Top private schools have become less affordable over the past decade despite taxpayer subsidies and claims from former Prime Minister John Howard when he introduced the current funding system that fee increases would taper off.

The yearly fees in the top schools of about 11,500 dollars (10,483 U.S. dollars) in 1999 were about 28 percent of the average yearly wage, whereas this year's fees of about 23,500 dollars (21,422 U.S. dollars) at these schools are about 36 percent of the average salary, The Australian reports Wednesday.

The current Australian government decision to extend the socioeconomic status funding model until 2012 gave non-government schools an estimated 28 billion dollars (25.5 billion U.S. dollars). It was made despite protests from public education unions.

The reaction to the hikes has been muted so far, with parents groups and the Independent Education Union (IEU) noting that the education component of the consumer price index had risen by 5.6 percent in the past year.

IEU federal secretary Chris Watt said teachers' wages were rising at about 4.5 percent a year and it was possible that schools were facing reduced fee payments and donations from alumni amid the global financial crisis.

"If the increase was of the order of 10 percent, we would say it's outrageous, but it's not that much more than the base wage increase plus extra costs," he said.

Source: Xinhua