It is often assumed, and much research evidence suggests, that parents who purchase private schooling are highly involved in their children's education, however, this paper argues that for certain groups of parents this may not be the case. In a consumption culture the purchase of private education may for some parents ("first-time buyers" of private education) be an expression of social aspirations. This paper draws on Bourdieu's Cultural Capital Theory to examine the attitudes of parents towards private education and challenges common assumptions about the purchase of private education. This paper draws on the findings of a qualitative research project carried out in an English private girls' school during the 2005/06 academic year. The 10 respondents, aged 16-18, kept diaries over a period of 3 months as well as participating in semi-structured one-to-one interviews and focus group discussions. The paper argues that, for the parents of the girls studied, economic capital is used to compensate for and replace cultural capital and is an attempt to purchase educational success for their daughters without the need for personal knowledge of the education system. Allatt, P. (1996) 'Consuming schooling: choice, commodity, gift and systems of exchange', in S. Edgell, K. Hetherington and A. Warde (eds), Consumption Matters. Oxford: Blackwell, pp.163-182. Ball, S. Bowe, R. and Gerwitz, S. (1997) 'Circuits of Schooling: a Sociological Exploration of Parental Choice of School in Social-Class Contexts', in A.H. Halsey, H. Lauder, P. Brown and A. Stuart Wells (eds), Education, Culture, Economy, Society. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp.409-421. Bourdieu, P. (1997) 'The Forms of Capital', in A.H. Halsey, H. Lauder, P. Brown and A. Stuart Wells (eds), Education, Culture, Economy, Society. Oxford: Oxford university Press, pp.46-58. Kenway, J. (1990) 'Privileged Girls, Private Schools and the Culture of "Success"', in J. Kenway and S. Willis (eds), Hearts and Minds: Self-esteem and the schooling of girls. London: Falmer Press, pp.131-156. West, A. and Noden, P. (2003) 'Parental Choice and Involvement: Private & State Schools', in G. Walford (ed), British Private Schools: Research on Policy and Practice, London: Woburn Press, pp.177-193.National or International Journal