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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to wonder why the UK doesn't have a culture of saving for kids' University?

323 replies

windygallows · 05/07/2016 21:15

I'm originally from North America where 'saving for College/University' is a big part of the culture, in fact it's quite normal for parents to take a college fund out just after baby is born. And understandably - University is really expensive in the US eg (tuition + living expenses of $30,000 pa).

I've had both my children in the UK (have lived here for 20 years) and do my best to put a bit of money into a college fund every month, even if its a stretch. When I mentioned this to a few friends they looked at me with amusement and asked 'why?' I've casually asked around if others are saving for college - some have put money aside but haven't specifically said it's for higher education. I haven't pried, just asked a few people so don't have a full picture.

However I'm finding it surprising that this isn't more of a concern for parents. In the UK University isn't 'free' anymore (eg. through grants), tuition is very pricey now, grants are rarely available, and student loans are shrinking. But it just seems like this hasn't been absorbed by many parents. Or maybe it has and I just don't know!

Before flaming me - I'm aware not everyone can afford to put money/savings away and I'm also aware that not everyone can or wants to go to University, so no need to debate that. I'm just questioning the seeming obliviousness to the dramatic change in the cost of University here.

AIBU?

OP posts:
sepa · 05/07/2016 21:29

It really hadn't crossed my mind but neither myself of DP went to uni. I will start from next month though I think. Do you have it in an account in your name or account in child's name?

Original poster
windygallows · 05/07/2016 21:29

Tuition fees at Oxford are 9,000 pounds/year. I'm really not sure if you can cover that + living expenses with a student loan and 'part time job' which frankly are fairly hard to come by for students.

I don't see it as a parents responsibility to put their adult child through university.
Sort of baffled by idea only because the earning potential of the child is so minimal at that age and you're suddenly expecting THEM to cough up 10k-20k! A very different outlook than in N America where parents very much see it as the last big thing they'll do to ensure their children get on in this world...

OP posts:
neonrainbow · 05/07/2016 21:29

If my kids want to go to uni they can pay for it themselves. I think it's a waste of time unless you have a specific career in mind. As someone else said we have dh's student debt and our own mortgage to pay.

8FencingWire · 05/07/2016 21:32

I've had this debate with my exH. He seems to think our kid is not our responsability once she's 18. I disagreed and saved for her.

WalrusGumboot · 05/07/2016 21:32

Education is free until the age of 18. After that it's up to the dc what they want to do. I'm saving for mine but whether they spend it on uni, a car, travelling or a house deposit is entirely up to them.

Vixster99 · 05/07/2016 21:32

I think its because we haven't had to pay in the past. Anyone who went to uni more than about 20 years ago usually got a decent grant that covered a major part of the maintenance costs as well as fees. (I think they stopped in the early or mid 90's?)

This last generation to get grants will now probably have teenage children of their own. Its only the last few years the fees have risen so much that the costs hit you like a brick when you stop & think about it.

In another generation or so I think it will become a lot more commonplace to start saving for your children's education. Its like it needs a cultural change in parental thinking.

Original poster
windygallows · 05/07/2016 21:33

Also meant to add that some of the top Universities like Oxford and Cambridge are campaigning to have the cap on tuition fees lifted so they can charge even more than 9,000 - if this happens others will follow.

Also the Student Loans set up through the Student Loans Company is in very dire financial straights and no doubt the approach where you take loans out and then pay it back, maybe one day on very low interest will probably be reformed.

It's not looking good!

OP posts:
BurningBridges · 05/07/2016 21:33

I started saving for DD1 when she was born, she's now 15. I put it into shares and at the last crash lost most of it, I think I'd got nearly £10k together. Then had to spend what was left when we hit hard times. Now DH stands to lose a third of his pension when he retires at Christmas, due to the market being hit by the EU vote, so we have no money for uni. We'll have to cross that bridge when we come to it.

Janeymoo50 · 05/07/2016 21:34

A lot of people prefer their savings to perhaps go to a house deposit (I think home ownership is maybe more important here - culturally perhaps - than in the US, where many people rent happily their whole lives and nobody thinks less of them for doing so).

I still believe you don't always need an university degree in the uk to get (in time I accept), a pretty well paid job.

Original poster
windygallows · 05/07/2016 21:35

Burning bridges - that's shit. Sorry to hear that. Hope the Leave voters who thought 'everything would work out okay' are reading that!

OP posts:
BurningBridges · 05/07/2016 21:37

Shhhh!! I mentioned the war but I think I got away with it ...!!

Dragonglass · 05/07/2016 21:37

Tuition fees are covered by loans.
It's the living expenses that aren't always covered as the loans for those are means tested.

We've been lucky so far and our children have been ok with the loans, just getting jobs for extra money.

Original poster
windygallows · 05/07/2016 21:37

Janey - agree that home ownership is much more a priority and cultural interest here than in north america.

I don't disagree that a University degree doesn't result in a good job but if your 18 year old wants to be an anesthesiologist it seems pretty rough to expect him to work out all the finances and finance it completely himself.

OP posts:
Vixster99 · 05/07/2016 21:38

top Unis already charge much more than £9K pa in fees from overseas students. This might help to explain why they are so keen to encourage them to study here.

Student Loans seemed a good way to sweeten the idea of removing grants, but like many other privatised schemes its turned out to be a way to generate lots of dosh for a few fat cats.

scaryteacher · 05/07/2016 21:39

The £9k pa tuition only came in from 2012, so we were caught out, as we could have done the £3k fees, but the £6k pa jump we hadn't saved for.

WorraLiberty · 05/07/2016 21:39

Home ownership is at the lowest level it's been in over 25 years.

Tbh I think people would understandably want to save for a deposit, rather than University.

Those who have the money to do both, are probably doing both.

Original poster
windygallows · 05/07/2016 21:39

Student Loans Company are selling their debts to big debt collection companies so the only people benefiting are the assholes who run the big debt companies! lovely.

OP posts:
senua · 05/07/2016 21:41

They are adults making their own choices about their lives. They decided to go to University so it was their financial decision. They got loans and part-time jobs and still came out with 2:1s. They seem more financially savvy than a lot of their friends who were living off the Bank of Mum&Dad.
We didn't cut them off without a bean, obviously - we gave them bits of money or did a Big Shop at the beginning of term but there was no savings fund to call on.
I'm guessing that most DC will spend whatever is put their way so that's a good reason not to have too big a pot!

Original poster
windygallows · 05/07/2016 21:45

senua - Your POV is so different than north america --- I think culturally people here are seen to be 'adults' much younger in the UK, hence the norm leaving school and working at 16.

Perhaps we infantalize teenagers there but I think it's quite unusual to have an american parent say 'my child is now an adult - off to College, you sort out all the money yourself.'

OP posts:
happyinherts · 05/07/2016 21:45

Haven't needed to because of student loan, bursary, two scholarships, sports sponsorship and full grant, plus son working in a very lucrative weekend job meant he's earnt more as a student and part time worker than his father on full time minimum wage.

Secondly, their adults in charge of their own financial affairs, and as loan is paid back when in receipt of a certain income, there's very little need or incentive to save for university.

NowWhat1983 · 05/07/2016 21:49

Culture thing.

It seems to be the culture here that as soon as you're 18, you're responsible for yourselves and you pay rent to your paretns the second you have anything to take.

I've seen so many threads on here about taking rent from teenage adults who hardly earn a thing.

BitOutOfPractice · 05/07/2016 21:50

Because until very recently it cost very little to send your kids to uni. Certainly when my DD was born it never crossed my mind that it would cost so much to send her.

Pretty obvious really.

JemimaMuddledUp · 05/07/2016 21:51

Most people I know have been saving for when their children turn 18 from the time they were born. The general assumption is that they will go to university and that the money will be put towards that, although if mine wanted to use it for something else, eg travelling, then that would be up to them.

NowWhat1983 · 05/07/2016 21:52

I don't disagree that a University degree doesn't result in a good job but if your 18 year old wants to be an anesthesiologist it seems pretty rough to expect him to work out all the finances and finance it completely himself.

I went into a learned profession and my mum did exactly that.

She also said to me in university holidays and when I came home for good, I am not obliged to house you: get a job NOW! She snarled that at me. It was hard finding my first job in my profession.

So that is it. I was cut loose at 18. She never asked about finance how I was what I needed: I was on my own.

RobinsAreTerritorialFuckers · 05/07/2016 21:54

US loans are hugely bigger, though, aren't they?

I have friends who have debts that are just astronomical compared even to what recent graduates have.

I didn't know it was part of US culture in general to save, though? My understanding was it's quite a middle class type of thing - people I know who didn't have family money went to community colleges and studied part time, or went for scholarships. The Ivy League places have some very big scholarships - I know someone who could never possibly have gone to university who went through her entire time with everything paid for on one of those.

Perhaps the people I know are odd, but I had understood that saving a college fund was just not an option for many parents in the US.