Faith-based schools are Australia's most expensive

Brisbane parents are paying more to send their child to faith based schools than any other state in the country.

New figures from Australian Scholarships Group (ASG) show religious schools cost on average $251,866.

That's almost $20,000 a year from prep to year 12, on fees and extra-curricular activities from preparatory to Year 12.

The start of the new school year is proving expensive for twins Thomas and Lucas Ghidella, who attend St Kevin's Primary.

"I think the worse thing with twins is the double up on cost of uniforms," mother Karen Ghidella said.

Public education in the Sunshine State is considerably cheaper, but still costs just over $58,000. State school fees make up $19,691 of that.

The other $38,661 is spent on school uniforms and excursions, text books and out of school activities, like sport or music lessons.

The Smith Family's Annette Young says there are a lot of unexpected costs when it comes to the public system.

"While we say that primary school is free education, there is a lot of actually lots of costs that families need to take into account," she said,

Giving your child a private school education in Brisbane is the most expensive option, at around $368,000 from their first day at school to graduation – the same price as buying a two-bedroom unit in Chermside.

In comparison to the rest of the country, Queensland is actually the cheapest for a private education.

But you can save a few dollars no matter what education path your child goes down.

"Cross off some of the items on your book list that you already have from previous years, you can find that will save a fair bit of money, you don't need to buy a new calculator or a new ruler every year," Families Magazine editor Janine Mergler said.

Other ways to save include:

• Sourcing uniforms from second-hand shops or friends
• Rent a musical instrument, don't buy it
• Apply for a scholarship

Bruce Hawkins from ASG says their survey highlights just how much education can cost.

"We would love to see education (become) more affordable right across the board," he said.

For more tips on school savings and where they can be made, head to the Families Magazine website.