AIBU to think people should put money away for DCs or have a 'college fund'?

[williaminajetfighter]

As it says in the title, is it unreasonable to think people should try to put money away for DCs or have some kind of 'college fund'?

Reason I'm asking is that I was on a thread yesterday where I said I thought it made sense as my parents really drilled this idea into me and I was pretty much laughed at. (My parents told me to wait to have kids until I had some disposable income then ensure I put that disposable income away into DC's savings).

I KNOW that not everyone can afford to put money away and many, many people are incredibly stretched. But am I so wrong in thinking that this is a good idea or is this another middle-class platitude that people laugh at?

I grew up in N America by the way where College costs an absolute fortune and many people start funds early on. It's the only way to be able to afford $40k p.a. tuition fees/living costs. Of course not all DC may want to go to college, but it's good if they had the option. And University aint free in this country any more ('cept Scotland).

But am I enforcing my american assumptions onto british mums? thoughts?

I was to see that as many as 62% of Americans own their residence. Still, how do you save for college if you can't even manage to buy own home? So that's close to 38% of folk with near zero chance of saving for their offspring.

What's wrong with that survey is that it precludes people who don't have a phone.

You don't have to go to university at 18. They could work and save for a few years.

Oh I see infamous has just proved me wrong about not being able to earn enough part time nowadays

thats a good point iwipe. I always thought that people would be better at choosing the right courses/program and appreciate University more if they took some time out to save and ensure what they want to do.

Too many students go into University like zombies, wade through it and come out wondering 'why'?

The thing is that fees were brought in at comparitively short notice, so many people just didn't have time to save up like you do on the other side of the pond. A lot of parents will save for their child to get on the property ladder as it's becomming more and more unattainable on a normal income.

When I qualify and start earning proper money I'd like to have some savings accounts for each of the DCs that they can use it on something.

I'm in Denmark and (for the moment anyway) the students get a grant. Most work for extra, or take a student loan. We don't have to pay fees. But I'd like to start saving, just in case ...

We are putting away quite a substantial sum each month into pensions and investments for our dc's futures - but we are in the very fortunate position to be able to do this for the moment

For the record, though, although I agree with you that in the current situation it is wise to save for dc's education if you can, I felt let down by the government (all parties!) bringing in such hefty tuition fees. I feel Mp's like Nick Clegg and many others could and should and all have fought harder against it. They benefitted from free further education themselves, and pulled the ladder up after them.

I save each month for each of my 4dcs. It usually works out at a bit over £1k a year, each. The plan is that they have about £20k each when they are 18. I don't see it as a uni fund. It could be used for that however I think I would prefer it if it went towards a house deposit for each of them. If you can afford to save then great but be flexible with regard to how the money will be used.

Agree Sabrina.

Assuming that you can save money for your dc, there are various ways of doing this:

in the shape of private school fees (for those who think this important)

in the shape of other educational activities while they are young (e.g. music lessons for a gifted musician)

in the shape of a college fund

in the shape of property etc for them to inherit

in the shape of contributions to your own pension fund so they don't end up at having to support you at a time when they might want to help their own dc

Different families will find different ways of making the best investment. I am very happy that my parents spent more on my early education than my college fund but do wish they had put more into a pension as I am dreading the financial situation if my father dies before my mother.

its keeps them in beer bigkidsdidit or those overpriced textbooks. ds2 spent £350 quid on textbooks

We save for the kids, we save for ourselves. I think its about opportunities -why would you not your child to be able to go university?

If they don't want to go, they can have a deposit on a house. I have saved from every wage I have ever had until I had the kids- now DH does all the saving, but I have access to it.

I wish we had done this. When the dses were young, we lived within our means but right up to them, if you see what I mean - but we could have tightened out belts a bit, and been a bit more careful and economical, and saved something each month.

But we didn't - I thought that the dses would be eligible for maintenance loans - I didn't realise they would be means-tested. So now we are really struggling to fund our contributions towards their maintenance costs - somewhere in the region of £44k between the three of them, over 6 years.

I should have checked my facts, but I assumed that these educational loans were like other loans, based on the borrower's ability to repay, not means tested on their parents' income.

If you can save - and I know that is hard or impossible for many, then it is a good thing to do, I think.

dont kids in america go out for scholarships to get to college because it costs so much I do think it is nice to have some savings but not all parents can afford it, and in the UK there is loans and free tuition for higher education.

I am a great believer in people appreciating what they work for. One of the loveliest people I had the fortune to train up lost his father when he was 14, he worked nights scaffolding, to help his mum and little sister, and put himself through uni at the same time.

He appreciated everything he worked for because it wasn't handed to him on a plate.

I'm saving even though my children are primary school age because I don't expect the Uni fees situation get better; I think that its going to cost more by the time my children get to Uni age (and not just inflation linked increases).
I appreciate I am lucky to be able to do this. Our household income is over the £42K threshold so we would be expected to contribute now.

I agree that its a good idea to save, but then most people are in a predicament where there is only so much money coming in and its a question of priorities. As someone said further up the thread, people are cutting debt or paying into a pension.

As with everything, it also depends how you were brought up. In my family, we were expected to get part time jobs as soon as we were legally alllowed to (paper rounds, Saturday jobs etc) and then when we went to Uni, bar work or shop work or whatever to fund nights in the Student Union living expenses. We were never reliant on The Bank of Mum and Dad. Quite recently, my H's father died and my H had to fly to the other side of the world and pay for his own father's funeral - his father not even having had the savings to do that.

So our priority at the moment is to make minimum payments into CTFs and similar, but to save for our retirement / pensions so that we're never a financial burden to our children. If we can afford to save for their higher education in the future then we'll do that, otherwise they can fund themselves with a good work philosophy.

Thing is, a lot of people who are talking about the system as it is now are assuming that will be the system when their DCs actually go to uni.

I'm 34 - I was one of hte last to not pay tuition fees (as I defered my place, so I was one of those who started freshers week along side people paying but I didn't have to pay). We were told it would just be a grand a year and that loans would cover living costs. Since then, means testing has been introduced to the loans, fees have risen dramatically, and the system now is very different.

I don't presume that by the time my 2 dcs (who are both preschool) are looking to go, it will be anything like the system in place now. We've worked on the principle we should save because, quite frankly, every change over the last 15 years have been making it more and more expensive, I see no reason to suppose the trend will change towards being more affordable.

I know a lot of people can't afford to save, but there are a lot who could but chose not to. (or being my age or older, really haven't realised just how expensive uni will be for their DCs as they got it for free/low cost)

I might save up money for the DCs future generally once the double nursery fee killer is over (only another year to go -yay!) but I certainly wouldn't tell then about it so it wouldn't be a 'college fund' as such. They might want to be plumbers or sparkies anyway so that's a huge assumption to make.

I would also be putting the onus on them to work out how to fund a degree if that's what they want to do. A colleague of mine made conversation about how much her son's uni accommodation was going to cost her whilealso complaining he wasn't making any effort to finda holiday job!

Not the only time I 've this conversation with parents of school leavers either. Won't be happening in our house, I can assure you. I appreciate the very real issues around working in term time (which applies to all degrees, just because you only have 9 hours of lectures a week does notmean you dont have shedloads of reading/essay writing to do that has to be done) but you can rack up the hours in holiday jobs. And it's the terrible student jobs that keep you focused in term-time as you realise that if you don't stick in, you might end up there earning a living!

williaminajetfighter no you are showing up on my doorstep and telling me I should do something that gets my goat.

if you want a chat about something to get views - then go into chat and ask.

YABU to think people should do this. Parents should spend as they see fit to benefit the whole family. To some, this will mean a uni fund; to others, paying for hobbies they love, holidays they'll never forget, driving lessons.

We cannot afford to save much at all at present. We could shave a rennet here or there off our bills but it may mean never taking our son camping, or giving him the chance to eat new foods...

I think fewer and fewer people will go to uni and we'll see a reversion to how things were in our parents' generation when only the very academic studied, with the exception of practical vocational degrees.

beveridge my holiday job was in a margarine factory and I think it definitely made me work harder.

I think your American-ness is infiltrating for the most part.

Yes, saving for your kids is nice if you can do it, but the Student Loans Company means that it is not a requirement like it is in the USA.

Our first two DCs got grants to go to University, so for DS3 we decided to start a fund to help him when his time came. Unfortunately with low interest rates it will not go very far towards the current costs, but the thought was there.

Allegra I don't think the student loans company is going to exist as it is in 20 years time.

I do think one of the big differences is that the US and Canada scholarship programs are very established and available. Here they are very rare and when student loans become scarce there will be nothing to fill the gap...