Meeting our founding principles
The Financial Survey for Schools (FSS) was founded to establish key industry financial indicators at the lowest possible cost (so participation price was not a barrier) to assist school boards and management in their long term decision making on financial viability.After 30 years of continual improvement, the FSS includes over 60 KPIs and is the basis of market-leading research on school financial sustainability which is shared to help assure individual school and sector financial viability and sustainability.Last year survey participants represented 65% of enrolments in Independent schools in Australia with satisfaction consistently ranking 4 ½ stars (out of 5) with 100% recommending the FSS to others. Including the 12% early bird discount until 31 August, schools can participate from $910 plus GST, half price for schools with less than 250 enrolments.
Compared with the average $110,000 per school staff member, the price for your school’s annual financial health check is minimal, especially if it diagnoses and helps treat financial stress.
So thank you to all participants—the FSS is truly achieving its founding principles.
🚫 | Mind the gap
At the time of writing, the 2025 FSS indicates that for every $1 million in Fees and Grants, the average Independent School earned $100,000 less operating surplus in 2024 than in 2023 presenting an obvious challenge for schools.Schools should not expect grant indexation rates much higher than 3% in the coming years. With teacher shortages and large wage increases across the country and the Tasman, the gap between income and expenses is likely to remain reduced or could even contract further in 2025 and forward years.
🏆 | Be a data champion at the click of the mouse
Once 2024 school-year data is completed, regular participants can, at the click of the mouse, generate a Historical Trend Analysis of key ratios for their school to reinforce positive and highlight concerning financial health trends. Research and practice indicates responding to trends in a timely manner is crucial for financial sustainability.👉🏻 Then, at the click of the mouse, select a sample of similar schools and benchmark performance to diagnose strengths and areas for improvement, and develop strategies to improve your school’s financial health.
👉🏻 Then at the click of the mouse, transfer 2023 and 2024 data into the SKI Report, upload budget data and analyse financial health to 2029 to highlight problems on the horizon.
👉🏻 Then, at the click of the mouse change key variables to test strategies, instantly re-forecast budgets to 2029 and re-analyse financial health.
It’s that simple!
‼️New | Free data upload service
We know how busy you are, so to save time, Australian schools can now email their completed Financial Questionnaire directly to Somerset Education for upload. Here’s how:
- Download your Financial Questionnaire data from SchoolsHub (Excel format)
- Email the file to: dataupload@somerseteducation.net.
We will upload your data ready for you to add the finishing touches.
Q | Any questions?
For more information about the FSS or our budgeting and reporting tools, please do not hesitate to contact Cathy or Jessica at survey@somerseteducation.net or call 1300 781 968 (from outside Australia +61 7 3263 5300).
If I can help in any way with the financial governance of your school, please contact me at john@somerseteducation.net or mobile 0417 618 899.
We look forward to your ongoing support, or if new to the survey, we warmly welcome you joining in.