Melbourne Private Schools: 2026 Fees and How to Choose

Melbourne is Australia's most expensive city for independent schooling: Futurity Investment Group's 2026 index puts the 13-year cost of a private education here at about $435,902 — and that is before you have chosen a single school. This guide does not rank Melbourne's private schools, because we hold no academic-results data and a fee says nothing about teaching. What it does is show you what the leading schools actually charge in 2026 — read from each school's own schedule this month — and how to choose on fit rather than folklore.

Why this guide names fewer schools than you might expect. We only quote a fee we could read on the school's own current schedule. Several well-known Melbourne schools block automated access to their fee pages or publish nothing current online; rather than repeat an aggregator's figure (which we found to be wrong by as much as $13,000 for one school), we leave them out and say so. Eleven schools are verified below.

Key takeaways

• The top Melbourne independents cluster between about $40,000 and $48,000 all-in for Year 7 in 2026 — much closer together than their reputations suggest.
• Tuition is not the bill. Compulsory levies add between $1,267 and $4,768 a year on top of tuition at the schools that publish a combined figure. Always ask for the all-in number.
• The quoted figure is often the wrong one. We found St Catherine's commonly listed at $34,480 when its own 2026 schedule shows $47,740 all-in; Lauriston's "$48,352" is the gross tuition before government grants, not the $44,400 families actually pay. Verify at the source.
• Over 13 years, Futurity puts a Melbourne independent education at about $435,902 and a Catholic one at $247,999 — both including levies and ancillaries, not tuition alone.
• Choose on fit, not rank. Gender mix, senior pathway (VCE or IB), the Year 9 program and campus geography differ far more between these schools than any league table does.

What 2026 Year 7 actually costs

These are 2026 Year 7 figures read from each school's own published schedule in September 2026. Where a school prints a single all-in total we show it; where it only prints tuition, we say so. Several band Years 7 and 8 at one rate, and several quote tuition net of government recurrent grants.

Day-student, domestic fees. Boarding, where offered, adds roughly $34,000-$37,000 a year on top. Fees change annually — always confirm the current schedule with the school.

Tuition is not the bill

The single most useful thing to take from the table is the gap between the tuition figure a school leads with and the amount you actually pay. At Carey, compulsory fees add nearly $4,800 to tuition; at Caulfield and PLC, more than $4,100; even at Melbourne Grammar, $1,267. These are not optional extras — they are levies the school itself lists as compulsory, covering technology, buildings, payroll-tax surcharges and, at some schools, a Year 7 camp. A quote that names only tuition understates the real commitment, and the size of the gap varies enough between schools that it is worth asking every one for its combined figure before you compare.

The 13-year picture

A single year's fee is the wrong number to plan around. Futurity Investment Group's 2026 Cost of Education Index projects the full cost of a child starting school in 2026 across thirteen years, in major cities:

Two caveats worth holding. These totals include uniforms, devices, camps and excursions, not tuition alone — which is why the Catholic education commission has publicly called the index's method generous. And fees rise about 5-6% a year, roughly double CPI (ABS, via Futurity), on top of the year-level step, so a Year 7 figure quoted today understates Year 12. For the secondary-years math and how families fund it, see what six years of private school actually costs and Catholic versus independent school fees.

Schools we could not verify

Three well-known Melbourne schools publish a 2026 schedule we could not read at source this month, so we have left their fees out rather than guess:

• Scotch College (Hawthorn) and Wesley College both block automated access to their own fee pages and PDFs (the documents exist; we could not open them). Note that Scotch has also published a 2027 schedule, so a current-looking quote elsewhere may be next year's.
• Camberwell Grammar links only a 2022 schedule on its own site; we found no readable 2026 figure there.

Brighton Grammar, Korowa and Ivanhoe Grammar are also well regarded but were outside this verification pass. For any school not in the table, read the fee directly from the school's own current schedule — and treat aggregator figures with suspicion.

How to choose between them

Start with fit, not rank. The differences that actually shape a child's experience — and your bill — are structural, and they are easy to establish on a tour:

• Gender model. Boys', girls', fully co-ed, or a parallel/hybrid model? This is the first fork and it narrows the list fast.
• Senior pathway. Some Melbourne schools offer the International Baccalaureate alongside or instead of the VCE. If the IB matters to you, ask each school directly which it offers and from what year.
• The Year 9 program. Several leading Melbourne schools run a signature Year 9 experience — a residential campus, an extended outdoor term, or a city/immersion program. Ask what it is, where, how long, and what it costs on top.
• Geography. Multi-campus systems may have a campus near you; single-campus schools offer one tight community. A shorter commute compounds over thirteen years.
• Price, read properly. Use the all-in figure, not tuition, and model it across the whole journey rather than next year alone.

Then visit. Tour at least three, and watch how students talk to staff in the corridors — culture is the thing a spreadsheet cannot capture, and it usually decides families in the end. Every school here has a profile on AroundSchools, where you can find and compare schools near you by suburb, fees and programs.

Scholarships and entry

Most of these schools run scholarship exams roughly 12 to 18 months before entry — commonly sat in February of the year before, with registrations opening the preceding spring — and awards typically remit 25 to 50% of tuition, with full remission usually reserved for means-tested, First Nations or boarding categories. Providers cluster in Melbourne around a handful of testing bodies, so a child sitting more than one exam may be able to reuse preparation. Our complete scholarship guide, the ACER vs EduTest vs AAS comparison and the note on when to start preparing cover the process, and each school's own admissions page is the source of truth for its dates.

Entry itself starts earlier than most families expect. The main intakes are Prep and Year 7 almost everywhere, with smaller doors at Years 5 and 9 to 10 at specific schools, and the most sought-after schools order offers by application date — so register early even if entry is years away. Map your dates against our private school entry timeline so nothing slips.

What fees can't tell you

A fee is a budget constraint, not a quality score. We hold no VCE or NAPLAN results and we do not rank schools on outcomes — partly because the published-results leader in Victoria is often not a famous-name school at all, and partly because once you account for the socio-educational profile of who enrols (the ICSEA index on My School), much of the apparent gap between these schools narrows. Judge teaching on a tour and on the outcomes each school and the ACARA data actually publish; use the fee for what it is.

Frequently asked questions

How much are private school fees in Melbourne in 2026? At the leading independents, Year 7 runs about $40,000 to $48,000 all-in — for example St Catherine's at $47,740, Melbourne Grammar at $44,657 and PLC Burwood at $40,416, all read from each school's own 2026 schedule. Boarding, where offered, adds roughly $34,000-$37,000 on top.

What is the most expensive private school in Melbourne? Among the schools we verified, St Catherine's had the highest all-in Year 7 figure at $47,740, with Trinity Grammar Kew and Melbourne Grammar close behind. Several better-known schools block access to their fee pages, so treat any single "most expensive" claim cautiously.

Does a higher fee mean a better school? No. A fee reflects a school's cost base and market position, not its teaching quality, and we do not rank schools on results. Choose on fit — gender model, senior pathway, programs and geography — and judge quality on a visit.

What does private school cost over the full 13 years in Melbourne? Futurity's 2026 index puts it at about $435,902 for an independent education and $247,999 for a Catholic one, both including levies and ancillaries rather than tuition alone.

School fee figures are each school's own published 2026 day-student schedule, read at source in September 2026; several band Years 7-8 and several quote tuition net of government grants, as noted. Thirteen-year totals are from Futurity Investment Group's Cost of Education Index 2026 (Victoria metropolitan, including parent contributions and ancillaries). Fees change annually — confirm with the school before enrolling. AroundSchools holds no academic results and does not rank schools on quality.