On average, parents fund just over half the cost of educating a child in nsw independent schools and 90% of building costs, saving taxpayers billions of dollars each year. Student enrolments the rate of growth in independent schools has been increasing In addition to having low fees, many independent schools are small, with almost half educating fewer than 200 students.
Although projections by the australian bureau of statistics suggest school population growth will slow over the coming years, the independent school sector is projected to continue to increase its enrolment share and experience strong growth, year on year. Independent schools recorded the largest increase (18.5%), followed by catholic schools (6.6%) and government schools (1.0%). In the past five years, more new students were enrolled in nsw independent schools than in every state and territory government school sector combined
Over the five years to 2024, total student enrolments increased by 4.6%
