What a year of online school or home education costs
Pick a school, change any figure, and see a GCSE year either way. The starting figures are real: the school's published fee, a mid-range exam centre price and a typical tutor rate.
Starting figures: 8 GCSEs at £250 each at an exam centre (the middle of the £200 to £325 centres charge); a tutor 3 hours a week for 36 weeks at £46 an hour (Tutorful's listed rate for GCSE maths, October 2026); 8 self-study courses at £14.99 a month for 10 months (Oxford Home Schooling). School fees are each school's GCSE fee for 2026/27, with VAT where it adds it.
What the numbers leave out
Your time. Home education with a tutor a few hours a week means a parent at home running the rest. An online school runs the timetable, marks the work and reports to you; with home education that's you, or courses that mark work for you (see courses for home educators).
Questions
Is home education cheaper than an online school?
Often, but not always. Courses alone cost a few hundred pounds a year; add a tutor for a few hours a week and the year can cost as much as a cheaper online school. Exams cost the same either way, because most online schools also leave you to book them.
Does an online school still count as home education?
In England, yes. Online schools aren't registered schools, so your child is legally home educated and you remain responsible for their education.
Get next year's fees
Schools publish new fees between spring and summer. Leave your email and we'll write once, when every school's 2027/28 fees are checked, then delete your address.