senua Tue 05-Jul-16 21:41:13
"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!"
windygallows Tue 05-Jul-16 21:45:01
"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."
I am in the US, with five DCs, all of whom are heading to university or have already got there or have graduated.
I am much closer to Senua's pov here, thanks to the fact that there is no way on earth, with five children and an ordinary middle class income, that I could save much to cushion any of them financially through university.
Like Senua, I did a shop for bedding, plastic storage boxes, stationery, toiletries, detergent, with each student before packing them off.
Most American students rely on a combination of financial aid and parents taking out loans to pay for college. They also work their way through university.
If a child takes out government backed loans as part of a financial aid package, the lender requires that student and not the parents sign on the dotted line, and that student will be responsible for repayment upon graduation (unlike the UK, no matter how little a student makes they are liable for repayment).
Of course some parents will help with repayments, but students who qualify for those government loans have parents who are unlikely to be able to help much.
My DCs are probably a lot more savvy than many of their peers thanks to our straitened circumstances, the fact that they knew they would need to support themselves through university and did, and worked from their early teens at babysitting, odd jobs, etc. (American teens in general tend to have a lot more casual work experience than UK teens do).
They all took out government loans heading off to university. DD1 paid off one of her loans before she graduated.
University tuition and room and board rates have risen well beyond inflation over the last twenty years in the US. Many people who do not qualify for fantastic financial aid (basically a partial or even full university write off of tuition and room and board that universities can afford thanks to huge endowments) or government loans are finding it hard to afford university - hence the topic is a hot political one.
You would have to have significant disposable income to make any sort of meaningful saving, and be able to pay an accountant to hide it from financial aid offices in whatever university your children attended. Your student's financial aid package could well be reduced if they get a whiff of money in the mattress.
And my point is - while a college fund may well make sense in the UK where fees are relatively negligible, a college fund may actually be a thing of the past in the US.