This contrasted approximately 55 schools in New Zealand which received less than $500 in donations overall. The school has stated that the reasoning for this is that is "the key to small class sizes and hiring extra staff needed for this, beyond the level allowed by Government".
The school came under fire in 2010 when the then Minister of Education Anne Tolley called an investigation into the "forced" school donation after correspondence showed it was not clear which part of the fees was compulsory and which was a donation. In 2015, HIBS was ranked number 2 in the list of schools receiving the most in school donations in New Zealand, totaling $2,057,620.