2027 will cost more. One school is letting parents pay next year’s fees at this year’s prices
On 23 September, the Reserve Bank lifted the repo rate to 7.25%, its second increase this year. The Bank expects inflation to stay elevated through 2027 and to return to its 3% target towards the end of that year. Governor Lesetja Kganyago said the fuel shock that looked to be easing a few months ago had intensified.
A household feels that on the next debit order. On a R1.5 million, 20-year bond at prime, this year’s two hikes add about R500 to the monthly repayment.
In August, Stats SA found fuel 20% dearer than a year earlier and services up 5.1%, and the Reserve Bank expects both to keep inflation high.
Education is one of those services, and Stats SA prices it once a year, in March. This year it recorded the steepest rise at private secondary schools, where fees climbed 7.5%, more than double the 3.1% headline inflation rate that month.
Schools set most of those fees in 2025, before the fuel shock and before either rate hike, and many are drawing up their 2027 budgets now. At 7.5% a year, a school fee doubles in a decade, about the stretch from Grade 2 to matric.
A family can do little to settle its 2027 costs in advance. It cannot fix the petrol price or the Reserve Bank’s next decision. School fees tend to arrive as a figure in a letter home during the final term, and parents pay it or start looking elsewhere.
CambriLearn has taken a different line for 2027. The accredited online private school has taught more than 80,000 students in over 100 countries since 2008. Families who enrol or re-enrol with it by 30 November 2026 lock in this year’s fees for their child’s 2027 enrolment.
The offer covers new and existing students on any grade and package across all six of its pathways: Pearson Edexcel, the International British Curriculum, the US K-12 route and South Africa’s CAPS, KABV and IEB. It excludes extracurricular courses.
Families need no voucher or code, because the listed fees already carry 2026 pricing.
Locking in takes either the full course fee upfront or the first instalment of a 10-month card plan. On the monthly plan the other nine instalments begin when the course activates, which for CAPS, KABV and IEB learners is 11 January 2027.
International British and US courses activate when the learner is ready to start. The first instalment, or 10% of an upfront payment, is non-refundable and secures the price.
New families also pay a once-off registration fee, and the total fee differs between the two payment options, which the full terms set out.
The fee buys a school day with a timetable. Specialist subject teachers teach live lessons and mark assignments.
Parents follow attendance and progress through CambriCommand, part of the CambriOS school experience CambriLearn launched in August.
The school is accredited by Cognia and Pearson Edexcel and registered with SACAI and the IEB, and a learner’s final certificate makes no mention of online study.
Online school will not suit every child, and a family needs a reliable connection and a quiet place to work. Parents sketching 2027 on the back of an envelope can settle one line of it before the year begins. The fee lock closes at 23:59 SAST on 31 October.
CambriLearn is an accredited online private school, teaching children aged 4 to 19. The full Lock In Your Fees 2027 terms are at cambrilearn.com/lock-in-your-fees-2027. To talk through a pathway with an education consultant, visit cambrilearn.com.
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