 parents share how much they spend on their children's education.

Children are expensive. We know this to be 100 per cent true.

However, the choices you make around your child’s education will drastically alter just how expensive.

From whether they attend public, private or independent tuition, partake in extracurricular activities or attend after-school care, there are so many decisions around how to best budget for your children’s schooling.

While there’s no right or wrong choice – just whatever is best for you – we asked 11 parents to break down the costs associated with their kids’ education.

This is what they said.

Things parents never say on school holidays because it’s definitely not a holiday for adults. Post continues below.

Jean

Name, age and school year of your children: I have two kids – Lindsey 10yo (Year 4) and Damien 8yo (Year 3).

Do your children go to public or private schools?: Private school in the country.

How much do you spend on…

School fees: $2500 but we don’t pay extra for stationary or excursions.

School accessories, uniforms and equipment: $250 per year.

Extracurricular activities: Lindsey does competition gymnastics which costs $3000 for training, plus $300 for leotard and uniforms. It’s another $300ish for competition entry fees and $500 plus for travel. She also does squad swimming which is $2100 for training, plus extra for competition entry fees and travel which is roughly the same as gymnastics. Nippers is another $200 for the year.

Damien plays basketball which costs $400 per year and swimming which is $700 per year. Plus he has piano lessons which are another $1000.

I also pay $1300 per year for both kids to play tennis.

How do you feel about the amount you’re spending on your kids’ education? We are really lucky being in a small country town. Private school is pretty cheap here compared to those you might find in a bigger city. What we pay is worth it. The school has lots of resources and our kids are getting a wonderful education. It’s also great knowing we don’t have to pay extra fees for things like excursions, which makes it easier to budget.

Total: $12,550 a year.

Hayley

Name, age and school year of your children: Annie 6yo (Year 1).

Do your children go to public or private schools?: Public school in the country.

How much do you spend on...

School fees: $260 for fees plus around $50 for excursions which happen throughout the year.

School accessories, uniforms and equipment: We buy our uniforms in Op shops or Facebook Marketplace which costs us roughly $50. This includes some new leggings from Kmart or Target. We then spent another $150 on school shoes including sandals, sneakers and black shoes.

Extracurricular activities: We also pay for private swimming lessons at a cost of $800 per year as well as dance lessons which cost about $1000 per year.

Tutoring: None.

How do you feel about the amount you're spending on your child's education? I have no problems spending this much on my child’s education. We have access to fantastic schools both public and private in my area and are so lucky to have a choice but I don’t see any real educational benefit from spending extra money at a private school. We have no religious affiliation so this was not an important part of our decision. However, I do object to childcare costing me more than double that of a private school education.

Total: $2,310 a year.

Amy

Name, age and school year of your children: Carter 6yo (Year 1).

Do your children go to public or private schools?: Catholic primary school.

How much do you spend on...

School fees: $1300 a year which includes building fees and small excursions.

School accessories, uniforms and equipment: We pay about $100 for stationery and we're currently reusing uniforms from last year and making the most of them while they still fit. We've also bought Carter new Joggers ($90) and school shoes ($90).

Extracurricular activities: Swimming $600 for the year, $110 for one season of soccer plus $90 for soccer boots. We're also considering private music lessons because he wants to learn guitar although he's not old enough to participate in the school band program. The government's Active Kids and Creative Kids vouchers help a lot with these expenses.

Because it's the school holidays, we pay $60 per day for holiday care, plus the cost of activities. However Centrelink rebates for working parents help make these costs half price.

Total: $2,380 a year, plus extra for holiday care.

Lisa

Name, age and school year of your children: Samuel 9yo (Year 4).

Do your children go to public or private schools?: Private.

How much do you spend on...

School fees: $16,000 a year, so $300 per week on average including school holidays.

School accessories, uniforms and equipment: $100 per year. We buy second-hand uniforms and textbooks through the school enviro program, no laptop needed... yet.

Extracurricular activities: $30 per week for karate, $25 per week for swimming or soccer, school choir $20 per week, piano $30 per week. After school-care $45 per week (after rebates).

Tutoring: None.

How do you feel about the amount you're spending on your child's education? Honestly, we would rather not spend this for primary school but we did it to get our other son into the high school attached as the waiting list was impossible and our local public high school option wasn’t right for him. We are really happy with the school however we were also really happy with the local public school! The difference isn’t worth the cost difference for Primary.

Total: $16,100 on yearly fees, plus $150 a week on extracurricular activities and an extra $300 a week during school holidays.

Jessica

Name, age and school year of your children: Two of my four kids are in school: Riley 7yo (Year 1) and Evie 5yo (Prep).

Do your children go to public or private schools?: Both go to a public school.

How much do you spend on...

School fees: $200 each, plus about $50 each per term for sundries and excursions etc.

School accessories, uniforms and equipment: Books were $150 combined. We spend around $200-300 on uniforms throughout the year, depending on ripped holes and growth spurts, plus an extra $100 each for shoes.

Extracurricular activities: Basketball for Riley is $700 per year and swimming costs $1,000 a year.

Total: $2,850 a year.

Jade

Name, age and school year of your children: Logan 5yo (Year 1).

Do your children go to public or private schools?: Private school.

How much do you spend on...

School fees: $6200 for the year.

School accessories, uniforms and equipment: Uniforms were roughly $150 total.

Extracurricular activities: $100 for soccer.

Tutoring: None.

How do you feel about the amount you're spending on your kid's education? We are happy to pay for a school we love and think it's a great place for our kids to learn and grow.

Total: $6,450 a year.

Kristen

Name, age and school year of your children: Three daughters.

Do your children go to public or private schools?: Independent school.

How much do you spend on...

School fees: The combined school fees for the three of them is about $3000 for the year.

School accessories, uniforms and equipment: About $1500 for uniforms and stationary etc.

Extracurricular activities: We spend about $3000 to $4000 on out of school activities like netball, acting, and art classes.

Tutoring: I've spent $1700 on tutoring this year as our eldest is trying to get into medicine.

How do you feel about the amount you're spending on your children's education? I think it is such a small amount of money we pay for our girls for 30 hours a week of not only education but the level of care for their social and emotional wellbeing that schools cater to these days. If I was to calculate how much we pay and break it down the cost per hour to have our girls in school, it would be ludicrously cheap.

Total: $10,200 a year.

Brittany

Name, age and school year of your children: Bradie 9yo (Year 4) and Cohen 5yo (Kindergarten).

Do your children go to public or private schools?: Public school.

How much do you spend on...

School fees: We pay $70 as our voluntary contribution and pay around $400 to $450 for excursions throughout the year.

School accessories, uniforms and equipment: $400 to $550 a year for both kids.

Extracurricular activities: For Bradie, it's $120 for football (plus boots), $600 for swimming lessons and $300 for band and instrument hire through school. We also pay $600 for our five-year-old to get swimming lessons.

Tutoring: None.

How do you feel about the amount you're spending on your kid's education? I don't mind the expense but look forward to sending my last child to school so we don't have daycare fees.

Total: $2,690 a year.

Julie

Name, age and school year of your children: I have three girls - Liz 17yo (Year 12), Melanie 15yo (Year 10), Ally 12yo (Year 8).

Do your children go to public or private schools?: Catholic school.

How much do you spend on...

School fees: $13,200 per year for all three.

School accessories, uniforms and equipment: Above fee includes a school-provided laptop. Normally about $150 each for stationery each year but this year we cleared out the study and last year's books and the girls went 'shopping' and got all their supplies, so cost is $0 for this year. The uniform was about $600 for five sets and a sports uniform. Plus, we're in QLD so no winter uniform.

These sets of uniforms get handed down to each girl and I’ve supplemented with second-hand uniforms as my girls grow out then slim down again.

Extracurricular activities: Music instrument lessons are about $500 per year per instrument per student. Two girls do two instruments, one does one. Trampoline costs $350 per term.

Tutoring: No tutoring as the school offers it for free after school.

How do you feel about the amount you're spending on your kid's education? It’s appalling to me that I have to spend this as I actually teach at a public school. It is so terribly under-resourced and unable to meet the technological standards that I pay for my children to be educated. I emphasise that I would be happy for my kids to be taught by the teachers at my school.

Total: $17,450 a year.

Rikki

Name, age and school year of your children: Summer 8yo (Year 3).

Do your children go to public or private schools?: Public school.

How much do you spend on...

School fees: Approximately $150 per term. This typically covers computer use, app subscriptions and resources as well as some excursions. Additional excursions often come up each term and we could be looking at an additional $20-$40 for these as well as sports carnival attendances like swimming and zone.

School accessories, uniforms and equipment: We have to buy all resources at the beginning of each term and this is typically around $50-$80 depending on where we shop, what brands we buy and how many she needs of each thing. I find myself topping these things up regularly throughout the year. The expense does increase and we are often asked to buy things for the classroom too.

Extracurricular activities: Year 3 doesn't offer a heap of extracurricular activities outside of school - these are usually part of the school fees each term. Summer does need to attend before and after school care however which is around $75 a week.

Tutoring: This is only something we are looking at this year as she does her very first Naplan assessments. We are looking at one subject and it's approximately $50 a session.

How do you feel about the amount you're spending on your child's education? As it's her education and it's important to her and us, we are happy to pay it. But being a public school, I definitely feel that the government need to up the funding for student and classroom resources. I see a lot of kids starting each term without everything they need and other parents and kids end up gifting their items so those kids don't go without.

Total: $840 on yearly fees, plus $75 a week for afterschool care and $50 a session for Naplan.

Kristen

Name, age and school year of your children: Sades 8yo and P. Nutt 7yo. We live in Boise, Idaho (USA).

Do your children go to public or private schools?: Private. Although this is an American perspective, I send my kids to International Baccalaureate school which operate in Australia and globally.

How much do you spend on...

School fees: US$15,000 (AUD$21,783) per year. US$30,000 (AUD$43,566) for two kids.

School accessories, uniforms and equipment: US$250 (AUD$363) per year per child, or US$500 (AUD$726) for both.

Extracurricular activities: Competitive gymnastics cost us US$3000 (AUD$4356) per year, taekwondo costs US$1500 (AUD$2178) per year, and the school includes art and music programs.

Tutoring: None.

How do you feel about the amount you're spending on your kid's education? I’d pay double for this school and community. We are quite blessed to be able to send our kids to such an amazing school. It is an International Baccalaureate school which goes from preschool through high school. The foreign language also starts immediately.

Total: $50,826 a year.

Roughly how much do you think you spend on your kids' education? Tell us in a comment below.

Feature images: Supplied.