RC stationery fee gone up 90%

almom

So far, I have only paid $1430 this year for my child in primary school and not the $380 stationery fees. And for my child, I did pay more than $200 last year for stationery alone. And for your information, the stationery for different years are different, depending on what are needed for that particular year level.

According to the newsletter dated 22 July 2008, the $1430 includes the student organiser (diary), stationery (including exercise books, markers, rulers etc), swimming lessons, excursion fees (bus fare and entrance fees), LEAP fees, government dental services, etc.

They have explained it clearly in the newsletter that this fees was only an estimation and the amount was estimated by looking at what was needed last year. Any funds left would be donated to the library.

I would certainly say there is probably no breakdown of fees, because activities for different years would be different. For instance, different years would have different excursions and different amounts of money might be incurred. But this is probably the closest estimate.

Honestly, I would not say that this is the perfect arrangement and no matter how things are done, there are parents that are not happy. But certainly, it saved me a lot of trouble writing different cheques for different things. I was one of the parents who suggested that they request for a lump sum in the beginning of the school year instead. I personally do not mind donating the balance to the library.

almom

Of course someone would say that there are so many FREE things in the school because the school has already charged for a high school fee.

However, it exactly suits the type of parents like me as it saves me a lot of time in various issues. It is very clear and I have no need to query the purposes of the money I paid for.

I would think the school would be more than happy to absorb the misc fees into the school fees . But for costs reasons, that would mean an increase of school fees. To make all those things "free", we are expected to pay ~$2000+ more of school fees per year (=$200+ more per month). I wonder whether the majority would agree. At least, not any ESF schools.

[ 本帖最後由 almom 於 08-9-11 23:04 編輯 ]

almom

That's what RC should learn; they are new and should listen to all parents concerns. I think team work is respect for other people’s point of view by listening and considering all the options. I hope the school will learn from their mistakes and things won’t be so stressful in the future.

The school DID listen to parents.
I was one of the parents who suggested that they charge us a lump sum of fees for one year.
I am perfectly happy with the arrangement now.
In fact, I would even more happy if the fees is absorbed into the school fee (like wisekid2007's school), even if that means that I have to pay a couple of hundred dollars more each month.