Is education a marketable business?

Although it seems like it would be lucrative (the tuition costs are outrageous!) private schools are not big money makers. The cost of running such a place is so incredibly high as to be barely offset by the income of the tuition and alum donations.

You are limited as to number of students, people pay for smaller classes and more personal attention for each student.

Private school teachers make less money than public school teachers, but still need a decent salary and good benefits.

Insurance rates are astronomical for a private school, any institution that deals almost exclusively with minors will cost the earth to insure.

That’s just a few of the cost factor issues, there are more. Support staff, maintenance, equipment, etc etc etc.

Demanding doesn’t begin to cover it, even if you don’t consider the costs. You would be dealing with lots and lots of very demanding, wealthy, parents. Unless you are mentally and emotionally prepared, that alone would be a good argument against.

Sorry to be so abrupt about this.

It’s a good business, but you won’t make much money. Overhead (mostly benefits and salaries) will eat up profits, and you will have facilities, licensing, and curriculum costs.

There’s a reason why dozens of charter schools have gone bankrupt over the last 10 years. Education is not a way to get rich.

Education is about the worst field to go into if your goal is to make lots of money.

All of the excellent arguments “against” by @canidmajor are the reasons why I would argue “for” – provided you price accordingly. If the perceived value exists, you should do well. However, that’s an argument from a rational-market perspective. Governments add so many irrational and counter-productive rules that I’d approach that market with very healthy skepticism – and a lot of experience and a battery of high-priced, capable legal talent.

Ah, but @CWOTUS, your “rational market perspective” is, as you say, probably skewed by government restrictions and there is also the factor that @Eggie mentions in the details to “make lots of money”. Unless things have changed pretty drastically in the days since I did all the research, and sat on some boards of small private schools, there is no “make lots of money” in the equation. These schools just cost too much to run.

As I recall, you currently live in Trinidad. Is that correct? The education market might be totally different there than it is here.

A few of the numbers from a quick look at the web:
The Hotchkiss School an upper tier boarding school in CT. Look to the right on this page for the numbers; of students, of teachers, of scholarship students, etc.
Tuition and expenses paid by the student.
Approximately 30 million dollars of revenue (that’s very general, based on # of students times tuition, I don’t know how the scholarship students affect this)
At least $10 million would be paid out to faculty.
That leaves only $20 million (again, approximate) for the salaries of all the admins, support staff maintenance, etc. And the taxes on the place. And insurance. And the maintenance. And the equipment. And for a school of this caliber, the equipment needs to be top of the line.
Alumni(ae) donations help take up most of the slack for sports programs, and wealthy alums will donate arenas and buildings sometimes.

This is just a bit of the breakdown, you get the overall picture.

Unless, of course, what @janbb says. ;-)

A few more useful statistics for Hotchkiss; 2012–2013 (founded in 1891)

Operating budget; $40M
Value of Endowment: $370M
Financial Aid: $8.2 M (36% of student body receiving aid)

Annual giving; $4.66M (2011–2012)
Capital giving: $10.43 M (2011–2012)
Parent participation in giving: 77%
Alumni participation in giving; 37%

This is a NE boarding school; it is slightly less costly to found and run a day school, but the financial principals are the same.

My ex was the former head master of a very competitive Quaker day school with a national reputation. He spent a disproportionate amount of his time on fundraising (which he privately called begging), and balancing the budget. His Deans of Students and Faculty focussed on Academics. His Director of Finance was like a brother to us…always hanging around, always calling.

Obviously @gailcalled found the numbers I didn’t. Therefore, her post is more appropriate than mine.
Thanks, @gailcalled! This puts a different perspective on things.
The school I was most involved with was a very small one, the numbers were much different. :-)

One of the glories of capitalism is that EVERYTHING can be monetized. I commend you on your down to earth grasp of reality in stressing profitability ahead of other fluff, including such vague nonsense as “quality” education. You have the good fortune of living in a time when your idea grows ever more fashionable. There is loud insistence from our friends on the right that government involvement in the education of children is not only onerous, but a “proven” failure. And of course there’s the uplifting recognition that profit should take a back seat to nothing.

Unfortunately, there remains a persistent segment of the population afflicted with an irrational sentimental obsession regarding the welfare of children. Thus, your ambitions confront a mountain of regulations and legal entanglements. Though these hurdles might at first glance appear formidable, rest assured that there is heavy pressure from avid believers to eliminate these nasty impediments to your bottom line goal. That goal is certainly in the cards, and the mushrooming of institutions raking in wheelbarrows of money from those affrighted at their children’s prospects should prove the point.

Meanwhile, isn’t it remarkable that education as a profit motive is so heavily dependent on those who clearly missed the message that PROFIT COMES FIRST? A quick look around should suffice to demonstrate the resulting society when the word “teacher” grows synonymous with “chump”.

If I was sending a child of mine to a school I would hope the primary motive/purpose of the people running it would be something other “making heaps of money”.

First of all Education is not a business. Yes i know you are asking it in another sense but still i feel to clarify it. Opening a private school is really good idea but if you are thinking that you can make more money out of it then it depend on what facilities your school is providing to the students.
If you are letting students to learn in modern way and concentrating on giving knowledge to students and not just thinking of money then surely you can run a successful school.

Of course education is marketable, especially in developed & developing countries. In fact, it is a very lucrative business.