100k to spend on DC's education but how?

[mustbeabetterwife]

First time post here, but a very long time lurker on the education board.

DH and I have some inheritance money (£100k) to spend specifically on our DC's education. The money has been given to us on the promise that it is only to be spent on their schooling.

DS1 is 3 and DS2 is 1 but I want to start thinking now about where and how the money will be allocated.

Bit of background:

DH earns a decent salary. He doesn't want me to be too specific, but let's say more than 60k and less than 100k.
I am a SAHM. Hope to return to work when boys are at school. Will earn no more than 30k.
We have 2bed house in South East and have no plans (or funds) to move.

DH was educated privately and I state. Both went to RG universities.

DH would like the boys to be privately educated but I'm less keen. However, with a reasonably hefty mortgage, there is absolutely no chance of us being able to afford the fees.

So, how do we spend the inheritance money as specified?

Option 1 - Put both boys into prep and then transfer to state (top up with tutoring).

Option 2 - I'm not really sure on this one. Secondary school fees are 15k a year so that would only fund one son through secondary school, there are no grammar schools where we live.

Option 3 - Both boys into state primary and secondary and private for sixth form. Fees 15kpa for private sixth form, so in total for both boys to go private for sixth form - 60k. Split the remaining 40k to fund their first year of university.

Option 4 - Stick money into a high interest account (if there is such one atm!) and then 50k for each boy to see them through university. No idea though how much the fees will be though in 15 years time!

I hope this post doesn't come across as boastful, it is not my intention in the slightest for it to do so. I know we are very lucky to have this money and just want it to be spent as it is so wished.

Thank you in advance.

[TwelveLeggedWalk]

I would choose private from 11+ in a heart beat, and be saving like billy-ho to top that money up as much as I could for the next decade. No question in my mind!

[Trills]

I agree with talkinpeace

^State school
Every possible school trip
Any and every extra curricular activity they fancy
Gap Year
University fund (but not to pay the fees up front)^

[Loopytiles]

Odd to argue that it would not be morally right to use the bequest to buy a property in catchment for a particular state school, but also to talk about renting your place out and temporarily renting in catchment .

Morally, surely similar? there are many threads on MN about the perceived unfairness of temporary renting (surprisingly, less debate on buying/renting in catchment, which is also using financial resources to secure a place. housing near popular schools commands a large premium).

in the SE it would likely cost at least triple the money you've inherited to educate two DC privately from reception to sixth form. My vote would be for starting off in state, saving money to supplement the inheritance, and thinking about private for secondary.

You might choose state comprehensive, but would have options.

[Loopytiles]

Ah, sorry, you might mean it wouldn't be moral in terms of the person who left you the money to be spent specifically/directly on education, to use it on housing.

[TheFuckersonInquiry]

Private for 6th form because its good A'level results that get you into good Uni's (yes, yes, I know GCSE's matter too but unless it's medicine etc or the very prestigious Uni's A'levels are much more important)

It does depend on the child though.

We have a decent state 6th college in our town but lots of parents around here do state up until the end of GCSE's then private. We would ave done it if it had suited our kids. Our local state school doesn't have a 6th form but its a great school.

[Talkinpeace]

TheFuckers round here its the utter opposite ....

[curlew]

Ah, right. And you have to go private to get good a level results. I understand now.

[Trills]

How much is it actually tied down?

Is it just "the person who died wished that you woudl do this" or is it somehow legally written that any expenditure must be proven to be of benefit to their education?

[marriedinwhiteisback]

Well university fees to two dc at today's rate is £54,000. Their living expenses are likely to be the same.

In the meantime use your own spare cash on tutors and enrichment activities where you can.

That should deal with your quandry I think.

[Talkinpeace]

married
but parents never pay university fees so it is not a number OP should take into account

[marriedinwhiteisback]

Well we'll be paying them Talkin. What makes you think that parents don't ever pay them? We know oodles of families paying them.

[Talkinpeace]

then they are utterly hatstand
University tuition fees are a tax on the graduate
only a financially illiterate parent would pay them up front

living costs are a different issue
but the £9000 a year has nothing to do with parents at all

[curlew]

Parents who pay university fees have been badly advised financially.

[Talkinpeace]

WHOOPS
DH has just told me to stop telling bozos not to pay up front as they will reduce the cost to our kids.
I go sleep now.

[TheFuckersonInquiry]

Curlew Umm, hope you were not being sarky! . I did not say that you have to go to a private school to get good A levels.
My kids all got great A levels at the local comp. I said it depends on the kids and that it is an option that a lot of families in my area have opted for.

[marriedinwhiteisback]

Why have they been badly advised Curlew? Our calculations indicate that paying £27,000 up front will prevent our DC (well DS because he is going in 2014) paying something in the order of £100,000 plus back. That to us seems to make perfect financial sense.

[BrianTheMole]

What are your local state schools like op? Thats your starting point. If they are good I would use them and top up with tutoring / other activities and save for uni.

[Talkinpeace]

married
have you done a time varied analysis of that costing, taking into account the likely rate of repayment and the amount that will be written off?

But as DH says, the more of you who cough up early, the less interest my DCs will pay

carry on as you were

[marriedinwhiteisback]

Yes we have and we don't anticipate any of the debt being written off because we anticipate our ds earning well above the thresholds unless of course he moves abroad. But in that case we would have a significant moral issue with allowing him to think it was acceptable to take something out without putting it back.

[Trills]

It doesn't make financial sense for parents to pay university fees.

It does make financial sense for parents to contribute towards living expenses though.

[Serafinaaa]

I'm currently paying back student loans (although not at today's levels). Yes it's a 'debt' but it doesn't hang over you in the same way as any other debt might. If you are not working for whatever reason you don't pay, if you aren't earning much you don't pay, if you reach retirement without cleaning it you don't pay. The amount that is taken from wages is always a percentage so is always affordable whatever your income is at any particular time. My parents could afford for me not to take a loan but I took one anyway and invested the money. Ten years later I've used it as a house deposit! I honestly, hand on heart, do not notice my student loans repayments. They are taken before I see the money and always have been since I've worked.

[FiscalCliffRocksThisTown]

But uni fees are one thing, you also have to pay room rent, books, transport and living cost!

Being a student is expensive even if you do not pay the fees.

That is what I meant with "pay uni"

[TheFuckersonInquiry]

Guessing what the 'rules' will be for Uni fees is impossible to do from year to year let alone trying to guess what they will be in 15 to 20 years time.

My 4 kids are very close in age and it's changed for each of them. I have another child going in a year or so and I will be shocked if it hasn't changed again.

Depending what you child is studying it is not always best to take a loan. As mentioned earlier there is lots of info on Money Saving Expert.

[ElizabethJonesMartin]

We put all the children through private school from 4+. Could you not just both increase your incomes to top up to pay the fees?

I would start with both in a very good academic day private (not a useless take all comers private, but one of the best) and then see how it goes from there. They may win bursaries at 11+ or you may be earning £1m a year by then in a new career, who knows?

[ithaka]

Option 3 with flexibility, I think. My parents offered for me to go private for 6th form, but I chose not to (if they had come clean that the real reason was so they could have a public & messy divorce while I was away at boarding school I would have made a different choice, but that is irrelevant to this thread).

Anyhoo, I decided to stay at my comprehensive, as did my sister, and we both went to an ancient & got excellent degrees. It would have been wonderful to have had more money at Uni & not needed to work through term time, so I would save most of the money to subside uni expenses, but be prepapred to intervene if one of them is stuggling at your local school.

If they are properly bright (like my sis & me, preen) they won't need private school.

I also agree with the poster that said to use some of the money for drama & music lessons & cultural visits. That is worth its weight in gold, I think. Education is more than just exam results.