Natalie Sullivan collects frequent flyer points to help her family of five travel for free. (Source: Natalie Sullivan)
An Aussie mum-of-three has shared how she is turning her kids’ school fees into free flights for her family. Aussie parents fork out tens of thousands of dollars on education expenses each year, and it’s often one of the biggest hits to the family budget.
Natalie Sullivan has been paying for her kids’ school fees using a credit card that earns Virgin Velocity frequent flyer points. The Sunshine Coast mum told Yahoo Finance she puts all of her regular expenses on her credit card to earn points, and then pays off the balance immediately to make sure she doesn’t get stung with any interest.
“We have three children in private school. So every year we’ve been doing it, probably for about the past five years,” Sullivan, who creates online travel content, said.
“Rather than direct depositing the school fees or having it just directly come out of our bank account, like an auto setup, I use the credit card to do that, and I did the same when the children were in kindy as well.”
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Sullivan and her husband currently pay around $33,000 a year in private school fees for their three kids, Ari, 10, Chloe, 9, and Rosie, 5.
Importantly, the kids’ school doesn’t charge any extra fees to pay via credit card, which made the decision a “no-brainer” for the mum.
Her credit card has an earn rate of 1 point per $1 spent on eligible purchases up to $8,000 per statement period, dropping to 0.5 points per $1 spent after that. It also has a $329 annual fee.
“With things like school fees, you could split over a few months to maximise it as well if that’s what you wanted to do,” she said.
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Sullivan pays for everyday bills using a credit card, including school fees, water bills and council rates, and then pays off the balance immediately. (Source: Natalie Sullivan)
Sullivan calculated that the 33,000 points earned from paying school fees will be enough to fly the family of five from Brisbane to Canberra for an upcoming trip this winter.
“Those tickets would cost $160 each way, per person. So if you times that by five, you can easily see the value when the school aren’t even charging me anything to make that transaction,” she said.
Along with school fees, Sullivan said she puts other regular expenses that don’t attract extra fees, like water bills and council rates, on her credit card to boost her points balance.
Travel rewards expert Adele Eliseo of The Champagne Mile said putting large expenses like school fees on a credit card was a good way to build points, but you had to be mindful of any surcharges attached.
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“It’s great that the school doesn’t charge any fees; that is probably on the rarer side of things,” she told Yahoo Finance.
“Usually we would see that there is a surcharge, whether it’s 1 per cent for Visa, going up to even 2 per cent for AMEX.
“You’re effectively paying 1 or 2 cents per point. If you’re then going to redeem those points for less than what you’ve purchased them for, so gift cards, for example, only give half a cent point value, then you’re effectively overpaying.”
Sullivan has been using points to travel to places like the Maldives and Singapore with her family. (Source: Natalie Sullivan)
Eliseo said looking at the earn rate on the credit card itself was also important, along with any point caps per statement period, plus the annual fee.
Finder personal finance expert Sarah Megginson said the big risk with paying big expenses with a credit card was the potential interest charges if you don’t pay off your balance in time.
“You should only be considering it if you have the cash to pay your credit card in full each month,” she told Yahoo Finance.
Credit card interest rates are usually between 20 and 24 per cent, so it can add a “huge premium” if you’re not careful.
Both private and public school costs can add up quickly and make up a big portion of the household budget.
Recent Swinburne University research found that for a child born in 2023, it will cost about $108,870 for them to attend a metropolitan public school in the state for 13 years.
Separate data by Futurity Investment Group found parents would spend $113,594 over 13 years for a child starting state school this year in metropolitan areas, which actually marked an 8 per cent decrease compared to last year.
The cost of Catholic education will be $247,174 over 13 years, a massive 28 per cent increase compared to last year. The total cost of independent education will be $369,594 over 13 years, up 6 per cent.
Sullivan said her family was paying the most they ever had for school fees now that all three of her kids were in school, so she was glad she could squeeze some extra value out of it.
The family have already redeemed points for flights over the years, including trips to Singapore and the Maldives.
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