💬 Our kids' school fees in Khobar went up again and something has to give

Our elder daughter's school in Khobar sent the new fee letter last week, and it's up again, around 12 percent. That's the third increase since she joined in grade two, and our son started kindergarten there this month. Two kids in a private CBSE school, plus bus, books and lab fees, it adds up faster than my salary does. I'm writing this partly to vent and partly to hear how other families here are managing it. We tried for the International Indian School in Dammam first, since the fees there are lower. The waiting list was long and we didn't get a seat either year, so we went private like a lot of people do. The private school is good, with small classes and proper labs, but we pay for every bit of that. The bus alone costs more each month than my father's pension back in Hyderabad. To keep up, we moved last year from a flat near the Corniche to a cheaper building further out. My wife went back to work part time at a clinic, which she wanted anyway, but the timing was about money. The amount I send home every month has gone down, and the gold savings plan we started in 2019 is on hold. It's a lot of moving parts just so two kids can go to school, and some months it feels like too many. A few things have helped a little, so I'll share them in case they help someone else. The sibling discount, which our school only applied after I pointed out it was missing from two invoices. Sticking with CBSE, because if they go back to India for college, at least they won't need to switch boards. And a small monthly SIP back home just for their college, so that money isn't touched for anything else. I've heard schools need ministry approval to raise fees, but every year the increase gets approved anyway. Maybe it's justified, I can't tell, but nobody from the school has ever explained it to parents properly. How are other families here handling it, especially with two or three kids in school? Has anyone here moved the family back to India because of the fees?

Your CBSE point is a good one. My brother changed boards for his son in grade 8 and it was messy. Ask the school for the fee breakdown in writing. Ours showed a lab fee for a lab my daughter never entered. It took 3 emails and they took it off the next term. Small money, but it's something. That doesn't fix the real problem, but I'd rather save 200 than save nothing.

I'm in the US, so not the same situation, but my cousin in Dammam says the same thing every June. He says the fee letter arrives with almost no explanation, just a number and a due date. Did your school hold any parents meeting about the increase? I'd ask for one in writing. A group of parents asking together usually gets a reply faster than one person.