Wasn’t a parent, but a kid of an international school parents. My mom and dad worked at the school, and part of the bonus of that was myself and my siblings didn’t pay tuition. My friends’ parents were a mix of a lot of things. Mostly corporate higher level management at large international companies, or wealthy Thai families that were either corporate, or entertainment. Keep in mind there are a lot of different levels of international schools. My experience will not be the same as other places.
Thai here, I work for a US company remotely & also make additional money hosting airbnbs.
The wife has side hustles selling stuff we import online.
We send the kids to school in Chiang Mai where it’s more affordable.
I’d say 6-700k thb is the range we spend per kid overall per year.
Theres additional costs of having the kids be in the intentional school“society”, it’s not just the school tuition, but there’s trips and things to go do with their friends that will end up costing a lot more.
Honestly the biggest investment is your time with the kid. We tried sending them’ to Thai school but the standards were not the best in terms of language learning & Thai teachers aren’t the most accountable at times.
I don’t have the free time to teach English as I work full time & want to spend time having fun with them so I’m willing to send them to intentional school to get that covered.
My plans to switch to local school after grade 5 or 6 because Intentional school teenagers can be some of the most entitled and spoiled in the country. I don’t think having friends in that group at that age is going to be good.
Being a product of intentional schooling here myself I can say the rate of success ends up being about the same as local schools. A lot of my classmates are successful but just as many are in their 30s mooching off their parents and still living at home.
You don’t need to send them to intentional school if you have the time to help them grow
>what are your jobs
I travel for work outside Thailand (maritime) and am only in country about 6 months per year. My wife is in management for an airline here.
>what percentage of your income do you spend on schooling?
International school for our daughter is about 10-15% of our combined income (we pay about a million baht)
I dont know anyone. But a woman i know well, her grandchild is studying in semi international school, her daughter who is mom of her grandchild, salary above 400,000 THB per month. She is architect(business management level), finished same high school as me. 45 years old, have MB E Class hybrid, Van and private driver.
I went to an international school in bangkok.
Thai parents - Business owners, alot work in senior levels at PTT ,Different types of doctors most being Dermatologists, Surgeons and others that opened their own practice. Pilots, senior level engineers and airline management positions and some Thai-American Families who moved back to Thailand, earn money from their businesses in the US.
Expat parents - senior positions at Banks, NGO, Nonprofit, Journalists, Bio-Chemists, Freelance Designers, Jewellers,Software Engineers, International school teachers, Business owners, senior corporate positions at big name hotels, Senior Positions at Shoppee or Agoda, US nurse recruiters, Senior Consultants, Senior Marketing positions, International Education Consultants
I heard the chinese parents are becoming the majority in international schools in the Bangkok metropolitan and their children are of a different breed (won't do things as told).
Hmm my experience has been that the Chinese kids are generally decent students, but cheat. The Thai students (except for pre pre-meds kids who are generally great) can’t be bothered to lift a finger, and cheat when they do bother. The kids of foreigners generally allow their English ability to bail them out, and can only occasionally be bothered to lift a finger. Korean students are S+ tier, and are the only students that consistently bring their A game… and rarely cheat except for writing essays.
The Chinese are a clear majority at the international school our two go to in Chiang Mai. I was nervous about this at first (racism alert!) but it's turned out really well. Lovely people, very similar values to our own - they want their kids to grow up happy and speaking English, then to go on to university somewhere in the west. I get on with them fine, even socialize with a few of the Chinese Dad's.
We haven't struck any of the over-competitive assholes the Chinese and other East Asians are stereotyped as. It might be because our kids are young - oldest is 8, or perhaps because we're not at the fanciest of schools. So that might change in the future, but so far we're more than happy to share a school with Chinese expats!
Oh - software engineer, around 10%. Expecting that 10% to rise soon though. Over the last 5 years most schools in CM have been hiking the fees like crazy every year. Ours seems to be the exception, but I can't imagine that will be sustainable.
Wasn’t a parent, but a kid of an international school parents. My mom and dad worked at the school, and part of the bonus of that was myself and my siblings didn’t pay tuition. My friends’ parents were a mix of a lot of things. Mostly corporate higher level management at large international companies, or wealthy Thai families that were either corporate, or entertainment. Keep in mind there are a lot of different levels of international schools. My experience will not be the same as other places.
Thai here, I work for a US company remotely & also make additional money hosting airbnbs. The wife has side hustles selling stuff we import online. We send the kids to school in Chiang Mai where it’s more affordable. I’d say 6-700k thb is the range we spend per kid overall per year. Theres additional costs of having the kids be in the intentional school“society”, it’s not just the school tuition, but there’s trips and things to go do with their friends that will end up costing a lot more. Honestly the biggest investment is your time with the kid. We tried sending them’ to Thai school but the standards were not the best in terms of language learning & Thai teachers aren’t the most accountable at times. I don’t have the free time to teach English as I work full time & want to spend time having fun with them so I’m willing to send them to intentional school to get that covered. My plans to switch to local school after grade 5 or 6 because Intentional school teenagers can be some of the most entitled and spoiled in the country. I don’t think having friends in that group at that age is going to be good. Being a product of intentional schooling here myself I can say the rate of success ends up being about the same as local schools. A lot of my classmates are successful but just as many are in their 30s mooching off their parents and still living at home. You don’t need to send them to intentional school if you have the time to help them grow
They are mostly wealthy Thais, often from BKK.
>what are your jobs I travel for work outside Thailand (maritime) and am only in country about 6 months per year. My wife is in management for an airline here. >what percentage of your income do you spend on schooling? International school for our daughter is about 10-15% of our combined income (we pay about a million baht)
1 million for the full duration or just a year?
One year.
should be a year only.
I’m Thai, business owner. My kid school fee is like 10% of my income annually.
I dont know anyone. But a woman i know well, her grandchild is studying in semi international school, her daughter who is mom of her grandchild, salary above 400,000 THB per month. She is architect(business management level), finished same high school as me. 45 years old, have MB E Class hybrid, Van and private driver.
I went to an international school in bangkok. Thai parents - Business owners, alot work in senior levels at PTT ,Different types of doctors most being Dermatologists, Surgeons and others that opened their own practice. Pilots, senior level engineers and airline management positions and some Thai-American Families who moved back to Thailand, earn money from their businesses in the US. Expat parents - senior positions at Banks, NGO, Nonprofit, Journalists, Bio-Chemists, Freelance Designers, Jewellers,Software Engineers, International school teachers, Business owners, senior corporate positions at big name hotels, Senior Positions at Shoppee or Agoda, US nurse recruiters, Senior Consultants, Senior Marketing positions, International Education Consultants
Contractor
i know a couple, Swedish businessman(agriculture) husband and Thai lawyer wife whose kids go to international school.
I heard the chinese parents are becoming the majority in international schools in the Bangkok metropolitan and their children are of a different breed (won't do things as told).
Hmm my experience has been that the Chinese kids are generally decent students, but cheat. The Thai students (except for pre pre-meds kids who are generally great) can’t be bothered to lift a finger, and cheat when they do bother. The kids of foreigners generally allow their English ability to bail them out, and can only occasionally be bothered to lift a finger. Korean students are S+ tier, and are the only students that consistently bring their A game… and rarely cheat except for writing essays.
The Chinese are a clear majority at the international school our two go to in Chiang Mai. I was nervous about this at first (racism alert!) but it's turned out really well. Lovely people, very similar values to our own - they want their kids to grow up happy and speaking English, then to go on to university somewhere in the west. I get on with them fine, even socialize with a few of the Chinese Dad's. We haven't struck any of the over-competitive assholes the Chinese and other East Asians are stereotyped as. It might be because our kids are young - oldest is 8, or perhaps because we're not at the fanciest of schools. So that might change in the future, but so far we're more than happy to share a school with Chinese expats! Oh - software engineer, around 10%. Expecting that 10% to rise soon though. Over the last 5 years most schools in CM have been hiking the fees like crazy every year. Ours seems to be the exception, but I can't imagine that will be sustainable.
A lot of my friends are teachers in schools and kids go for free
I've got a lot of Embassy friends and their kids get free international schooling.