Private school tuition increased by 150 percent! It exceeded a million liras in Istanbul

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Lerato Khumalo

Antalya Private Schools Union Spokesperson and ATSO 48th Education Activities Professional Committee Assembly Member Kenan Çelik provided information about the prices of private schools in the 2024-2025 academic year. Çelik stated that the most basic expense item in private schools is education and meal fees, and said, “Especially schools that include primary and secondary schools add meal to the prices. Apart from this, there are other expenses such as publication, general expenses, clothing and shuttle. Some schools announce prices by including the shuttle fee in the school fee. Some schools bring together parents and shuttle companies. We can divide private schools and their fees in Antalya into two categories, excluding shuttle and clothing. In the first group, which we call local schools, the prices vary between 180 thousand TL and 280 thousand TL. In the second group, chain schools, it is between 280 thousand TL and 500 thousand TL. Service and clothing fees are separate. We can state these as figures including VAT.”

PRIVATE SCHOOL RATE DROPPED TO 12 PERCENT

Kenan Çelik, who said that the enrollment rate of private schools, which had been increasing rapidly until three years ago in Turkey, had reached 17-18 percent, said, “However, the fact that more private schools were opened due to the effects of the pandemic has negatively affected private school owners. There have been some closures, changes of ownership, and downsizing. Currently, the private school enrollment rate in Turkey has dropped to 11-12 percent. While this is the case in Turkey, a positive situation has developed in Antalya in the last two or three years regarding private schools. The fact that citizens from these two countries have turned to Antalya due to the Russia-Ukraine War has positively affected private schools.”

THE IMPACT OF RUSSIAN-UKRAINIAN STUDENTS IN ANTALYA

Çelik, who stated that in addition to the children of Russian and Ukrainian families migrating to Antalya and its districts, there was also migration from Iran, said, “Most of all these families preferred private schools. These students, who are temporary residents and guest students, can continue their education in schools in Antalya. Of course, language is a serious problem. Being in the same class with children whose mother tongue is Turkish and the difficulties in providing education are very serious. This has happened and continues to happen in both private and public schools.”

ISTANBUL IS 100 PERCENT MORE EXPENSIVE, ANKARA IS 60 PERCENT MORE EXPENSIVE

Kenan Çelik, who also explained the situation in other provinces of Turkey regarding private school prices, said, “When Antalya is taken as a basis, private school prices increase by at least 100 percent in Istanbul. In other words, the chain schools we call the second group exceed a million. Izmir is almost the same as Antalya. Ankara is again 60 percent more expensive. When you consider Konya, Kütahya or Sivas, they are slightly below our prices. Because there have been serious increases in workplace and housing rents in Antalya in the last two or three years. In other words, there are increases in the size of the city’s population and costs.”

PRICE INCREASE EXCEEDS 150 PERCENT

Çelik, who said that the increase rate in private school prices has exceeded 150 percent compared to last year, said, “Of course, this increase also affects registrations. Parents who cannot pay these fees prefer to transfer to public schools or look for schools that are more suitable for their budgets. Our state made a statement on this issue saying, ‘You can increase by a certain rate (65 percent).’ But unfortunately, the real prices do not meet that rate. All private school owners want to sell their products, they do not want the number of students to decrease. However, it is not easy to continue private schooling with the increase rate announced by our state.”

‘CHOOSE LOCAL SCHOOLS’

Kenan Çelik made the following warnings to parents who want to send their children to private schools:

“What I convey to our parents when choosing a private school is this; the education of your children is very important. Your children are everything to us, when making decisions about your children’s education, please remember that advertisements put before you what schools want you to see. Definitely go inside the school. Talk to the founder. Discuss with him/her, see if it is a school where you want to raise your child, that suits your philosophy. I strongly recommend that they choose local schools and schools where the founder is an educator.”

APPROXIMATE PRICES FOR THE 2024-2025 SCHOOL YEAR

Pricing in private schools consists of 6 main expense categories: education, food, general expenses, clothing, additional publications, and service. In Antalya, where Istanbul is 100 percent more expensive and Ankara is 60 percent more expensive, the prices in local and chain schools are as follows:

Education and training costs between 130 thousand TL-280 thousand TL locally. Food costs between 80 thousand TL-200 thousand TL. General expenses costs between 20 thousand TL-60 thousand TL. Clothing costs between 20 thousand TL-60 thousand TL. Additional publications costs between 25 thousand TL-75 thousand TL. While the service fee was between 2 thousand 500-4 thousand TL at the beginning of last year in Antalya, it increased by 30 percent in April to 3 thousand 200-5 thousand TL. The fees for the new term will be determined at the UKOME meeting in August this year.