Soaring school fees hit hard

Planning to send your kids to private school? New figures show the cost of putting a baby born this year through secondary school will cost more than $300,000.

And the bill this year will top more than $21,000 as the cost of tuition, books and uniforms continues to rise.

A new report from the Australian Scholarships Group shows it will cost $6952 for private pre-school, $12,561 for private primary school and $21,112 for private secondary school for a year.

Catholic schools are a cheaper option, but still hurt with primary school annual costs at $7317 and secondary $11,445.

The good news for those sending their kids to government schools is they avoid the huge leap in fees between primary (average of $5317) and secondary ($5618).

Victoria is the most expensive state for secondary school fees at nearly $6000 a year.