The first post in this series was about the three quarters of South African schools that don't charge fees at all. This one is about the rest: what fee-charging public schools actually charge, and the rule that means many families at those schools don't have to pay.
There's no national register of school fees. Each school governing body sets its own fee every year, and each school publishes it separately, if at all. So Vulo collects them one school at a time from each school's own website, and only records a fee that appears word for word on the school's live page.
So far that gives us 142 fee-charging public schools and 255 independent schools with a 2026 fee.
First, what this sample is and isn't
South Africa has 3 184 fee-charging public schools. Our 142 are 4.5% of them. They aren't a random 4.5%: they are the schools that publish their fee online, and 120 of them are classified as urban. That leans toward established suburban schools, which are also the schools more likely to charge higher fees.
So read the figures below as "what schools that publish their fees charge", not "the average public school fee in South Africa". Nobody can honestly give that second number, because most schools don't publish one.
One more thing: 62 of the 142 public schools charge different fees for different grades. For those, we record the lowest grade's fee, never whichever grade the school happens to list first. So where a school's fees vary, the real fee for your child's grade may be higher than the figure here.
What they charge
The middle public school fee in our data is R 26 215 a year. Half charge less and half charge more.
| Public (142) | Independent (255) | |
|---|---|---|
| Lowest | R 1 250 | R 5 500 |
| Bottom quarter below | R 15 605 | R 25 100 |
| Middle (median) | R 26 215 | R 43 800 |
| Top quarter above | R 41 331 | R 64 108 |
| Highest | R 82 100 | R 441 766 |
The spread among public schools is wide. The cheapest, Sibusisiwe Comprehensive Technical High School in Umbumbulu, KwaZulu-Natal, charges a flat R 1 250 a year. The most expensive, Maritzburg College in Pietermaritzburg, charges R 82 100 a year for its cheapest grades. Both are public schools, and both are in the same province.
Here is how the 142 public fees spread out:
| Annual fee | Public schools |
|---|---|
| Under R 10 000 | 15 |
| R 10 000 to R 19 999 | 36 |
| R 20 000 to R 29 999 | 33 |
| R 30 000 to R 39 999 | 21 |
| R 40 000 to R 59 999 | 24 |
| R 60 000 or more | 13 |
High schools charge more than primary schools. The median secondary school in the data charges R 38 765. The median primary school charges R 22 550.
By province, only four provinces have enough public schools in the data to say anything: KwaZulu-Natal (38 schools, median R 31 250), the Western Cape (36, about R 30 918), Eastern Cape (23, R 24 310) and Gauteng (36, about R 23 075). With this few schools per province, treat those as a rough picture of the schools that publish, not a ranking of provinces.
Public isn't always cheaper than private
The two columns in the first table overlap more than most parents would guess:
- 30 of the 142 public schools (21%) charge more than the median independent school's R 43 800.
- 67 of the 255 independent schools (26%) charge less than the median public school's R 26 215.
So "public" and "private" tell you less about the fee than you'd expect. Check the school's own figure.
There's one difference that does matter, though, and it's the rest of this post: only public schools are covered by the fee exemption rules.
The income at which you don't have to pay
At any fee-charging public school, parents have a legal right to apply for exemption from fees. The test is set nationally in the Regulations Relating to the Exemption of Parents from Payment of School Fees in Public Schools (Government Notice 1052 of 2006), not by the school.
The test is one percentage. Add the annual fees for one child to any other money the school charges for that child to attend or take part in its programmes, and divide by the parents' combined gross annual income. If it's 10% or more, you get full exemption.
Turned around, that's a simple rule of thumb:
If your household earns less than ten times the school's annual fee, you qualify for full exemption.
Applied to the fees above:
| Annual fee | Full exemption if household income is below | Per month |
|---|---|---|
| R 15 605 (bottom quarter) | R 156 050 | R 13 004 |
| R 22 550 (median primary) | R 225 500 | R 18 792 |
| R 26 215 (median, all public) | R 262 150 | R 21 846 |
| R 38 765 (median secondary) | R 387 650 | R 32 304 |
| R 41 331 (top quarter) | R 413 310 | R 34 443 |
| R 82 100 (highest in our data) | R 821 000 | R 68 417 |
That is gross income for both parents combined, before tax.
These thresholds are, if anything, on the low side. Any other charges the school makes count towards the 10% too, which raises the income at which you qualify. So does a higher fee for your child's grade than the lowest grade recorded here.
Earning a bit more than that? Between 2% and 10%, you may still qualify for a partial exemption. The reduction comes from a table in the regulations and depends on the exact percentage and on how many children you have at fee-charging public schools. The regulations' own worked example: a R 2 520 total bill against a R 30 000 income is 8.4%, rounded to 8.5%, and with one child that gives a 91% exemption. Below 2% there's no exemption.
Some families qualify automatically, whatever they earn. The regulations give automatic full exemption to anyone who receives a social grant on behalf of a child, a kinship caregiver of an orphan or of an abandoned child, anyone responsible for a child placed in foster care, a youth care centre, a place of safety or an orphanage, and a child who heads a household.
How to apply
- Ask the school for the exemption application form (Annexure B of the regulations). The principal has to supply it.
- Apply in writing to the school governing body, with proof of income.
- The governing body has 30 days to decide, and must tell you the outcome and its reasons in writing within seven days of deciding.
- If you're refused, you can appeal to the provincial Head of Department within 30 days.
While you wait, the Department of Basic Education is explicit that a school may not keep back a learner's report because the parent can't afford the fees, and that a learner can't be excluded from any official school programme over unpaid fees.
What Vulo shows
For every open school in the country, Vulo shows whether it's on its province's gazetted no-fee list. For fee-charging schools, it shows the school's own published fee where we've found one, with the link to where the school published it. Where a school hasn't published a fee, we say so. We don't estimate one.
If your child's school is on Vulo with a fee, multiply that fee by ten. If your household earns less, ask the school for the exemption form.
Sources. Fees: each school's own published 2026 fee, collected school by school and matched to the Department of Basic Education register by phone number, EMIS number or street address, as recorded on each school's Vulo page. School register: South African Department of Basic Education. Master List of Schools [dataset]. Pretoria: DBE. Distributed by DataFirst, Cape Town. EMIS downloads, education.gov.za (DataYear 2025). Exemption rules: Regulations Relating to the Exemption of Parents from Payment of School Fees in Public Schools, Government Notice 1052, Government Gazette 29311, 18 October 2006. Report and exclusion rules: Department of Basic Education, School fees and exemption.
Frequently asked questions
- How much are public school fees in South Africa in 2026?
- Among the 142 fee-charging public schools whose own 2026 fee Vulo has collected, the middle fee is R 26 215 a year. A quarter charge less than R 15 605 and a quarter charge more than R 41 331. The lowest is R 1 250 and the highest R 82 100. These are schools that publish their fees online, mostly urban, so they are not a random sample of all 3 184 fee-charging public schools.
- At what income do I qualify for full exemption from public school fees?
- Under the national exemption regulations you qualify for full exemption when the school's fees, plus any other money the school charges for your child to attend or take part in its programmes, come to 10% or more of the parents' combined gross annual income. Put the other way round: if your household earns less than ten times the annual fee, you qualify. At a R 26 215 fee that is R 262 150 a year, about R 21 846 a month.
- Do independent (private) schools have to give fee exemptions?
- No. The exemption regulations apply to public schools only. An independent school sets its own fees and its own bursary or discount policy, if it has one.
- Are all public schools cheaper than private schools?
- No. In Vulo's data, 30 of the 142 fee-charging public schools (21%) charge more than the median independent school's R 43 800. And 67 of 255 independent schools (26%) charge less than the median public school's R 26 215.
- Does the exemption depend on how many children I have at the school?
- The full-exemption test is worked out per child: that child's fees against the parents' combined income. For partial exemption, the regulations' table takes into account how many children you have at fee-charging public schools, so more children can mean a bigger reduction.
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