What types of students are attending each school sector?

Independent schools

There has been an ongoing assumption that independent schools are exclusively for the rich. Many people may have this perception as they associate the more expensive tuition fees of these schools with a family’s household income.

However, this is simply not the case. When analysing the results from the ABS 2011 census, it is evident that the distribution of families who send their children to independent schools is not concentrated in the high income bracket of $260,000 and over.

While more high income families are sending their children to independent schools over Catholic and government schools, a large majority of students in independent schools come from families with middle to mid-high level household income. In fact, a larger percentage of the independent school sector consists of students with a family income of $41,599 or less than students with a family income of $260,000 and over.

Therefore, the decision for a family to attend an independent school may not be only attributed to the fact that they are wealthy, as it is evident that the fees of independent schools can be afforded by the average Australian household.

Government and Catholic schools

Almost 50% of families sending their children to government or Catholic schools have a household income between $41,600 - $129,000. However, when looking outside that income range, the distribution of the type of families sending their children to a government or Catholic school start to vary.

In government schools, the remaining 50% of students are almost equally split into those with a family income of $41,599 or less and those with a family income of $130,000 or more.

On the other hand, the distribution of families in the Catholic sector differs significantly, with a much larger proportion of students coming families with a higher income of $130,000 and above than those from families earning $41,599 or less.

When looking outside the family income bracket of $41,600 - $129,999, there is an indication that independent and Catholic schools consist more of families with higher levels of income, while government schools don’t show an inclination towards families with higher or lower income levels.

For the case of independent and Catholic schools, a family’s income may play a role in choosing which school their children attend. However, the concentration of students coming from families with a middle level income of $41-600 - $129,999 across all school sectors indicate that other factors take higher priority when choosing a school for their children.

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