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

Fees are free here for both undergraduate and masters degrees, living cost loans are fairly generous (about £900 per month) and interest rates are about 1.2%, you also get a grant on top that you don’t need to pay back.

If either of them decide to go to university we would top up their living cost loan, but we wouldn’t be funding university for them. They would be adults, if they want to invest in a certain time of education they need to accept that part of the investment is financial.

I am very lucky in that my parents have always said to myself and my brother that they will fund ‘anything to do with education’. This has included undergrad, PhDs, and professional exams ie my brother is a surgeon and his consultant exams.

They have always made huge sacrifices to be able to do this for us.

it has never crossed our mind that it would need to be ‘equal’ between us - it is simply that they will support our education choices. I assume my brothers has cost a lot more, but have never even thought about it!!

If I could afford it, I would support all three of mine through all education. However, I would give them the choice of me paying for their uni fees or keeping the money for a lump sum towards a house. This is what my parents did and I took the lump sum as I’m highly unlikely to ever fully pay back my uni fees.

I think I'll play it by ear. I aim to save as much as I can to support DS but I don't want him to rely on it as a gateway to an easy life. So if I can see he's really committed to a career that takes a Masters/PHD I'd be happy to pay for it, but if he wants to do one as a 'ooh, not sure what to do next in my life, I'll just keep studying' then probably not.

I only have 1 child, but if I had more I'd probably want to even it out over time on these 'big' purchases - so I wouldn't hand over a cash equivalent just because their sibling was studying longer, but I'd likely pay more towards their wedding/house deposit etc so everyone had received roughly the same at the end.

I expect mine to get loans - we will support them in other ways (I’m guessing paying for accommodation and/or an allowance), but I’m not convinced that paying for everything teaches them how to manage their finances. I also think that the fact that they only get the loan once focuses their minds in terms of what they want to study - I would far rather they went to uni after several years out, with a clear idea of what what they want study. We will however support them financially through unpaid internships, assist them with contacts and so on.

All of it, if I could afford it.

I don't understand this trend of trying to make it things harder for our children. We're supposed to be making things easier for our children each generation, give them more opportunities than we had if we can.

Think some people are spiteful towards their own children and want them to ride on the struggle bus just because they feel they did (even if they didn't). They feel it taught them something - I mean I agree, but I think all it's taught them is to be bitter, selfish and greedy now.

Kids who get a lot of support from parents tend to be very successful in life. You get the odd one in the news with Rich Kid Syndrome.. 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
Couldn't help is obviously understandable and not the parents fault. Wouldn't help, I don't think I'll ever fully understand - especially if their own parents helped them.

I have 1 DC and am funding 4 years... I doubt he'll want to study beyond that, but if he does he'll either need to self-fund or (more likely) get his employer to pay for it.

If I had more than 1 child I would do similar - but if they hadn't wanted to go to uni I wouldn't try to even it out, since they'd be (presumably) earning their own money so would be able to support themselves. It would be different if one child had been handed £100k and told to do what they want with it, and the other given nothing...

I offered to pay but neither boys wanted a anything from us saying they would self fund and they were adament they were quite capable of sorting themselves out.
As it turned out both have got their employers to pay for their masters and industry specific qualifications so it's been a win all round.

Both our parents funded us up to our masters and would have continued if we wanted to pursue phds. I hope to be able to do the same for my children.

We plan to fund undergrad and depending on finances may assist with grad school.

we only have one child, but if we had multiple children I would not balance the spending. I value education. If my child wants to put in the work to get an education, it is my job to support them to the best of my ability. If they choose to go directly into the workforce they can support themselves financially with the money they earn.

I’ve agreed to fund a masters post undergrad, that’ll be five years for one DC. However DC1 commutes from home.

It’s not a one size fits all is it. DC1 wants to become a university lecturer (we are a family full of lecturers). If DC2 wants to do a masters at the same phase I’ll do the same.

I’m not hugely rich. Comfortable, single parent with a decent income and a quiet lifestyle. I work with a lot of people who did undergrad, masters, PhD and didn’t leave full time education at 21 so this is not an unusual path for me to see.

I’ll pay the tuition fees and continue to keep a roof over their head, keep their car running and carry on giving them £200 a month (they have a PT job). I’ll help DC2 in a different way if they choose another route, eg I’d fund travelling to a similar level of cost.

same as you dh/i paid for all the post secondary that they wanted to do (3 kids). one took 4 years, one 5 and one 8. all debt free, zero student loans.
they are near 40 now and we still help out from time to time (the one that did the 4 year, might do a masters), the 5 year one considered retraining and we offered to help etc.

they are 18mth apart so for a few years it was tight BUT we wanted to do it and we can do it with careful budgeting.
the trio never once commented that x got a better deal, vs y or z. they each picked their own path and we supported the best we could at the time.