How expensive is your school child?
Anyone who is expecting or already has children knows: children cost money! According to a calculation by the Federal Statistical Office, a child costs an average of 584 euros per month from birth to the age of 18. That makes a total of just under 130,000 euros. The average costs fall with each additional child. Parents of two children still pay 515 euros and parents of three children still pay 484 euros per child.
It is not surprising that the older the child gets, the higher the demands and monthly costs. While the younger children are still satisfied with little and the costs here are mostly for housing, food and leisure, the costs for the older ones increase mainly in the area of other purchases. These include new technical gadgets such as the latest smartphone or a new games console.
Costs incurred for school or vacation care, school trips or other school-related expenses are not included in this general invoice
What does school education cost in Germany?
But it is precisely this stage of life that accounts for a significant proportion of the time. This is because children spend the majority of their time in an educational institution between the ages of six and 18.
The comparison portal idealo.de has published a study on the question of how much a schoolchild costs from school enrollment to graduation and found out some exciting facts:
The average school costs for a child amount to 20,695.83 euros.
However, the results vary greatly from state to state. For example, a school life in Lower Saxony is the most expensive at 27,335.18 euros and the cheapest in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania at 14,896.07 euros.
School costs: What was examined?
The starting point for the calculation is school enrolment. As the end point, idealo.de chose the G12 Abitur, which is currently taken in the twelfth grade at grammar schools in almost all German states.
The following expenses were included in the calculation:
School enrollment costs, such as enrollment ceremony, school bag and school bag, school costs such as school meals, class trips, book purchases or after-school care costs, costs for work materials and other costs such as additional school bags, sports equipment.
But why do school costs vary so much? The German school system is regulated decentrally, i.e. the individual municipalities determine the school equipment, the teaching materials or the organization of the canteen. Various guidelines and laws in the federal states make comparability difficult. The study therefore concentrates on standard costs.
On average, it can be said that parents in Germany have to spend €20,700 on a school-age child - from school enrolment to the Abitur. However, when looking at the average total costs per federal state, extreme fluctuations become clear.
Lower Saxony is the most expensive federal state for schoolchildren
Lower Saxony, Hamburg and Bremen have the highest costs, with Lower Saxony having the most expensive school day at 27,300 euros. The reason for the considerable total costs is the high cost of after-school care in the afternoons.
At the lower end of the scale are the eastern German states of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saxony and Thuringia. Expenditure in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is the lowest at EUR 14,900, which is only half the total cost of Lower Saxony.
You can find the study online at: www.idealo.de/info/de/schulkosten
