On average, parents pay around 2,200 euros per year to send a child to school. The most expensive students are the AHS senior secondary school and the middle and high schools, as shown by the new cost study by the Chamber of Labor (AK).
Accordingly, the costs are highest at the beginning or end of school. This is partly due to excursions and tutoring at the end of school, but also to the purchase of materials at the beginning. For the study, approximately 2,500 parents with almost 4,000 school-going children kept a diary about the costs for a year (July 2023 to July 2024). For example, notebooks, computers, afternoon care, tutoring or expenses for a sports week were noted.
Specialist material expensive
The central result: parents spent an average of 2,223 euros per child. Expenditures at secondary level 2 schools are above average, while costs are lower at the lower levels of the AHS and at secondary schools. Primary school is in the middle segment. The reason for the differences is, for example, the cost of computer equipment and subject-specific material at the upper level, while secondary school students receive cheap laptops from the state.
This is how the costs are divided.
Almost everyone has to pay for general school supplies such as books. About three-quarters had expenses for “subject-specific school materials and clothing”. These include cooking equipment and tools. About a third of parents had expenses for computers, tablets and IT.
AK: “School success has been privatized”
The result was criticized on Tuesday by the Chamber of Labor itself and Volkshilfe, among others. “Success at school has been largely privatized,” says AK President Renate Anderl. For example, there is a need for an expansion of day schools, free school events and free support for learning disabilities.
Volkshilfe also fears that the costs of secondary schools will increase inequality. “In kindergarten, not every child has their own toys or crayons. Why do we send schoolchildren back and forth like pack mules every day between school, after-school care and home with books etc.? What is ultimately needed is a school that is truly free, that starts with books and ends with afternoon care,” Volkshilfe director Erich Fenninger says in a press release.
Source: Krone
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