Is £4,500 price-tag for a four week school trip from the UK to Cambodia reasonable or extortionate ?

Controversial school's £4,500 Cambodia student trip has parents all asking the same thing
South Wigston High School in Leicestershire has left parents scratching their heads over an upcoming excursion to Cambodia - and it's not the first time the facility has made headlines
ByHannah Richardson
Sam Elliott-Gibbs
21:18, 27 Jan 2023
A school has left parents in total confusion after offering its students an exotic four-week excursion to Cambodia - for £4,500.

Controversial South Wigston High School, which isn't private, has set an eye-watering price tag for the trip.

According to an email sent out by the Leicestershire school, those lucky enough to go will be able to try scuba-diving, visit Cambodia’s two largest cities and get stuck in with community projects.

But the cost has left mums and dads suggesting only the most wealthy people would be able to afford it, reports LeicestershireLive.

The school, which hit the headlines after taking girls out of class and putting them into isolation because their skirts were too short, insists students will be offered support in their efforts to raise funds to pay for their tickets.

But that hasn't stopped questions being asked with the country coping with the Cost of Living crisis.
Responding to a post on a local Facebook page, one person exclaimed: “How can they think anyone in this current climate can afford that?”
...
However, one parent was quick to note the potential benefits of the trip. They said: “Four weeks child-free, why didn't I send my child to this school?”

The email to parents added that children were encouraged to raise funds and there would be support for this.

Another commenter picked up on that, adding: “Expensive yes, but what a great experience if you can afford it. If they fundraise and you save towards it, I think it's an awesome opportunity.”

A spokesperson for the school said: "This is an external company running the trip and we are one of at least 17 schools in area that advertise this opportunity to pupils.
"Camps International have taken over 30,000 young people on ‘once in a lifetime’ expeditions.

"As explained in the letter to parents, pupils are supported by Camps International to fund raise over two years to cover the cost of the trip, making trips equally accessible to children of all backgrounds."
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/c ... t-29071066

If flights are about gbp650

That leaves 3850 which is USD4767
Divide by 28
USD170 per day

They need to cover the cost of adult supervision, tour guide, presumably comfortable coaches, hopefully responsible scuba company that maintains their equipment, accommodation probably 50 a night, non-street food, cultural add ons, tickets to Angkor wat

I wouldn’t say it is extortionate but a profit is being made.

Seems reasonable, bunch of cheapos

Ok, after a more reasonable flight cost they probably have 150 a day for all expenses.

Good point about students bunking together where possible.

I wonder how many supervising adults go with them?

Freightdog wrote: ↑Sun Jan 29, 2023 9:58 am Students would need a supervising adult for each of boys and girls. That’s at least 2 if it’s a mixed school. ( Let alone if there’s anyone identifying as a chihuahua)
I vaguely recollect about 15 students with one supervising teacher when I went on school trips. (The girls’ schools groups seemed to have more chaperones for some unknown reason. At least, there always seemed to be one within arms reach.)
It’s probably less students per, now.

Medical considerations would need a fairly decent insurance package and liability cover.

And 20% profit margin. I doubt if anything is funded or subsidized through education channels, these days.
Plus danger money for the supervisory volunteers.

It is expensive, but I don’t think it sounds totally unreasonable, given that it’s not a subsidized trip.

We used one teacher on ten students for international trips back in the days. Also made sure each and everyone was fully covered for medical & accidents. In this case we would insure all for medevac too. So at least 10% of the price would go towards the travel costs of the accompanying teachers ,and some towards full insurance.

Teacher would be expected to this on a pro bono basis, which is a lot to ask for a one month trip tbh.

I think sending a bunch of molly-coddled UK schoolkids to Cambodia has disaster written all over it. They won't like the barrage of inoculations they will require. Or their fan-only dormitories in Siem Reap while doing their fair share of child labour in community projects!

However, what grabs me is this:

the email to parents added that children were encouraged to raise funds and there would be support for this.

"As explained in the letter to parents, pupils are supported by Camps International to fund raise over two years to cover the cost of the trip, making trips equally accessible to children of all backgrounds."

I first came across this racket in about 2005. A friend's wife called me and said their daughter is going on a school trip to Africa and climbing Kilimanjaro. I said that was nice, in my day school trips were to a museum or Southend. Then came the punch line to the effect of: "we obviously can't afford it all by ourselves so we are fundraising from close friends and family to achieve this trip of a lifetime for XXXX - she is so excited she is going!

She had a well-practiced spiel and used tactics a hard sell telemarketing team could only dream of getting away with lines such as: "you're such a close friend, you've known her all her life", etc and ended up saying that, "I've put you down for £100 but if you can do more...." I was astonished at her audacity.

I said nobody paid for my school trips or holidays and if you can't afford it yourself why should other people pay for it? I think she was genuinely surprised by my reaction and I ended the conversation before I said something I couldn't take back.

I had a call around and I was not alone in being pitched and pretty much everyone had similar feelings - it's a bit of a liberty. However, one friend told me that their kids had also been wound up by their school about wonderful trips and they came home all excited, leaving the parents to deal with the reality of the situation.

My two kids were both in school around that time and had normal school trips which I paid for. It wouldn't have crossed my mind to have a phone round to scrounge donations. It seems that professionally assisted poncing is now de rigueur.

p.s. The kid never did get to Kilimanjaro, they didn't raise enough. I often wondered what happened to any money that was raised...