Expense Planning

[AreTheyTheLemmings?]

Has anyone thought about buying a 1 K apartment for their kids when they go university?

A bloke who bought a 1K rental apartment off me (more than a decade ago now) did just that. He was from Hiroshima and he bought the apartment (in Kobe) to house his son, who had just been accepted at a nearby university.

[Isodora]

We went the public route, but from friends I know that the following additional costs normally occur for private education. As your yearly estimate is quite high, maybe you took part or all of it into account already, so just in case:

Private from JHS:

- Juku from grade 3, 4 or latest 5 including extra courses in summer and winter
- Fees for each entry exam, it is not uncommon to take 4 to 8.
- A fee if you want to keep a place
- School Entrance fee
- Yearly donations (voluntary of course, but many feel obliged)
- Commuting fee
- In the Tokyo area, the training facilities for sports clubs are often far away from school, that adds to the commuting fee.
- Very expensive school uniforms and other mandatory items. (unlike in public schools, bags, shoes, shirts, sweaters, socks and etc. cannot be freely chosen)
- Sport uniforms in case of sports clubs
- Very expensive (overseas) school trips
- Juku for University for 2 - 3 years, and again the same principle applies with exam fees for many different universities, unless you child gets a place per recommendation. (Just asked our oldest, he said it was more than 200,000 Yen for 9 exams at 5 universities.

Another possibly costly factor although not related to education, are orthodontic treatments, as those are not covered by Japanese health insurance and can easily cost more than a million.

Last but not least, in case your children opt for ballet (may be ice skating too) as naraigoto you can expect very costly happyokais on a yearly or two yearly bases, also, but cheaper, if the play an instrument.

Good Luck

[captainspoke]

While school (and sport/PE) uniforms may look like an expense, and I suppose that's correct, the flip side is that there won't be as much shopping/buying 'regular' clothes, and enough variety of those for a school year. And you need PE stuff either way.

School uniforms, at least in my covert and heretofore unknown alternative identity as "johnny laundry", are really easy to handle. I could easily turn those around overnight, and faster if needed. What our two had was either polyester blend, or all polyester--hard to find anything easier to deal with. And durable.

[concerned]

"International schools seem like the worst of both world's from my what I have seen."

Just wondering what is the issue with International Schools.

Are private schools a good option? I am a bit worried about public schools and sending my daughter there would she get bullied?

[TokyoBoglehead]

"International schools seem like the worst of both world's from my what I have seen."

Just wondering what is the issue with International Schools.

Are private schools a good option? I am a bit worried about public schools and sending my daughter there would she get bullied?

International schools limit a child's option in Japan, often forcing them to take a qualification or equivalency exams to attend Japanese universities.The students are poorly equipped to pass these exams as they have been outside the system. These schools are often incredibly expensive as well.

Japanese private schools are a great option, but it's important to note that the public system in elementary and HS is quite good. It's JH that often falls short.

.....

Basically, international schools are very expensive and pretty much force your child into attending university abroad.

These are generalities though, and many exceptions exist.

[captainspoke]

"International schools seem like the worst of both world's from my what I have seen."

Just wondering what is the issue with International Schools.

Are private schools a good option? I am a bit worried about public schools and sending my daughter there would she get bullied?

Be careful to distinguish international vs private. Eg, there are many private high schools all over japan--they are pretty common. (And not really much more expensive than a public school--they follow the govt curriculum and thus get the same subsidies as public HS.)

One test-taking strategy for prospective HS students is to choose both a public HS and a private HS. If they 'miss' their public school's cutoff line, the fall-back is the private one. (Similar to uni applicants, who may try for a national uni, but have a private uni, or two, as backups if they don't make it in.)

But the important thing is that these private high schools follow the same or near equivalent curriculums as outlined by the ministry of education--they are fully japanese schools (some may differ slightly in the 'courses' they offer--the traditional two in public HS are 文系 and 理系. And a private high school that offers an 'international' course may just be fancying up the 文系 track.)

Those private HS keep students well within the path needed to matriculate to uni here.

International schools are a different beast. Outside of that path. (as just described above) The govt does not subsidize them.

[concerned]

Thanks! TokyoBogleHead and CaptainSpoke for the clarification

So maybe the best option then as I understand it is if I want to have my Daughter study English and keep her options open is to attend Public or Private School here, and then study English outside of this at a English school.

[TokyoBoglehead]

Thanks! TokyoBogleHead and CaptainSpoke for the clarification

So maybe the best option then as I understand it is if I want to have my Daughter study English and keep her options open is to attend Public or Private School here, and then study English outside of this at a English school.

If you speak English at home and consume mostly English media, then you are most of the way there.

Academic English skills can be supplemented at home or through afterschool activities and programs.

[concerned]

Yep try and use English at home as much as possible, thanks!

[beanhead]

If you speak English at home and consume mostly English media, then you are most of the way there.
Academic English skills can be supplemented at home or through afterschool activities and programs.

You haven't had to deal with teenagers yet, have you?

My advice is hammer the English in to them while they are still young and pliable.
After that, sometimes you are just delighted to get more than a word or two out of them...continuing to improve their English can become a real battle.