The hit to fees, argues Aiken, is a “small price to pay” for sending a message to the Russian regime as it wages war on Ukraine.
“There’s a whole debate about dirty money in this country, but the dirty money isn’t just in our corporate and property sector, it’s also in our private school sector,” she says.
“If BP and Shell can take a multi-billion pound loss on selling Russian assets – and that is going to affect our pension funds – then this is a small price to pay for our public schools to take action.”
Large private schools also rely on wealthy parents for donations, with staff of Development Offices at many of the biggest dedicated to fundraising efforts. These put together events and set up membership packages to convince alumni, parents and other individuals in the school’s network to offer financial support.
These highly lucrative efforts are now at risk of losing Russian money. Private schools raise £120m in donations a year, according to Future First, helping them to buy buildings, equipment and fund bursaries.
Harrow, for instance, operates a Three Yards Annual Fund. Donors give up to £20,000 per year to the school and are invited to events to meet the headmaster in return.
Amid the increased scrutiny, private schools are also now putting a renewed focus on money laundering checks to comply with the latest regulations.
Harrow, in north-west London, is using a money laundering policy first launched in 2016 to ensure compliance with the new regulations. Its staff are working with a third-party contractor to check the names of parents paying fees to ensure they are not named on sanctions lists in the UK, EU and US.
These checks also extend to parents with children who have received offers to attend the school, or who are going through the current offers process. Eton also checks the source of its fees and submits reports of any suspicious funds to the National Crime Agency.
A spokesman for Harrow says: “The whole Harrow School community deplores and laments the unfolding tragedy in Ukraine and supports and acts in accordance with the efforts of governments and supra-national institutions to suppress the violence being perpetrated against the people of Ukraine.”
As the war in Ukraine rages on, these schools may need to rely more heavily on other jurisdictions to stem up funding.
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