How much for parents to save for university?

[Deeprug]

Just starting to get my head into this. Two dc at secondary close in age and potentially would be at uni at the same time. We have an average income; how much would you try and save for each child to try and take the pressure off us when we get to that point? What would be a good amount? We are not rich, so it would have to be for a basic level iykwim. Is it £5K per child, per year? £10K??

I think if a parent aims to save £7.5k per child per year they will be somewhere in region of paying costs for DC. If DC doesn't go to uni they can use money as house deposit. I think the earlier a parent puts money back it seems more doable.

When DS2 was born, the government had a Child Trust Fund scheme. I can’t remember the initial amount that was given as a one-off amount from the government but we decided to contribute to it with monthly amounts of £50.
On his 18th birthday the fund had grown to £11K.
He gets the minimum government loan, the £11k will cover the shortfall in his rent and we contribute £100 a week for his living expenses.
He works during his holidays.
Going into his second year, his rent will be slightly less than being in halls.

We will have one year when our 2 younger DCs will be at uni at the same time…..going to be tough.

@ARichtGoodDram
I second this re McDonalds. DS2 was initially given 2 shifts over the Christmas holidays, he texted them and asked for more and worked pretty much every day barring the Bank Holidays.

Good luck dictating if they go to uni or not op. The biggest factor dictating an 18 year old is what his/ her friends do!

My son was turned down from our Mcdonalds based on an online questionnaire. He is autistic and I sat with him as he did it. It wasn't very ND friendly and didn't allow him to demonstrate his people/customer service skills.

The test is to get the right people for MacDonalds. They have lots of ND staff. They also put people where they work best if they aren’t good at certain tasks.

In which case then Mcdonalds is not a company I would want to work for as I thought many of the questions were awful and didn't take into account protected characteristics and a part time employees other responsibilities/situation.

I've employed lots of people myself and it really was bad.

CTF started in 2005. DS(22) had a £268 CTF voucher which we added to £100pcm. In 2015, we were able to transfer it into a JISA and continued our £100pcm investment until he started uni in 2022. The JISA was occasionally supplimented with birthday & Christmas cash gifts of £50/£100 so not thousands. I chose relatively popular funds for the time so nothing out of the ordinary. Stock market growth however grew the pot into 6 figures and it continues to grow.
DS has taken tuition fee and minimum maintenance loans for Yrs 1 & 2. We paid his reduced fees for his sandwich year and he earned enough to live on during his industrial placement year. Our thinking was that his portfolio is outperforming the 6.2% interest rate incurred by his Plan 2 student loans.
We have changed our strategy partially due to the forthcoming IHT changes next year and have decided to pay his final year tuition fees & maintenance directly (i.e start spending our money as opposed to saving). He has a good graduate job lined up (£35K+ as a SW engineer in the defence sector) and I have discussed with him whether he would like to sell some of his ISA funds to pay off his existing Plan 2 student loans (to be decided in the summer).
The point is that this was achievable from a £100 pcm regular investment in S&S over less than 18 yrs. We diverted funds into his LISA at that point.

It was fine and they have been really good as employers. They are an inclusive employer and actually the job suits neurodiverse people who like to follow rules, don’t mind standing on their own for hours in the drive thru and are good at maths, polite yet oblivious to people’s emotions as some people can somewhat overshare glimpses of their lives whilst getting their Mcckinkem sandwich.

I have 2 at uni at the moment- yr1 and yr2. They get minimum loan and we pay their rent- I vetoed London for financial reasons. Currently costing me £1600 per month for the 2, and bear in mind private houses normally run 50wk contracts so you’re paying through the summer when they’re home also using your hot water and food…

UC is better this way than legacy benefits, children's savings are not counted as income, so it is not a barrier at all. As long as the account is in the child's name it is disregarded.