Inflation in the education sector in South Africa continues its decades-long trend of outpacing general consumer prices, putting considerable pressure on parents as they strive to provide their children with the best schooling to prepare them for success in life.

With the rising cost of living already putting families further on the back foot, some are questioning the real value of a private education.

But a safer learning environment and access to state-of-the-art learning tools and technologies, coupled with the opportunity to socialise with the upper echelons of society, are additional benefits that top-tier private schooling provides over public schools.

But private education in South Africa has become increasingly expensive. The leading private boarding schools now charge more than R350 000/year, and day schools can exceed R200 000. That’s out of reach for most parents.

But even parents of modest means do their best to give their children the best education they can afford. And the schools in TechCentral’s annual list of South Africa’s most expensive schools provides a good overview of what to expect at the top end of the market.

Here then, for 2025’s academic year, are the 10 most expensive private schools in South Africa.

School	Location	Fees 2024	Fees 2025	Percentage increase
Hilton	KwaZulu-Natal Midlands	R397 660	R420 729	5.80%
Michaelhouse	KwaZulu-Natal Midlands	R368 000	R392 000	6.50%
St Andrew’s College	Makhanda, Grahamstown	R363 879	R387 531	6.50%
Roedean School for Girls	Parktown, Johannesburg	R360 087	R387 093	7.50%
St John’s College	Houghton, Johannesburg	R352 612	R376 589	6.80%
Kearsney College	Botha’s Hill, Durban	R350 130	R374 330	6.90%
Bishops Diocesan College	Rondebosch, Cape Town	R341 430	R364 680	6.80%
St Mary’s	Waverley, Johannesburg	R335 470	R358 665	6.90%
St Alban’s College	Lynnwood Glen, Pretoria	R328 920	R353 580	7.50%
Diocesan School for Girls	Makhanda, Grahamstown	R323 040	R345 630	7.00%

At this end of the affordability spectrum, choosing the right school boils down to a number of qualitative factors such as access to cultural activities and clubs, the availability of boarding facilities, and the school’s approach to religion, for example.

Hilton and Michaelhouse still lead TechCentral’s list as the most expensive boys’ schools in South Africa (and the priciest overall), with Roedean still the costliest girls’ school. Falling out of this year’s list are St Stithian’s Boys College in Sandton/Randburg, Crawford College Sandton and the Clifton School in Cape Town. They make way for St Andrew’s School for Girls, Bishops Diocesan College and St Alban’s College.

South Africa has over the last decade seen a boom in private educational institutions at all levels of learning, from pre-school to university. And parents in the low- and middle-income bracket are increasingly choosing to direct their money at educating their children in these schools.

Best funded

One one hand, the success of newly established private schooling franchises such as Curro and Spark Schools represents the fruit of a free-market democracy at work. On the other hand, the rise of private schooling points directly to the severe inadequacies of the public education system.

South Africa’s public education system is one of the best-funded in the world, relative to GDP. In the 2023/2024 financial year, government allocated R457-billion towards education, 6.5% of GDP and 19.5% of public spending.

Read: South African schools introduce VR lessons

The outcomes, however, do not reflect the magnitude of this investment, with recent research by the South African Institute of Race Relations suggesting that of the pupils who enrol in grade 1, only 56% reach grade 12 and only 20% achieve a bachelor’s pass.

A 2023 University of Pretoria study concluded that 81% of grade 4s in South Africa struggle to read for meaning, placing the country as the lowest-ranked among 57 nations in reading and comprehension scores.

The boom in private education in lower-income brackets suggests South African parents are willing to spend the money – over and above the tax they contribute to the fiscus – to ensure their children get the best education they can afford. Private institutions have simply proven themselves as more accountable in how they spend money – and their results reflect this. Accountability, unfortunately, is still sorely lacking in the public sector. – © 2025 NewsCentral Media