One of Melbourne’s oldest Catholic girls’ schools is selling prime real estate in Kew in a bid to pay down its debt after more than a decade of sliding enrolments.
Genazzano FCJ College – where year 12 fees this year are $39,629 – has operated in the red for nine of the 12 years between 2013 and 2024.
Its 2024 annual report, the most recent insight into the school’s finances, outlines the strain the 137-year-old school is under, noting that to remain viable, the college must sell a neighbouring property to repay part of a multimillion-dollar debt.
If the college is unable to sell the land, “there is a material uncertainty that may cast significant doubt on whether or not the college will be able to continue as a going concern,” auditors write in the report. A going concern is an accounting term used to clarify that an organisation can meet its financial obligations.
The property, a 628-square metre block adjoining the school at 12 Moonbria Avenue, was subdivided from the main school property in January and is now on the market with a price range of $2.1 million to $2.3 million. The land previously had a home on it, which was demolished in 2019.
No mention of the plan to sell the property was made in the 2024 annual report to parents, however, the school’s financial burdens were referenced.
“Like many independent schools, Genazzano has faced financial pressures driven by demographic shifts, rising operational costs and increased competition,” it said.
The annual report, which was recently uploaded to the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission website, and reveals the college is being financially propped up by a $6.5 million loan from the Catholic Development Fund, which requires only interest payments and expires in September 2034.
The school has a further overdraft arrangement of $2 million to cover potential short-term cash shortfalls.
“The directors intend to realise a parcel of land, whereby the proceeds will be used to pay down long-term debt with the CDF,” the report says.
The report also highlighted that the school had eked out a $62,569 surplus in 2024, and had $9,729,344 in fees to be utilised in school operations.
In a statement to The Age, a spokeswoman for the college said a “recent handover of the former convent from the FCJ Sisters has rendered the Moonbria block surplus to requirements”. The sale of the Moonbria Avenue land, she said, “will resolve the going-concern issue”.
In 2023, the FCJ Sisters vacated the convent and transferred the site to the college. The school has repurposed the former convent – on school grounds at the corner of Moonbria Avenue and Mont Victor Road – to house its archives and second-hand uniform shop.
“The college remains financially sound,” the spokeswoman said, adding that the school had not cut or reduced programs and “maintained its commitment to delivering broad and high-quality educational and co-curricular programs”.
Enrolments at the school have been declining each year since 2014 when 1095 students attended, to only 680 last year, MySchool data shows.
The college spokeswoman said the shrinking enrolments were due to cost-of-living pressures, changing demographics, and payroll tax changes which had made “the privilege of a private education out of reach for some”.
“The current environment is particularly challenging for independent schools such as ours,” she said.
The Catholic Development Fund referred The Age’s questions to Genazzano, noting the school was governed by its college council.
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