To ask what you’re saving for DC university?

[ELS20]

Hi everyone,

My husband and I have one DC who wants to go to university in 4 years time. We both have a good jobs and pay a bit extra into our pensions and also have about £20k in savings/shares. We put money into the savings/shares every month, which includes a savings account for DC to help with a house deposit one day.

I love to travel, as does our DC. My DH also loves to travel but he worries that we should be putting money aside to pay for DC’s university. The way I see it, university fees are so high now that in order to cover the cost of a 3 year degree (about £30k and increasing just for tuition fees) we’d have to sacrifice our travel and other things such as home improvements. My plan is to do some more family travelling before he goes to uni and then pay his university rent for the years he’s at uni (with consequently reduced travelling), and DC will get a loan for tuition fees and living expenses. Most people I’ve spoken to plan to do the same thing because student loans don’t impact credit score and only start being collected once the graduate is earning a certain amount of salary.

I’d rather spend money travelling and showing DC the world and making family memories. I’m not talking just beach holidays. So far we’ve done things like African safari, Central American rainforest, Ancient sites etc. I think this is of huge value to DC as well as very enjoyable for us all.

I do understand the need to save, and we do save, but I also don’t want to restrict what we can do as a family to save every penny.

I guess my question is: what do you all think/do? Am I foolish to want to spend so much money on travel and should I be saving more than I am? I know it’s a fortunate dilemma to have believe me. Years ago we were struggling a lot financially and every spare penny was ear-marked. Our careers have advanced a lot and we’re now in a better position and I just want to enjoy that (as well as saving some money).

I guess for the vote:

YABU: I should be saving as much as I can to pay for DC tiring fees and sacrifice travelling

YANBU: We should continue to travel and DC takes a tuition fee loan

Thank you all so much

This ^^ My daughter is doing starting maths this year and she's been told it will be about 60 hours work per week. Working in term would be really stressful.

Accommodation in some unis is over £10k and the minimum loan is less than £5k. We don't have enough saved because money was tight for a long time. But we hope to be able to afford to pay for accommodation as I'm earning more now.

@Swonderful 60 hours is too high! She needs some down time and time to enjoy herself. Most people see it as a working week. Say 40 hours. Weekends should be time for some pleasure!

i know it’s on the fat side but I wanted to be honest about our costs. Unfortunately £300 a month extra from us would only have covered the difference between their loan and their accommodation and not have even covered food. Mine has additional needs and health conditions which mean they have to spend more to make life manageable for them e.g. live near uni. If they go somewhere expensive accommodation can be astronomical. Plus costs of travelling home can really add up, depending on where they are.

We are a way off it yet. DH is very much of the opinion that if they want to go then they self fund it with a gap year or a part time job. He forgets that his tuition fees were 3k a year and his parents paid for his accommodation 🙄. However I worked three jobs through university and self funded through a year of FT work beforehand.

Our kids will probably have to self fund most of it and I'll probably get the add on things such as hair cuts, some food shops, field trips costs etc. However before they turn 18 I want to set up a SIPP (I think it's called) so when they graduate they've already got a pension that is building taking the pressure off as they'll have student loans etc on a graduate wage initially.

Bloody hell, I can’t imagine prioritising travel over my children’s education in this way, shocking.

I’m not saving to cover tuition fees, but we are saving for living expenses, rent etc as the maintenance loans are not sufficient and assume a level of parental contribution.

I’m a single parent of 3 including twins. I can’t save and won’t ever be able to. We do however live within easy travel distance of half a dozen or more excellent universities so their living costs will be covered if they live at home

Similar here, three kids, including twins. I'm not single though, and we earn reasonable money, but live in an expensive part of the country and can't afford to save much. However, lots of very good universities within easy commuting distance. They could study pretty much anything nearby, so that's what we've spoken to them about, along with the possibility of apprenticeships and other types of qualifications.

I was the last year who didn't have to pay tuition fees. I got a full grant, and my parents gave me £250 a month for rent, so I was able to live comfortably in London. I feel bad that I'm not able to do the same for my children, but I have more children than my parents did, and they only had one who was going to go to university. I have three who are looking capable of it. I wish I could do more, and sometimes feel I've failed because I can't.

This the norm where I am too.

I less you are so unbelievably wealthy that 30k is a drop on the ocean the student should take out the loan.

Yep. And for the first couple of years of my career that balance actually grew because the interest outstripped my earnings in a starter job.

Almost everyone I work with is carrying what appears to be a sizeable student loan (graduate job where uni was necessary to get through the door). A handful of my colleagues are Welsh so their balance is significantly less than but for those of us who are English and studied in England, it really doesn’t matter if the balance is £30k or £60k. We pay back what is effectively a 9% graduate tax over the threshold, the balance barely moves and it will be written off one day.

I wouldn’t worry about them coming out with more “debt” because it often doesn’t really work like debt.

That’s really good to know thank you!

Thanks so much for your insight it really helps

Maybe I was unclear, I don’t intend for DS to work during university (except maybe when on break from uni such as in summer) and I plan to pay his rent and living expenses (topped up maintenance loan). I would not sacrifice doing that for holidays and of course I prioritise his future over travel! We also understand the work load as my degree is in science as is DH’s (who also has a science PhD). We’re also saving for a house deposit for him. I was only talking about tuition fees.

Am I the only one who doesn’t want to sacrifice my own enjoyment to put my dc through uni?

I’m a nurse so don’t earn a huge amount and I’ve worked hard all my life and am now wanting to spend some time travelling as the kids get older.

I have 3 dc and if I support through uni, I will be paying a significant amount potentially for the next 7 years when I will then be 58.

I want to be able to enjoy myself whilst I’m still relatively young and fit.

I would also like to reduce my hours and do not plan staying fulltime to fund uni. I am happy to treat them, buy occasional food shops etc but do not want to commit for the next 7 years.

That’s our plan too ☺️

Sounds like a good plan, I like the gift card idea

That’s really good to know and I agree being able to help with a deposit is more useful than paying towards tuition

Thank you for your insight it’s super helpful. I think apprenticeships are also a good idea to research thank you

Thank you, and yes we plan to pay for accommodation too

Sounds like a really good balance and you sound like a great Mum

We definitely plan to cover his accommodation and some of the living expenses

Oh how lovely! Thank you 🥰

Yep I’m assuming rent of £1000 per month by the time DS goes to uni which we plan to cover

Thank you!

That's wonderful that you can do that for your kids 😊