MONEY MATTERS

Now that the school place is secured, you should be prepared to cover the annual fees. I’m making a list of the most common expenses for students enrolled in schools in Europe or North America and I would like to emphasize that it is an extended list. Most likely, part of the expenses mentioned below will not be included in your list.

Here is the extended list of expenses for students enrolled in independent schools in Europe and North America:

• Guardianship services, if necessary, could be a few thousand per year. The service fees and the expenses deposit varies from one agency to another, from one country to another;
• Notary expenses, if the school requires certain documents to be legalised;
• Visa applications and fees for residence permits, if necessary;
• Flight tickets. Buying them in advance will save you money. Please respect the recommended travel dates published on the school calendar. Add the Unaccompanied Minor (UM) service if necessary;
• Airport transfer, from the airport to the school and from the school to the airport. Some schools may help the students with the airport transfer arrangements, some schools do not. The cost may be shared between students or not;
• Medical insurance, could be mandatory or optional, and the fees vary from a few hundred to few thousand;
• Medical care and medication, if necessary;
• Tuition refund insurance. Some schools have this insurance for international students, and could be up to three thousand;
• School uniform, the fees vary from a few hundred to one thousand;
• Ski equipment and ski pass, if necessary;
• Computer and Tech package could go up to three thousand if the school has specific requirements;
• Textbooks, if they are not included in the tuition fee, you should consider a few hundred per year;
• New student registration fee, asked by some schools, is a few thousand;
• Development fund, asked by few schools and paid only once, up to a few thousand;
• Annual fees, tuition and boarding, may be paid in one, two or three instalments. Check with the school which is their payment plan and what is included in the annual fees;
• Association/membership fee, if necessary, varies from a few tens to two thousand;
• Laundry and cleaning fee, if they are not included in the annual fees, you should consider one or two thousand per year;
• Meal plan, if the annual boarding fee doesn’t include the full board meal plan, this could go up to four or five thousand per year;
• Specialized art supplies and photo printing, if necessary;
• Musical instrument rental;
• Music lessons, horse-riding, golf, tennis, aviation and other specialized lessons;
• Leaning support, if necessary;
• Revision courses, if necessary;
• English as Additional Language lessons, if necessary and if not included in the annual fees, could be up to a few thousand per year;
• Public examination fees, in general, are not included in the annual fees;
• Trips and tours are organized by the school. Most of them are optional but you may want to consider a budget for this;
• Parent meetings will generate an additional cost (flight tickets, transport, hotel, restaurant and so on);
• School photography and photo album;
• Pocket money;
• Graduation ceremony;
• Other personal expenses.