For many years, attending private school was seen as essential for anyone who wished to attend the top universities in the UK and excel in their chosen field.
The promise of higher-quality education, better career prospects and valuable connections to key industries made the prospect of attending these schools highly appealing, a feeling that was only heightened by the exclusive nature of these institutions.
However, the importance of private school education for Oxbridge applicants, and students in general, has been dropping, while fees for attendance have been rising. State school students are more represented in Oxford and Cambridge than ever before, and more institutions have gained reputations as high-quality schools without charging fees. So, the question now is whether attending private school is still worth it for Oxbridge applicants.
In this guide, we will explore what it costs to attend a private school in the UK, what those fees go towards and whether the benefits for fee-paying students can be acquired elsewhere.
No time to read the full article? Here are the full points to consider:
Private Schools Are Still Worth It If:
- You are financially able to afford the enrolment fee and additional charges without worry.
- You place great value on the key benefits private schools provide, like smaller class sizes, industry connections and higher investment in facilities.
- You are looking for any advantage to help you or your child get their place at Oxbridge, no matter the cost.
Private Schools May Not Be Worth It If:
- You are not in a position to comfortably afford all of the fees associated with private education.
- You or your child is able to attend a high-quality school that doesn’t charge fees, such as a grammar school.
- You aren't concerned about the very minor advantage private school students have in the Oxbridge admissions process, based on the data published by Oxbridge.
Are Private Schools Worth It Overall?
Before we begin, we first need to clarify what the question actually means and who it is targeted towards. In most cases, the primary objection a family may have to sending a child to private school is the cost. We’ll explore exact fees later, but a typical year at a UK private school can cost at least £20,000, though many will cost far more than this.
The majority of families in the UK will not be able to comfortably afford this, and that is the primary demographic that this question is directed towards.
For those who are able to afford these fees without concern, private school is generally worth the additional cost. While the benefits that private schools provide have not been definitively proven to be the cause, data from both Oxford and Cambridge prove that applicants from fee-paying schools in the UK have a higher chance of earning their place at the universities and are generally over-represented when compared to their state school counterparts.
The reason why the value of private schools has been brought into question is that the advantage these students have has been declining in recent years. Both universities have made moves to make the proportions of state and private school students more representative of the national student cohort. While private school students are still somewhat over-represented, state school applicants make up the vast majority of both applications and acceptances at both universities.
If this is the case, is it actually worth it to invest that amount of money into private education when an offer from Oxford or Cambridge is attainable without it? Let’s explore the benefits of private education to try to find an answer.
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How Expensive Are UK Private Schools?
It’s a fact that private schools are expensive, but entry isn’t just one fee that’s charged across the country. These schools are also referred to as independent schools, because they operate independently from much of the UK school system. They are free to charge whatever they feel is fair and appropriate for the service they provide, which means the average fee for private schools that is commonly shared isn’t representative of every school in the country.
As well as this, we also need to consider that the fee for entry isn’t the only thing you will have to pay for, so let’s consider what you could realistically expect to pay for a full three terms at a private school.
UK Private School Annual Fees
As we mentioned before, there’s no set fee that every private school in the country charges, so we will need to consider broader price ranges to get a sense of how much these schools charge.
We also need to consider that there are multiple types of private schools. These include:
- Day Schools
- Faith-Based Schools
- Boarding Schools
Day schools are the most common type of private school and usually overlap with faith-based schools. Both school types typically charge similar fees, so the primary difference in cost comes between day schools and boarding schools, as the latter are far more expensive due to the cost of housing students alongside teaching.
Private Day School Fees
When discussing fees for annual private school enrolment, there is a vast range of examples to consider. Prices can be as low as £5,000 per year or as high as £22,000+ per term. This example is exceptionally high, however, and most experts agree that the average annual fees for private education in the UK range from £18,000 to £22,500. It’s not uncommon to pay as high as £42,000 per year, but these fees are highly dependent on location and reputation.
While there isn’t a specific correlation between the cost of tuition and the quality of teaching at a private school, it’s worth doing your research to ensure that schools with lower-end pricing will actually provide a substantially better experience than what you or your child would receive at a state school.
Private Boarding School Fees
The need to offer 24-hour care to students significantly increases the cost of tuition compared to day schools, but there is still a broad range of prices available, some of which are far closer to day school prices than you may expect.
Broadly speaking, the majority of boarding schools will charge between £30,000 and £65,000, depending on a variety of factors. On the higher end, a school like Tasis England currently charges £69,650 for a full year of boarding for one student, including VAT.
Keep in mind that a select few state schools offer boarding, meaning the fees will be much lower as they only account for boarding costs, not tuition fees. These schools are very uncommon and are typically very selective when admitting students, so getting a place at one of these schools will not be easy.
So, overall, the average student should expect to pay between £20,000 and £65,000 for a full year of private education. However, these aren’t the only costs to consider, as attending private school will also require additional “hidden” costs. Let’s explore these next:
UK Private School Annual Fees
School Uniforms
This is an essential purchase for any private school student, and getting the full suite of required attire can set families back anywhere from £500 to £1,000 to start with, and additional annual costs of between £300 and £800 to replace garments over the years.
These costs will cover everything from the standard uniform to sports kits (which are often branded), shoes, bags and specialist gear. For those who study music, art or other subjects that require investment into materials and equipment, these costs could be even higher.
Transport
Many private schools aren’t within walking distance for the majority of students who attend them. As such, you may need to consider transport costs if you’re not in a position to get yourself or your child to school independently. Private schools will offer bus services, but these can cost between £1,000 and £3,000 per year, depending on where you live.
If this service doesn’t cover the area you live in, you will need to source your own transport, either via public transportation or taxis, the latter of which could be even more expensive than the bus service.
Food
While most schools will charge students for lunches (excluding those on free school meals), the cost for food at private schools will often be substantially higher than what is charged at state schools. Food is typically paid for in advance, and can cost between £500 and £1,500 per year. Breakfasts at school will also cost a similar amount.
Schools Trips and Residentials
These are very common experiences for private school students, with day trips occurring at least once a year and residentials taking place typically two or three times throughout a student’s time at the school (although these could be annual in some cases).
Prices for these trips could range from £200 for a lower budget day trip and upwards to £5,000+ when travelling internationally. While these are usually optional, they form a big part of the private school experience and can cause students who don’t attend to feel isolated from their peers.
Extracurricular Activities
While most private schools offer a range of extra-curricular activities that are free or held at a very low annual cost, some larger-scale activities could potentially cost you hundreds or even thousands of pounds. This can include joining teams that travel to competitions, such as sporting and debating teams. Music lessons are also fairly common for private school students and can cost between £400 and £1,200 per year.
So, we can see that there is a lot more to the cost of attending private school than just the fees, with annual costs potentially increasing by over £10,000 depending on how many of the additional costs you need to factor in. Some of these costs will also be required at state schools, but prices are typically much lower.
Private School VAT Costs
Finally, it’s worth exploring the change to VAT that private schools faced in 2025. Essentially, UK private schools lost their charitable status and were required to start paying VAT on all fees charged to students. Naturally, this led to an increase in tuition fees to accommodate this additional cost to the schools. However, did schools pass the full 20% increase onto their students?
It’s difficult to answer this broadly, as each school will have likely taken a different approach. While the vast majority of schools did increase their fees more than normal due to the move, some may have absorbed some of the additional cost themselves to protect their students to a certain extent. Others may have even increased their fees beyond the cost of VAT.
In fact, it was reported by the Independent Schools Council (ISC) that the average fees for private schools had risen by 22% in January 2025, compared to January 2024. This indicates that most schools did pass on most, if not all, of the cost of VAT.
This is a major increase in fees, and it has led many families to rethink whether private schooling is actually worth it. However, while the price has gone up, the benefits of attending these schools remain, so let’s consider what those benefits actually are.
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What Benefits Do Private School Students Get?
We’ve established that private schools are very expensive in the UK, so here are the primary benefits that they will promote to justify the cost:
Smaller Class Sizes
In England, the legal cap for school class sizes is 30 students. In state schools with large cohorts, classes are often very close to this cap, depending on the popularity of the subject. However, one of the key selling points of private schools is the smaller class sizes, which are often half the size of those seen in state schools.
The benefits of this mainly come down to increased teacher attention, as students will get far more one-on-one time with their teachers when there are fewer students to focus on. This additional attention can really make a difference for a student who is struggling in a key area of their studies.
The smaller cohort size also helps to reduce the strain on resources that some larger schools may suffer from, and can allow for a calmer learning environment with fewer peers to work around. Essentially, private schools provide each student with more time and space to learn and develop.
Greater Resources
Many private schools market themselves on their state-of-the-art resources and facilities, which can be highly attractive to both students and parents. Having access to cutting-edge education technologies alongside readily available essentials means students will have access to everything they need for success.
As well as this, some private schools will offer facilities that accommodate subject specialities, ranging from STEM to the arts. Having increased access to these facilities can help students learn new skills that will benefit them when they start their careers.
Of course, all of this is funded through investment and the fees paid by students, meaning these schools are usually shielded from spending cuts made to public education. Their aim is to reduce as many barriers to academic success as possible, especially when it comes to availability.
Larger Subject Range
All schools in the UK will offer GCSEs and A-Levels for core subjects like Mathematics, English and Science, and most will provide more speciality subjects like History, Geography and Music. However, there are far more subjects available for these qualifications than most state school students will have access to, but private schools will generally provide students with more access to this broader range.
This includes niche historical subjects like Latin and Classics, less commonly available languages like Mandarin Chinese and Japanese and other subjects like Philosophy and Politics.
Some of these subjects would be great options for Oxbridge applicants hoping to study degrees like Classics, Philosophy and Modern Languages, which is why a larger proportion of private school students tend to apply for these courses when compared to the most popular options the universities offer. However, these subjects aren’t strict requirements at Oxbridge.
It’s also not just about the subjects being available to students. Private schools will often have a wider range of teachers available, including those who specialise in certain fields. These could be permanent faculty members or one-off guests, but giving students access to this level of expertise is invaluable to their development as academics.
More Opportunities
This benefit is very broad, but that’s because there are many ways that private school students may have more opportunities. We’ve already mentioned the expanded subject range, access to experts and cutting-edge facilities, but these students will also have expanded opportunities outside of studies as well.
Firstly, private schools offer a wide range of extra-curricular clubs and activities, typically more than those offered at state schools. Many private schools will have extensive sporting facilities, larger spaces for arts and access to other fields via after-school activities.
Students will also benefit from increased super-curricular opportunities, such as support for securing work experience and honing their wider-reading to benefit their university application. Students may also gain access to connections from key industries and fields, allowing them to gain a better understanding of what it actually takes to succeed in their chosen careers.
While it’s possible to engage with all of these things as a state school student, a lot of the work to access them will need to be done by yourself and your family. Private schools ease this process for their students, ensuring they have everything they need to succeed.
Dedicated University Application Support
Finally, private schools will often work hard to get their students into the most prestigious universities, as doing so benefits all who are involved.
While everything listed above will help students to secure their places, they will still need dedicated support for the actual university application process, which many private schools will provide. This support should cover the basics like UCAS and personal statements, as well as admissions tests, interviews, and generally strengthening applications through subject engagement.
This additional support ensures that no student who is aiming for Oxbridge or other Russell Group universities is left confused or struggling throughout the application process.
As we can see, there are a lot of benefits to attending a private school in the UK. While all of this sounds great, how much does it actually tangibly improve your chances of getting into Oxbridge? Let’s look at the admissions statistics to determine if the cost is worth it.
Are Private School Students More Likely To Get Into Oxford and Cambridge?
This is arguably the most important thing to consider when deciding if private schools are worth it for Oxbridge applicants. Is the investment that you make in your education going to significantly improve your chances of getting an offer?
Oxford Acceptance Rates 2024
Applicants: 23,061
Offers: 3,793
Acceptances: 3,245
Offer Rate: 16.4%
Acceptance Rate: 14.1%
Cambridge Acceptance Rates 2024
Applicants: 22,153
Offers: 4,760
Acceptances: 3,632
Offer Rate: 21.5%
Acceptance Rate: 16.4%
Oxford is more competitive than Cambridge, but neither university is easy to get into. But let’s explore the proportion of state school applicants vs private school applicants to see what the chances of success look like:
Oxford State School Application Statistics 2024
Applicants: 10,258
% of Total Applicants: 69.8%
Offers: 1,964
% of Total Offers: 65.6%
Acceptances: 1,668
% of Total Acceptances: 63.9%
Acceptance Rate: 16.3%
Oxford Private School Application Statistics 2024
Applicants: 3,852
% of Total Applicants: 26.2%
Offers: 933
% of Total Offers: 31.1%
Acceptances: 851
% of Total Acceptances: 32.6%
Acceptance Rate: 22.1%
Cambridge State School Application Statistics 2024
Applicants: 10,074
% of Total Applicants: 69.4%
Offers: 2,524
% of Total Offers: 70.5%
Acceptances: 1,897
% of Total Acceptances: 68.2%
Acceptance Rate: 18.8%
Cambridge Private School Application Statistics 2024
Applicants: 3,593
% of Total Applicants: 24.8%
Offers: 901
% of Total Offers: 25.2%
Acceptances: 776
% of Total Acceptances: 27.9%
Acceptance Rate: 21.6%
We can see that, at both universities, state school students make up the vast majority of both applicants and accepted students at both Oxford and Cambridge. While Oxford does have a higher proportion of private school applications and students, they both are far more favourable to state school students than they were roughly 30 years ago, when the proportions were typically 50/50.
However, we also have to consider the proportional success rates for each school type. When just looking at applicants from the same school type, private school students had higher success rates in every case, sometimes by up to nearly 6%. When it comes to Oxbridge admissions, this isn’t a small difference.
Oxford has a larger disparity than Cambridge, but this data proves that private school applicants generally performed better than state school students in the admissions process for that year.
It’s also worth considering that, compared to the country as a whole, both Oxbridge universities have a far greater proportion of private school students, as the actual percentage of students attending fee-paying schools is just 6% – 7% each year.
As well as this, we can also look at the most successful school for Oxbridge applications in 2024 to see that private schools were the most represented group of the 80 schools recorded. Though they weren’t the overall majority, 30 out of 80 of the top schools being private is still a major achievement. However, this does raise some additional questions…
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Is Private School Really Worth It?
While the data above does show an advantage for private school applicants, there are more factors that need to be considered.
In 2024, the private schools featured on the list of top schools for Oxbridge accounted for roughly 785 offers to both Oxford and Cambridge. Across both universities, 1,834 offers were sent to private school students, meaning that roughly 43% of all private school offer holders attended these 30 schools.
While all private schools will offer many of the benefits listed earlier in the article, this doesn’t mean that all of their students have a significantly increased chance of getting into Oxbridge.
There are reportedly over 2,500 private/independent schools in the UK. But if over 40% of Oxbridge offers are coming from just 30 of them, how many students will some of them actually be sending to Oxford and Cambridge? Looking at the figures, some of them won’t have any successful Oxbridge applicants.
Granted, not every private school will prioritise Oxbridge admissions, but most of the UK’s private schools are located in England, which is where most UK Oxbridge applicants come from. Therefore, attending any private school isn’t necessarily going to increase your chances of getting an offer.
We also need to consider why private school students tend to do better in the admissions process. Some may heavily benefit from the support provided by their school, especially those attending one of the top 30 for Oxbridge admissions, but other factors may influence how talented and dedicated an applicant is to get their offer.
Two major examples would be socioeconomic and familial factors, both of which can improve an applicant’s ability to work academically regardless of school type. The additional benefits from the private schools certainly would help, but the data shows that it is more than possible to get a place at Oxbridge without private education.
So, is private schooling really worth it? As we said at the beginning, it is almost certainly worth it to make the investment if you and your family are in a comfortable position to do so. However, it would be best to aim for a school with a good track record of Oxbridge admissions. If this isn’t viable, it’s crucial that you carefully inspect the quality of teaching at your potential school options.
Ask questions about their success rates for the universities you’re interested in, as well as the average performance of students studying your subjects. Private schools aren’t regularly assessed in the same way that state schools are, so it’s possible that teaching standards can fall below what would be expected, especially when considering the fees.
For anyone who may be able to afford the fees that private schools charge with some level of saving or sacrifice, it’s important to consider everything we’ve discussed in this guide. The advantages of private education do exist, but are they worth the financial cost?
What Are The Alternatives To Private Schools?
As well as asking this question, it’s also important to consider what alternatives are available. There are other options that provide different levels of support, with some being potentially more effective than the support offered by private schools.
State School Support
Of course, the primary alternative to private schooling is state schooling. Every student in the UK will be eligible to attend a secondary school without any admissions requirements, typically the school located in their catchment area.
While the vast majority of schools will provide university application support to their students, most state schools will not be fully equipped to provide support for the extensive Oxbridge admissions process. Admissions test and interview support will be extremely limited, but this isn’t the case at every state school.
As we saw before, 30 of the top 80 UK schools for Oxbridge acceptances were independent, which means the other 50 were non-fee-paying schools. There are various types of these schools available, but only 4 standard state schools were featured on the list. The two largest groups of non-fee-paying schools featured were grammar schools and sixth form colleges.
While neither of these school type charge fees for studies, many will have academic entry requirements, such as certain grade expectations or initial entrance exams. These also aren’t the most common school types in the UK and will often face more demand than they can accommodate.
All of this means that it’s not always easy to get a place at one of these schools, but they may be able to provide a comparable level of Oxbridge support to private schools. Many of these schools pride themselves on their academic standards, with a higher proportion of high-achieving students being taught compared to standard schools.
In order to further nurture these students and increase their chances of gaining an offer from the UK’s top universities, these schools will often invest more into application support. This can take the form of resources, workshops, additional lectures and more.
External Preparation Services
Some schools, either state or private, will provide their university application support in-house, but others may refer their students to third-party services and external preparatory schools.
These services offer a full suite of preparation resources and support from experts, who will guide applicants through the entirety of their application. These services, such as UniAdmissions, specialise in the top universities in the UK, including Oxbridge and the G5, the universities that typically have the lowest offer rates.
One of the biggest selling points that these services offer is their success rates. For example, in 2025, UniAdmissions helped 67% of our students receive their offers from Oxford and Cambridge, out of over 250 who were supported that year. These rates are far above the national average, meaning students who invest in these services gain a significant advantage over their peers, regardless of school type.
Enrolling on a preparation programme like this does require a financial investment, but the cost is far lower than a full year of private schooling. In return, the support offered can last anywhere from a few months to over two years, depending on how early you start. This support also runs alongside a student’s school work, so getting application support doesn’t impede on your school studies.
For the lower investment cost and higher chance of success, external preparation programmes could potentially be the most effective way to get an offer from the UK’s top universities.
Independent Preparation Materials
While the previous support method is arguably the most effective, it also isn’t the cheapest. Although services like these may be the best option for those who have some money available to invest in their application, this isn’t the case for everyone.
For those with limited or no funds available for support, options are still available for those who are resourceful and willing to spend the time to do the research.
Depending on which aspect of the application you’re focusing on, you will be able to find a variety of online guides, examples, practice questions, worksheets and other materials that can provide advice and practice resources for your application. No matter which course or university you’re applying to, someone else will have successful made it through the process and has made materials to support those who are now applying themselves.
This is especially true for video content, with many different creators not only highlighting the admissions process but also providing general guidance for studying at these universities. Of course, all of this is free to access and will frequently have new videos to watch.
For something a bit more in-depth, certain support methods can be accessed for a much smaller fee than a full programme. When admissions tests are required for the process, a good question bank is a must. Services like Exams.Ninja offer banks for all the major admissions tests used by UK universities that house hundreds of practice questions and other helpful resources. These offer limited access for free and can be fully accessed for a fraction of the price of a preparation programme or term at a private school.
Books are another great option, as there is a wide range of titles available that are written by experts and feature everything you need to know about each step of the application process.
So, let’s revisit the question one last time: are private schools worth it for Oxbridge applicants? We can’t answer that question definitively, as it depends on your personal circumstances, but we hope this guide has offered all of the key information you need to consider if the fees changed by a typical private school are worth it in the long run.
Private education isn’t just about attaining an Oxbridge offer, but getting that dream offer is ultimately one of the primary goals that students are trying to achieve. In many cases, additional investment into your education is made specifically to achieve that goal, and it’s only natural to want the best value for the money spent. Whether private schools offer that in your opinion is up to you, but it’s important that you know that a private education isn’t essential to achieving Oxbridge success.
If you’re looking for dedicated Oxbridge support that can match and surpass what private schools can provide, be sure to explore our Oxbridge Full-Blue Programmes, which provide complete and comprehensive guidance for every step of the Oxbridge application process.
Your background isn’t what defines your application, it’s the quality of the work you put in.
No matter your background, Oxbridge is looking for students who can excel in their learning environment. This can be difficult to demonstrate within your application, which is where UniAdmissions is here to help.
UniAdmissions’ Programmes are designed from the ground up by expert Oxbridge graduates who know the process inside out. Book a free consultation today to learn how you can enrol.
