If you could afford to how many years of education would you fund for your children

In the hypothetical situation I could afford it, I'd give my son a choice over funding his degree or a house deposit or lump sums in his pension or business start up capital (if sensible)

This is because my other son will not be doing a degree due to sen. If I had money I would be helping him in someway. I dont think its fair that one son has to do a degree to get support and the other would either not get support as he couldn't do a degree or just be supported for who he is (which is not a nice message for degree potential son)

I don’t think it’s necessarily helpful to fund education indefinitely and unconditionally. It means that the DC isn’t really having to appraise the opportunity fully and is likely to be tempted by the easier option - so many people doing masters and unfunded PhDs which nobody cares about and which probably won’t massively enhance career or earnings prospects. There’s also an opportunity cost to them of staying in education for a very long time in terms of lost years of earnings and potentially missing out on natural entry points for grad jobs, many of which are mainly targeting recent undergraduates.

My inclination would be that unless there’s clear evidence that further study will improve employability, you’re best off getting a grad job after undergraduate and building your CV a bit and then doing more study later if you’re so inclined.

So basically no I wouldn’t fund all the education they wanted to do if I felt that by doing so I was enabling them to make poor or avoidant choices.

No because there are things we want to have like amazing holidays, theatre, meals out etc and as we move towards old age - help around the house and a lovely residential house with all the care we need. We are not expecting our kids to look after us - our excessive savings will be relied on for our care. And when asked which they’d prefer - our dcs would rather our money was spent on old age care too. We’ve provided them with a good start to life, time for them to work hard and create the lifestyle they require.

we can’t pay for everything, we have a pot of money for the kids and I think it’s best paid for things that aren’t funded by the Gov - like a deposit, driving lessons maybe even a bit towards a wedding or a car if needed - if we have cash leftover and it looks like our kids are in a job where they’ll earn enough to make paying it off worthwhile, we’ll pay it off then.

I would do one study per child beginning to end, regardless of amount of years. So bachelor's + master's in math, or everything to become a vet, or whatever.
PhD is training for a profession and I would not pay for that. At that point it's merit-based.

I would probably fund one year of delay in total, assuming I see genuine effort.

Realistically you need to earn £120k + to make a dent in it. I’m on £50k in my late twenties (which I think is fairly decent although I do hope it’ll go up!) and as per my previous post my loan has increased by £7k despite paying it off every single month since I graduated my masters.

I couldn't afford to so I guess I'm not really in a place to answer but I think I would only do it if it was genuinely going to help progress their chosen career. I wouldn't personally fund education if they just wanted to do it to delay starting work.

It’s 40yrs now to repay. Surely they are planning to earn more than the minimum? The interest rate is high and it’s a big tie around their neck for potentially their whole working life’s. Many do pay it back, surely that’s they go to uni so they become higher earners.

In this hypothetical are we also affording house deposits? If not both, then I’d be priotising house deposits for my kids and helping out with uni where I could e.g their food shops.

I wouldn’t pay Uni fees, it’s a debt they are unlikely to pay back, I’d rather give them money towards a house.
We paid accommodation, phone and maintained their car, if they needed more they worked for it, and that was up to the end of masters.

We’ve saved (and grandparents have contributed) to give each of ours a lump sum at 18, which they can either use to pay for university or training or save as a house deposit. We will also top up the difference between minimum and maximum student maintenance loan to the tune of about £6k a year. At the moment DS1 is applying to do medicine and wants to intercalate so 6 years, DS2 I think it’s unlikely he will go, DD much younger so not sure. We think that’s the fairest way to give them each a leg up when it looks like they will take very different paths.

I'll fund UG and professional exams, but there would have to be negotiation around anything else. I have a pointless MA which I took a loan out for, I won't be paying for any more of them.

@weareallcats Anecdotally I have found the opposite; I’m in my late twenties, one of the first years to have the £9k fees. The only friends who haven’t used their degrees are ones who used the loans. At the time it feels like free money, it’s only when you’re paying hundreds a month for the balance to be increasing you realise the effect it has. I did use mine but it’s only going up despite the fact I’m paying it off and it’s a millstone around my neck tbh.

My DP ended up doing something completely different and niche that didn’t require a degree and now loses about £400 a month to a pointless student loan, which he freely admits he only did because the funding was there and all his friends were going. Had his parents been paying, he wouldn’t have gone and he’d be approx £5k a year better off. Even at that level he’s unlikely to pay the loans off over 30 years as the interest is so punitive, so that’s £150,000 over 30 years of payments for loans worth £45k. Not a sympathy vote, it was a decision he made which annoys him immensely but I think the idea that the loans make people more careful about what they study is false (in my friendship and peer group anyway!).

Then the friends whose parents paid for their living have far less concept of budgeting or money management; those of us who worked to support ourselves seem to have a better handle on it. Outside of Oxbridge and medicine there’s really few degrees you can’t manage a part time job alongside.

If I were able to I’d far rather pay the fees with perhaps a small amount of day to day support but expect them to get a part time job.

In your shoes I would do exactly as you have any no I wouldn't even it up.

I wouldn't self fund a PhD I don't think, but I probably would give top ups to a DC doing a funded one as the stipends aren't much (assuming they were working hard and knew the value of money).

In reality we won't be as comfortable as you by the time our DC reach that stage, so we may have to make some difficult decisions. I certainly wouldn't fund something for the eldest if I wouldn't be able to give the same to the youngest if they wanted it.

My husband left home at 20, moved to a different city to start working in his chosen career and supported himself from then. His brother went to uni and was supported by their parents.

This definitely caused some resentment. On one hand, DH was earning, and his brother wasn’t; but it still felt to him like a big inequality in how they were treated (and in fact the dynamic has continued now they are adults, BIL still gets more practical and financial help because ‘he needs it’ whereas DH and I are perceived not to).

This has definitely made me determined that for my own kids, we will support them equally financially (this for us is unlikely to be funding the entirety of their degrees and living expenses but I’d make sure they have an equal lump sum when they turn 18, for instance).

I think the decision to study is deciding to invest in their development, and it means they need to think about whether that investment will pay off in the long term.

My parents funded an undergrad for me, that's as far as I went. They funded a masters for my sister and gave me a rough equivalent in cash which was wonderful and appreciated, but I wouldn't have felt aggrieved if they didn't

It would depend on the type of postgraduate degree they wanted to do.

If it was something that definitely made them more employable, sure. Like the various allied health professionals masters degrees.Though I think it is good to work alongside studying so I might not fully fund it.

But I know lots of people who have done masters degrees that were slightly pointless because they were avoiding getting a job and just wanted to hang out at university more.

And PhDs are mostly for academia in the UK which is highly competitive - if my child hadn't secured funding for their PhD, I would want to be quite sure it was actually something they could realistically make a career out of

But there are a lot fewer of those than there are adults who are having worse problems (crime, economic inactivity due to poor health , life of poverty) because their parents didn't help

Crime and poor health aren’t caused by not getting help with university fees - there’s more going on for those kids than the choice of a full ride at university or a free ride.

I’m in two minds, one of my two is likely to go to university and, as a care experienced child, will get quite a bit of financial support from the government. I want to make university as easy as possible for him because he will have different challenges to most but I also want him to make his own way as and when he can so it’ll be a negotiation in terms of what I support and whether he’s able to work.

My DD will need a lot of support into independence and may always need help so while I won’t be strictly evening things out I will be supporting them both into adulthood.

I actually wouldn't support a phd either. I know a few people with them and none use them career wise, it was a waste of 4 years. Universities just create them a source of cheap labour.

I would pay for all of them, including postgraduate, and I wouldn't worry about "evening it out".

I wouldnt fund a masters. In the uk they are a bit pointless, the unis will take any foreign student with a fat enough wallet & they have little impact on your earning potential

We funded all. The kids chose.
We also gave each a small help with house deposit.
One child has had less than the others and we plan to give him a bigger house deposit help.
None of them asked for help, we insisted.

I would if i could afford to.i don't see the need to 'even' it out. The stipulations are clear, fund education. Its their choice what courses, how long. Else you would be going on forever.