Short answer: budget the first year, not the tuition
Tuition is the anchor, but the first year adds one-off charges that never appear in the headline figure: application fees, assessment fees, enrollment or capital levies, deposits, uniform starter kits, technology requirements, transport setup, and the camps or after-care you will actually need once the school calendar meets a working calendar. The only number worth budgeting is the full first-year total per child.
- Request the complete fee schedule from each school — tuition, one-off fees, deposits, and annual recurring extras.
- Ask which items are refundable, creditable, or forfeited if plans change before the first day.
- Build the budget per child; sibling discounts and different year-group fees make family averages misleading.
- Keep every quote, fee schedule, and policy document versioned — schedules change annually.
Map every cost line before comparing schools
School fee schedules separate costs differently, which makes headline tuition comparisons misleading. One school bundles lunch or technology into tuition; another prices everything separately. Normalise every school to the same full cost map before ranking anything.
| Cost line | What to ask | Budget treatment |
|---|---|---|
| Tuition | Year-group fee, payment schedule (termly/annual/monthly), and annual increase history. | Multiply across the full academic year, not one term. |
| One-off fees | Application, assessment, registration, enrollment, capital or development levy, and new-family charges. | Add to year one only; confirm which repeat annually. |
| Deposits | Amount, refund conditions, and whether it credits against tuition or returns at exit. | Treat as cash tied up, not a cost — unless conditions make it one. |
| Uniform and kit | Starter uniform, PE kit, house colours, seasonal items, and growth replacements. | First-year starter cost plus a replacement allowance. |
| Technology | Required device, insurance, software licences, and acceptable specifications. | Purchase cost or lease cost, plus case/warranty. |
| Lunch and snacks | Catering plan cost, mandatory vs optional, and packed-lunch practicality. | Annual cost if used; zero only if genuinely avoidable. |
| Transport | Bus routes serving your area, annual cost, and seat availability. | Annual cost, or the fuel/time cost of the school run. |
The calendar-gap lines most budgets miss
A working family's real school cost includes what happens outside school hours and terms. Camps, after-care, early-dismissal cover, and staff-day childcare are budget lines, not afterthoughts — and sibling schedules at different schools multiply the gaps.
| Gap | Question to ask | Evidence to save |
|---|---|---|
| After-care | Hours, daily/termly cost, booking lead time, and pickup rules. | After-care fee schedule and registration deadlines. |
| Holiday camps | Which breaks have camps, cost per week, and how fast places fill. | Camp provider list, dates, and per-break cost estimate. |
| Early dismissals and staff days | How many per year and who covers them. | School calendar annotated against your work calendar. |
| Sibling mismatches | Do different schools' term dates, start times, or bus routes collide? | Both calendars side by side with a coverage plan. |
| Exam-year extras | Revision courses, exam entry fees, trips, and graduation costs in later years. | Upper-school fee notes for forward planning. |
Discounts, allowances, and payment timing
Three things move the real number: sibling discounts, employer education support, and payment timing. All three are negotiable or verifiable — but only if you ask before signing the enrollment contract.
- Ask each school for the sibling-discount structure in writing: percentage, which child it applies to, and whether it survives fee increases.
- Confirm exactly what your employer's education allowance covers: tuition only, or fees, uniforms, transport, and deposits too — and whether it is paid, reimbursed, or capped.
- Ask whether annual upfront payment earns a discount versus termly or monthly plans, and what each schedule costs in cash-flow terms.
- Keep receipts and invoices in the format your employer's reimbursement process requires from day one.
- Check the refund policy against your real risk: work-permit timing, housing delays, or a place not working out mid-year.
First-year budget file: build it once, update per child
The output of this checklist is a single page per child: the school's full fee schedule, your normalised cost map, the calendar-gap estimate, the discount and allowance adjustments, and the final first-year number. That file is what lets you compare two schools honestly, negotiate a relocation package with real numbers, and set the housing budget ceiling that school costs leave room for.
- Date-stamp every fee schedule; note the academic year it covers.
- Record the assumptions: which optional lines you included and why.
- Add a contingency line for the costs that only appear after arrival — trips, activities, kit replacements.
- Revisit the file when the second child's schedule, a job change, or a school change alters the picture.
- Keep the school's fee-policy document alongside the schedule; refund and increase rules matter as much as amounts.
What stays outside this page
This checklist is deliberately narrow. Use the fees-and-deposits page for payment timing, refund mechanics, and enrollment-contract detail. Use the payment-and-currency page for how to pay across currencies. Use admissions pages for applications, assessments, waitlists, and school choice. This page only builds the first-year total.
- Use each school's published fee schedule and bursar's office for current figures — never third-party summaries alone.
- Use your employer's HR or relocation policy for allowance rules; get them in writing.
- Use qualified Cayman professionals for tax, immigration, or financial questions when the outcome matters.
Trust note
Last updated July 2026. This guide is written for relocation planning and should be verified with licensed Cayman professionals for legal, tax, immigration, medical, insurance, or financial decisions.
Reference points: Cayman Islands school registration, Office of Education Standards institutions, Cayman Islands Government education, Cayman Islands Customs and Border Control.