If you can pay uni fees.. Wwyd

Student loans most definitely not interest free

www.slc.co.uk/students-and-customers/loan-repayment/interest-rates.aspx

Take the loans and give them that money down the line when they want to buy a house, or when they can decide if it’s better for them to have all the cash and only pay a small amount per month for the loan. It’ll just be another deduction off their pay, whereas not many people are lucky enough to have a lump sum of money. It would take them a long time to save as much and I don’t think they’ll feel any better off than peers who took the loans of you do pay for uni.

I'd take out the loans and keep the money you have for a time when your children need financial help not readily available. The loans work effectively as a graduate tax.

Student loans are effectively supposed to be interest free (linked to inflation) and only paid back if you earn a decent salary. Many people never pay them off. By paying for education in cash, you're incurring the opportunity cost of not having the money available for other uses e.g. buying a house.

What's better: getting an interest free student loan and using your cash for a mortgage, or paying for your education in cash and having to pay interest on a bigger mortgage (or possibly even being unable to buy a house at all)? Obviously the former makes more financial sense!

In an ideal world I’d agree but pragmatically funding higher education is in my view a “nice to have” item that simply isn’t affordable

That's your prerogative home. I see it more as graduates tend to earn more so pay more tax and therefore contribute to the pot in that way.
I also believe that charging tuition fees is morally wrong. Those capable of studying for a degree should be supported by the state. The country benefits in the end.

@Iwannasee that’s all well and good but the money loaned is money out of the “pot” that I would (and do) feel bad about using when we can easily afford the tuition fees for our children. I know it’s going to be a relatively low number of parents who can do this but even so it’s an important principle for us

Have a look at the Martin Lewis information on student loans/fees. It is really informative about how they work, long term and then go from there.
Gist of it iirc, is that these loans are not really designed to be repaid in full and unless you are a really high earner, you won't be disadvantaged by taking out the loan.

It is unpopular here on MN but if you can pay I think you should (we do). Returns on cash ISA’s are negligible compared to the high (and increasing) interest rates on student loans. I also take the view that to apply for and then administer loans costs the taxpayer and why would you “waste” public funds if you don’t need to?