"We know that we've got many kids whose mums and dads are working two jobs just to pay the fees and I know schools will say, 'We're not going to kick the child out, we will extend it until after they leave'," Dr Newcombe said. "But we get these almost litigious people on the other side, and they're in the minority, who just decide they're not going to pay," Dr Newcombe said. "Often they'll say, 'My child was badly treated,' or the results weren't what they expected. 'I'm not paying because she didn't get four Band 6s'." Kincoppal-Rose Bay sued one couple for more than $42,000 in the Downing Centre Local Court last month, including outstanding fees of $24,484, interest amounting to $3016 and and $11,322 in recovery fees. The eastern suburbs Catholic school charges $30,666 for a year 12 student, and a further $26,652 if the student boards. Georges River Grammar, an independent Anglican school in Bankstown, is suing three separate families for non-payment of fees and excluded the children of consistent non-payers from the grounds, except for students completing Year 12. Trinity Grammar School and the Sydney Church of England Grammar School (Shore) have open bankruptcy proceedings in the Federal Circuit Court. According to court documents, Shore is owed more than $32,000 and Trinity is owed more than $33,000. Debt collectors said schools resort to bankruptcy proceedings when they believe parents have the means to pay fees but aren’t co-operating.

Trinity headmaster Tim Bowden said the school had learnt from the global crisis and council was intent on staying on top of its debts. Trinity, which charges nearly $35,000 for a year 12 student and a further $33,000 for boarders, offered a payment plan to parents who fell behind. If the debt continued to stack up, Mr Bowden asked parents to withdraw their sons from the school. "People who really want to keep their boys here are desperate to make it happen and will fall behind in terms of their financial commitments to educate their boys. I think you would really do better to get across the debt and some parents get to that point but others don't," Mr Bowden said. "From time to time it appears the family is not keeping the arrangements we've made and when it gets to the point that we find they're not acting in good faith, that's when we employ an external debt collection agency." Dr Newcombe said it was illegal to waive school fees for their council directors, so schools were more transparent about the way they collected fees and allocated hardship concessions to eliminate any perception of impropriety. This meant they were obliged to chase up parents who had not paid. The drought had prompted schools to offer an unprecedented number of bursaries and hardship waivers to boarding students, he said.

Association of Independent schools head Geoff Newcombe says private schools are compelled to chase the debts of parents who can afford to pay. Credit:Jacky Ghossein A de-identified report compiled by the AIS shows that one school with strict payment and follow-up process has stopped fee collection altogether for families affected by the drought. Its policy is not to accept the removal of those students from the school. Among 11 schools profiled, another school has 168 students whose families are affected by the drought, most of whom are attending school for free. The school has written off the debt. Many schools offer monthly payment plans to help parents avoid running up massive bills. But some of the schools in the court list had very low fees and those schools took a hard line because they felt that their parents could afford to pay them, Dr Newcombe said. "Once the word gets out that you're a soft touch you're in big trouble. All of a sudden your revenue drops significantly. You've got to have a financial process and procedure." Debt collector Roger Mendelson said his business had seen a 35 per cent drop in referrals from schools in the three years from 2015-16 to 2018-19, which was the result of schools keeping on top of their debts before bankruptcy orders were necessary.