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Original poster

Saving for university ?

187 replies

HoopyFroodDude · 05/07/2010 18:38

Are you saving for your children to go to university ? If so do you mind me asking how much?

I have not planned for this but have been inspired by another thread about university debt to start. Do you have any tips ?

OP posts:
seb1 · 05/07/2010 22:43

I will try to do what my Mum and Dad did for us. All 3 of us went to local universities. lived at home, paid a small amount of keep each week, had weekend jobs (I did a sandwich degree so I had paid industrial placements most years), I was a very very frugal student and I managed to graduate 19 years ago debt free. I know mine will have debts but hopefully my frugal ways will rub off

seb1 · 05/07/2010 22:49

Also I don't imagine we will continue not having tuition fees here for much longer.

daisymiller · 05/07/2010 22:53

Yes we have saved for dd's university. We put at the moment £150 away a month. I hope that can rise. I also take no maintenance from her father but have asked him to save for her . Worrying about the cost of uni is one reason why we only have one child.

lemonysweet · 05/07/2010 23:03

i have a little bit saved if my daughters choose to go that way, it is only about £500 at the moment and i plan to pay their accomodation deposits for them.
they will all be getting weekend jobs the minute they turn leave senior school [DDtwins are on the hunt now]
and will be expected to save as much as possible from that.

tuition fees are covered by that particular loan, and accomodation is covered by basic loan that everyone gets, unless they decide to go somewhere insanely expensive.
maintenance money, food/books/drinking etc, is about 3 grand a year from what my friends sons are doing. they will be expected to get jobs to earn that cash, savings, and maybe a bit off me in emergencies.

i expect them to pay for it themselves. i dont really think teenagers would truly understand the earning money/hard work/cost of living thing if i was still handing money over after they are old enough for a job?

PosyPetrovaPauline · 05/07/2010 23:06

they all expect debt
i am of the mind that half those in university would be better in work or apprenticeships.

monkeysavingexpertdotcom · 05/07/2010 23:21

The thing is, you're talking about it being ok to expect your children to work because you did as students, etc. BUT the difference now is that students are going to be in debt whether they work or not, unless their parents (or they) can afford over £3000 in tuition fees a year. So if you don't work while you study, your debts are just going to be higher than if you do. The level of maintenance loan that most students can obtain just about pays for their accommodation, and not even that in some places. This is before any decision on possibly raising tuition fees.

LouAnnVanHouten · 05/07/2010 23:25

Is it really necessary for people to be trying to save up £20K plus per child though? It will be more expensive than it used to be but will a continuation of paying to feed and clothe them, plus p/t work plus loans on cover it? I'm more worried about my own pension than dcs uni fees tbh, I can't take out a loan to pay for that.

monkeysavingexpertdotcom · 05/07/2010 23:27

Ach, we're all over a barrel. Off to bed.

lemonysweet · 05/07/2010 23:30

the way i see it, by encouraging my DDs to get part time jobs and save, and giving them leg ups in deposits and emergencies only [and by emergencies i mean spent all money on books/food/NEEDED stuff, not booze/clothes]
we could probably get that 30 grand debt down to 24 grand.

PosyPetrovaPauline · 05/07/2010 23:34

agree lemony

Laquitar · 05/07/2010 23:39

No. I have seen family members who were supported by their parents wasting their lives and being very immature till their thirties. I'm not saying it is always the case but because it happened in our families we both have strong views about it.

My brother studied medicine with no help at all and he did very well.

We are saving a sum for 'exceptional circs', for example if one of them wants and can be brain surgeon or is extremely gifted in arts or something. But as our dcs are probably-and luckily-very average we will let them (suffer) stand on their own feet and we 'll use the money on ourselves (sailing).

PosyPetrovaPauline · 05/07/2010 23:42

laquitar - agree really do

our son has worked hard and fingers crossed got into an exceptional university this year. Our logic is that he will be well off when he gets work after graduating from such a great place

We will pay his accommodation our mortgage and any emergency situation of course

Laquitar · 05/07/2010 23:42

mumbletcum good idea!

Laquitar · 05/07/2010 23:44

sorry! chum

lemonysweet · 05/07/2010 23:46

posypetrova

good plan! the way i also see it, is that theres no point in hiring someone with a great degree if they have no work experience at all!

Laquitar · 05/07/2010 23:50

Welldone to him Posy

PosyPetrovaPauline · 06/07/2010 00:00

thanks! if a child was struggling i would help more but i am a great one for them earning their keep!

Laquitar · 06/07/2010 00:02

'worrying about cost of uni is one reason we only have one child'.

How old is your dd? You dont even know yet if she wants to study.

jabberwocky · 06/07/2010 00:51

This thread happens at an ironic time for me I started saving when ds1 was born (he is almost 7) and have built up quite a nice bit for the two boys to share. HOWEVER, I started a new business this year and it has come down to the fact that we will have to severely raid the college fund this year. I have never touched it before and am consoling myself that I should be able to start back saving next year. I really want them to have the option of going to their dream school and, while I do not expect to pay for all costs, I want to make it a reasonable experience as far as any student loans they will have to have. I hear of far too many young people graduating with overwhelming student loan debt these days.

selby · 06/07/2010 00:59

2 DCs - 6 & 3. CTF's from birth - £100 each pcm & regular savings' accounts - £100 pcm each which is also topped up with birthday/xmas money from relatives. I'm hoping this would contribute siginificantly towards their tuition fees. I suspect that they will nevertheless obtain loans for maintenance. Yes, I would expect them to go to uni. Why do we save? Mainly, because we can afford it atm and it means that we don't have to fund tuition fees entirely from income in the future. Don't want to be a scaremonger but we are definitely going in the direction of the USA.

secunda · 06/07/2010 01:37

I do worry for higher education and students in the future. I think they will take the cap off tuition fees. Can't see it being anything other than going back to how it was pre-war, when you had to be rich to go to uni. And this going hand in hand with a degree being expected as the bare minimum. I have a friend who is a qualified accountant, good at his job. But he STILL encounters problems in career progression because he isn't a graduate.

Quattrocento · 06/07/2010 01:40

I think university fees will be uncapped by the time my 2 DCs go. So I'm thinking that there will be around 4 years of university each at around £10k a year making around £80k in total. Say £100k. We used to do the child benefit thing but then we realised that wouldn't be enough so we do a standing order into their account of £750 a month.

TheBride · 06/07/2010 02:25

The governments (successive ones) have really screwed up higher Ed.

When fewer people went to Uni, nobody paid tuition fees and kids from lower income backgrounds got grants, so there were no major barriers. Both my parents went to Uni in the 1960's despite coming from working class backgrounds where there was no way that their parents could have helped them out.

When the government decided that everyone should go to Uni, and all these new Uni's sprung up, they couldn't afford to pay for everyone anymore so they introduced tuition fees, so now your chances of going to Uni from a lower income family are lower than they've been for 2 generations.

Meanwhile, loads of people are getting into debt getting a "degree" that isn't worth the paper it's written on from an employability POV. They end up in non-graduate jobs which they could have done straight out of school with a few decent A-levels.

PLUS all this focus on "uni or bust" is taking the emphasis off practical skills and marking children out as losers, just because they're not academic.

FWIW- I wil save for my children's Uni. I didnt have to pay so I dont see why they should BUT I'll also want them to justify why they want to go.

TheBossofMe · 06/07/2010 04:09

School fees - am assuming that about 2/3 of them can be covered by earnings at the time, with the last few years needing to be covered by savings (am rather hoping to retire by 50/55ish). Not a comment on state vs private at all - in my case, we live abroad so private is our only option. So am putting enough aside to cover 5 years school fees.

For University, we saved our child benefit (don't get it any longer) when we were in UK, and have invested that. Also have a regular savings plan, and a cash lump sum by DD got from my parents on her birth. Should be enough by the time she's 18 to pay Uni fees (have budgeted 100k because not sure what status will be in terms of fees by then, especially if we are still living abroad). Any money left over is hers to use towards deposit for first property.

We are in a very lucky position, and are extremely grateful for it. We also have one child only, and for various reasons are unlikely to be able to have another, so its much much easier for us.

If we do happen to have another, we're screwed as far as fees go. I think we'll be able to live with that, though

MmeRedWhiteandBlueberry · 06/07/2010 06:45

We aren't saving for university, but we do pay school fees so are used to paying out.

School fees are more than the cost of university, so we will be able to make a contribution. However, I expect DS to take the full quota of student loans that he is entitled to. He will have a loan for his tuition fees and another loan of £5000, which will cover the cost of his student housing and meals. The top up he will need from us will not be too difficult, especially if he gets a part-time job.