Capital debenture fee?

[JackRicho]

Hi
My wife and I with our 2 year daughter are moving to HK in the new year.
I keep seeing a " Capital Debenture fee" for kindergarten and was wondering want this is?
is this something all parents pay?

Thanks in advance

j

[MandM!]

Yes--it is essentially a required fee. Back in the day it used to be refundable upon graduation--nowadays, not so much.

[answerer]

Take a look at this article:

http://topschools.com.hk/all-about-debentures/

[JackRicho]

Hi Answerer,
that has been really helpful!! Thank you.
The said school I'm looking at do have a capital Levy.
So that makes more sense now.

J

[merchantms]

It depends on the school and the type of debenture. Some have a mandatory one per family or per student. Some are optional but essentially guarantee admissions. Some are refundable, others are not. So without knowing the school can't really say!

[Firemin]

My understanding is...

Debenture (corporate / individual) - a 'bribe' to get your child priority in application queue (note it does not guarantee a place e.g. your child might fail the interview!). Some are refundable when leaving the school (but depreciate over time).

Capital Levy - an additional fee charged by the school for all successful applicants. May be 'one off' or may be an annual charge. Normally stated that it covers maintenance/expansion of school buildings (and other things the EDB state cannot be charged for as 'tuition fees').

[HowardCoombs]

Very few KGs charge this. If you are budget conscious, there are tons of choices where such fees are un-necessary.

[merchantms]

My understanding is...

Debenture (corporate / individual) - a 'bribe' to get your child priority in application queue (note it does not guarantee a place e.g. your child might fail the interview!). Some are refundable when leaving the school (but depreciate over time).

Capital Levy - an additional fee charged by the school for all successful applicants. May be 'one off' or may be an annual charge. Normally stated that it covers maintenance/expansion of school buildings (and other things the EDB state cannot be charged for as 'tuition fees').

Not necessarily. I know for sure a few schools (e.g. HKA, GSIS, The Harbour School) require all families to pay a debenture which is due after acceptance, and has various levels of refundability. Some schools also/instead of have a debenture that gets you to the front of the queue.

The term just means "chunk of money from parent to school" and if you look around you will find a huge variation.

[merchantms]

Very few KGs charge this. If you are budget conscious, there are tons of choices where such fees are un-necessary.

The only standalone kindy I've heard of with a debenture is PIPS. Every other I've seen is a through school that starts at K1. Extremely easy to avoid.

[JackRicho]

Hi all,
this is the kindergarten
https://www.ichk.edu.hk/home/join-ou...l-information/

thank you

j