National

Australia Named World’s Most Expensive Country for High School

Shivangi

Feb 5, 2026 3:45 PM IST

Category National

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Synopsis

Australia is the most expensive country in the developed world to send a child to high school, a new study has found. Families are paying close to $5,000 on average a year, the result of a huge shift to private education. Even as privately run colleges and universities are charging more than $55,000 a year in tuition and fees (privately run schools, even those benefiting from subsidies for being nonprofit entities, still receive only 40 per cent of their funding from the government), public institutions have been put through the wringer with huge gaps to bridge. Now experts are calling for radical changes to ensure every child has a fair start regardless of their family’s bank balance.

SYDNEY — It now costs more to send a child to high school in Australia than it does anywhere else in the world. New research reveals that families pay on average $4,967 per child each year to send them to high school according to quads who attend seven schools across NSW and Victoria. That’s almost four times the price in other affluent nations.

According tomthe rating, pricey tuition is in large part because of the “private school boom.” In Australia, over 40% of high school students attend private schools, among the highest levels in the world. By contrast, in countries such as the US and UK fee-paying schools account for less than 10% of students. Is the cost of education driving an unfair division among students?

Private Fees vs. Public Funding

The study uncovers a surprising paradox, it can cost as much as $55,000 a year to attend private schools, those institutions still take in hefty amounts of taxpayer money. At the same time, public schools are grappling with an additional $4 billion in lost funding nationwide.

Critics claim this creates a “two-tier” system. A few of the wealthiest private schools, meanwhile, deploy their riches in different directions, building facilities that include indoor pools and rifle ranges. By contrast, many public schools cannot pay for adequate numbers of teachers or simple classroom equipment at all. This has spurred calls for the government to shift some of that money away from the most affluent schools and into the public system.

More Money, Less Pressure?

One of the most counterintuitive findings from the research is that more money does not always produce better outcomes. And when they examined international test scores, the researchers saw that students of similar backgrounds achieve just as much in public schools as in expensive private ones.

The report also provides some insight into how success is often about things other than what happens in the classroom:

• Extra help: Having money for private tutoring.

• Home support: Parents who have the time and education to help with homework.

• Resources: A fast internet connection and a quiet place to study.

Calls for a Fairer System

Education analysts say Australia’s existing model is weighing the nation down, in fact. Australia has gone backwards on world education tests even as money has poured into elite private schools.

The demand for “radical reform” implies that schools charging high private fees should be disqualified from public money. Reducing the funding gap, experts say, would make more families feel comfortable sending their children to local public schools. Not only would this save parents a “small fortune,” but it would also go some way to ensuring that every Australian child received the same standard of education, regardless of what their parents earned.

Key Highlights

• High school costs an average of almost $5,000 a year in Australia, the most money charged for high school by any developed country.
• More than 40 per cent of students attend private schools, where certain tuition costs $55,000 a year.
• Public schools currently receive about $4 billion less funding than private schools.

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