Education Costs in Hong Kong

[Mach75]

Hi there, I've got an initial interview with Cathay in June and I'm just trying to get some feedback on a few things. First of all, I'm married with two children - can anyone tell me if Cathay tends to shy away from hiring people with children or does this make any difference at all? Secondly, I've read the post about the cost of living in Hong Kong and it sounds like a good international school can be fairly expensive. Can anyone give me a better idea of how much it would cost to send two kids to a good school over there? Does Cathay offer any sort of education allowance for ex-pats with children?

Thanks in advance.

[Left Wing]

http://www.geoexpat.com/forum/

[flyer_spotter]

If you got in you'll get housing allowance...isn't this enough?
Well, I heard CX is trying to reduce teh housing allowance from 40,000/month (senior) to 24,000/month after year 2010.:)

[Team America]

No I don't think having kids will be a disadvantage to CX hiring you, although they will probably grill you about how your wife and kids will go living in HK.
As for schooling a rough guide......
They pay 90% of the English School's Foundation rate and 75% of an international school's fee. So for an International school (I have some friends sending children to the Australian International School) they pay about $30000 per kid per year after CX give them 75%. Can change from school to school as some will have you buy a debenture then pay a different level of fees.
Housing that Flyspotter is talking about is to do with Captains working past 55 at the moment. If you joined CX tomorrow you would receive about $23000 per month and after 2 years that doubles. Slightly more if you decide to buy a house and after 15 years of having them pay your mortgage off you drop back to the base rate (about $24000 per month). Or they will pay your rent for the whole time you are in CX in HK if you decide not to buy.

[Mach75]

Thanks for the detailed response Team America.

Just to clarify a bit; does Cathay pay the 90% / 75% school fees IN ADDTION TO the living allowance that they pay for expat SO's ? Also, I've been hearing rumours that there are extremely long wait-lists to get your children into the international schools and that there is an interview process and progress evaluation for the children before they are even accepted to certain schools. Is there any truth to this?

Thanks again in advance.

[Team America]

Mach75, Yes to both questions.

I would suggest ringing or emailing your enquiry about place for your kids to one of the schools you would like to send them to. Have a look....


http://www.esf.edu.hk/schools.html

or

http://www.moveandstay.com/hongkong/guide_international_schools.asp

Good Luck!