For single mother Umm Ahmed, paying her 11-year-old son’s school fees on a term basis was impossible. She, therefore, negotiated a payment plan with the Sharjah school that her son attends — to pay the fees every month.
“We joined the school when my son was in Grade 2 and now he is in Grade 6,” she said. “For the last four years, the school has been very understanding and allowed me to use a payment plan for clearing the school fees. It has been a lifesaver for me.”
Like Umm Ahmed, several parents have negotiated payment plans with their educational institutes to ease the burden of paying a term’s fees in one go. Others turn to credit cards and bank offers to break the payment into manageable instalments.
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Most schools in the UAE require parents to pay school fees on a term basis.
Umm Ahmed said she followed the same pattern every year. “I issue a quarterly cheque that the school keeps as a guarantee,” she said. “I pay the school fees monthly and at the end of each quarter, the cheque is returned to me.”
However, several schools, especially Indian syllabus schools, allow parents to pay on a monthly or term basis.
Parent Hannah K. said she pays for her Grade 1 son on a monthly basis. “My child goes to the Our Own English High School in Dubai and the school gives me the option to pay it on a monthly or term basis,” she said. “I am thankful for that option because it doesn’t burden us unnecessarily. Parents also have the option to play bus fees on a monthly basis.”
Another parent Manish Khiara said the Indian High School, Dubai also has a monthly payment plan. “The school has had a monthly payment plan from when I was studying there in the 1990s,” he said. “They have the same thing even now when my son is studying there.”
Using credit cards
There are several bank offers and credit cards that allow parents to break down their school fee payments into instalments without any interest. Other platforms like Tabby and Payit also allow such monthly payments.
Umm Ahmed said her first option was to get a credit card but her financial situation did not allow it. “The bank requires those applying for a credit card to have a salary above Dh5000,” she said. “Since I was staying in the company accommodation, my housing allowance was being cut from my salary. So the amount that came into my account was less than Dh5000. This caused my request for a credit card to be rejected. That is why I approached the school.”
Sharjah resident Mohammed Iqbal took a credit card for the first time in his life to pay school fees. “I had always paid school fees on a quarterly basis for all my three children,” he said. “However, last year I had a financial emergency and was not able to do the quarterly payment. I approached school for a payment plan but they refused to cooperate. That is how I was forced to take a credit card.”
Iqbal said the credit card option helped him break down the huge lump sum into manageable chunks. “I was very thankful for the option because I was on the verge of pulling my children out of school as there was no way for me to afford the tuition fee,” he said.
‘Allowed in unique circumstances’
A senior spokesperson at a leading British-syllabus school located in Jumeirah confirmed that the management allowed some of its parents to pay on a monthly basis in “unique circumstances” when they were facing financial difficulties. “The rule is that school fees must be paid on a quarterly basis,” he said. “However, there are some instances when people face financial difficulties and approach school. We are understanding of it and negotiate a payment plan with them. However, this is not something we advertise because we don’t want parents to approach without a legitimate reason.”
Earlier, Sharjah parent Nighat Abbas had said that she had negotiated a plan with the institute her daughter was studying in. “With three children studying in university, an institute and school, start of school terms are always challenging for us,” she said. “We approached the school and institute for a payment plan. School refused but the institute agreed to do so. It has been a big help for us.”