CICAE (Asociación de Colegios Privados e Independientes – Círculo de Calidad Educativa) has presented the 9th edition of the Study of Fees and Prices in Subsidized Schools. The conclusions are alarming: 79.4% of the schools visited charge a basic fee to families and in 72% of the cases there is no voluntariness, contravening the right to free compulsory education supported by public funds.
The study reflects in an objective and clear manner the information that the charter schools provide to families during the interviews during the enrollment process of their children, including the arguments that justify the collection of fees, the obligatory nature of the fees, the consequences in case of non-payment, etc.
In the analysis by corporate type, the study reveals that the centers with mercantile ownership are the ones that charge the highest amounts to the families, with an average fee of 108.38 euros per month, and the schools belonging to religious congregations, which are the most numerous, are the ones that charge the lowest amounts to the families (an average of 60.10 euros/month). On the other hand, those belonging to corporations, cooperatives and limited liability companies are the ones that generate more cases of exclusion and compulsory school fees for students, reaching 84% in the case of cooperatives.
In addition, 68.6% of the centers do not mention the voluntary nature of the payments in the interviews with the families, and only 19.4% reflect it in the documentation they provide.
A 14% of cases of exclusion are detected if families do not pay the fee, reaching 31% in some subsidized centers in the Community of Madrid.
Elena Cid, director of CICAE explains: “In a differential way, this study provides the real arguments that charter schools give to families in interviews when they request information to enroll their children, revealing the pressure they suffer in some schools with the payment of base fees in exchange for education.
“The study reflects the lack of transparency on this issue, the complicated access to clear information on the fees they are required to pay, and how difficult or nearly impossible it is for a family that cannot afford the fees to attend many of these schools.
We find it particularly serious how some schools clearly express the pressure to collect fees and the measures they adopt to exclude or discriminate against children if they do not pay,” adds Elena Cid.
Lack of transparency in charter schools: Six out of ten schools do not provide information on their websites about prices
Schools do not always indicate in the documentation provided to the families with the prices, the concepts for which they charge the fees, schedules, contents, whether payment is voluntary or what happens if payment is not made, etc.
In addition, this year the CICAE report has included a special study of the 100 web pages of the highest-fee subsidized schools in the Community of Madrid, taking as a reference the new order (published in the BOCM December 22, 2023) which indicates that publicly funded schools must include on their web pages the list and price of all the complementary and extracurricular activities and complementary services that have been carried out in the center the previous year, and those that are planned for the new academic year.
The study presented today by CICAE shows the following data: More than half of the schools do not show information on the fee or contribution that families have to make and 42.42% show all the prices of the activities or fees. The 25% informs incompletely of some concepts, but not of the fees or quotas whose consideration is the education.
Fees up to 510 euros per month per student
In the comparison by autonomous communities, the study concludes that, for yet another year, Catalonia leads the maximum fee charged to charter school families (510 euros per month) followed by the Valencian Community (450 euros), Madrid (252 euros), Galicia (245 euros) and the Basque Country (224 euros).
Of the charter schools visited in the Community of Madrid (24% of the existing ones), 99% charge a basic fee to families. Fifty-two percent of them charge more than 150 euros per month.
In Catalonia, 98.28% of the schools visited charge the base fee to families. And more than half of the schools in this community charge families an average fee of 246.37 euros per month.
In the Basque Country, 100% of the schools visited charge the basic fee to families. In this region, the study reveals that in the case of some cooperatives, in order to become a member, it is necessary to make high contributions, which in some cases exceed 800 euros.
In addition, this study, now in its ninth edition, serves to show how, almost across the board, schools raise the cost of their fees each year. This year’s results show that in the Community of Madrid, 64.2% of schools increase their fees and in Catalonia 71.4% of the schools visited each year increase their fees.
Between fees and other services, going to a charter school in Madrid or Catalonia costs an average of up to 5 or 6 thousand euros a year.
About the study
To carry out the study, developed by Garlic B2B, the Mystery Shopper research technique has been used, with simulations of families requesting information on the prices and fees that charter schools offer them for the enrollment of their children in the second cycle of kindergarten for the 2024 – 2025 academic year. It has been carried out during the months of March, April and May, providing accurate information on the perception of families during the enrollment process in charter schools in eight randomly selected autonomous communities.
Download the complete report at the following link:
