Fiona, I totally agree, that's why we're sending DS to boarding school and not the local high school. It will be a stretch for sure but then we also qualify for the Isolated children's payment from centrelink which is just under $7,500 per year. We did look at sending him to Kinross Wolaroi, which is DH's old school, but we simply cannot afford that! It's a similar amount to the one you're looking at.