Hugs. However, both can easily go to uni.
Going to uni doesn't have to be as expensive as people make it out to be.
Although I'm not from a poor background, I didn't have the sort of relationship with my parents during my uni years where they would have funded me. (They wanted me to do a particular career and I chose another) So I self-funded and also knew other kids that self-funded, and lived on a true shoestring. I often had next to nothing in my bank during uni years, but it was actually an excellent experience and I feel like I got more out of it in terms of prep for life than many of my peers who were funded.
I also walked into a great job straight after uni as I banked a lot of relevant expereicne duirng my uni years, which kids that age usually don't have.
Key points:
- As you know, tuiton is not something you pay up front
- Take out the max student loan/ grant/ other available money. The child can think of this as their entire budget and assume there's nothing coming on top
- The budgets that unis say you should have per month? Yeah, ignore those. Those are luxury budgets for the 'full bells and whistles'. Unis, after all, are commercial institutions making money off the students
Main ways to save:
- Location. Firstly, are there any unis where the child can live at home and commute? If so and they are willing, big savings. If not, look for a place with low cost of living. Midlands, North West, some parts of Scotland. Ideally avoid London (although in certain fields it can provide amazing opportunities, so depends), South East or also smaller cities where there's not much employment, e.g. Bournemouth, Exeter, etc. There are several top 10 unis in lower cost areas
- Remember, uni is effectively only 20 weeks a year. This means that signing up to 12-month accommodation rarely makes sense. Depending on the course, you may not even need to be there 5 days a week
- Halls are much more expensive than house shares, although heavily marketed. If you must live in situ, skip halls and go for a house share year 1. You will definitely still meet plenty of people, and people who are more aligned to you, not just the ones you end up in halls with. Look for a location that's walkable to lectures to avoid transport costs
- Clubs, societies, nights out with big budgets - absolutely not essential. They are marketed as an essential but they aren't.
- Frequent meals out? Also not an essential, they are a luxury. Students can cook at home
- Books - no you don't need to buy them new. There's the library
- Clothes - presumably your kids own plenty. They don't need to regularly buy new clothes
- Car - some students have cheap cars. Insurance is a killer at a young age. You usually can't drive or park on campus. There's no need. For travel home, advance train tickets are the way to go.
How to make the budget come together:
- Uni is 20 weeks a year, Mon-Fri, sometimes not even that. Remember that. There's lots of free time to monetise
- Take a gap year. But use it to work and save more money. Full-time basic job, live at home, save 20K. Bank it, don't spend any of it. Make it earn interest as well. This is the uni budget
- There are many degrees where you do a PAID year in industry after 2 years. if possible, choose these degrees. To be honest, these are the only ones that actually lead to jobs these days
- There are various part time jobs and side hustles available, I did bar work, worked for the uni itself, some online work for The Times... Every little helps. Most people I knew did the same
- Summer work. He can get started this coming summer. He can easily earn 6-10K through part-time work during the time he still has left til uni
- Work throughout the year. A friend's family have no money, twin daughters at uni. Both girls work 2 days a week, about 24h per week, living wage jobs (think Amazon, but there will likely be similar jobs in your area if you look out for them, 'immediate start, no training needed' type of jobs on Indeed). They also work these jobs full-time outside of term-time. They make 12-15K a year each and are fully self-funded
Uni isn't that hard. Mostly, it's a social thing, especially year one. If you want to attend to actually have a degree, not just to have fun, you can do it on a completely different budget as to what people are talking about
If the child really wants to go and needs the qualification for their future career, you can always find a way.
If you want a better deal, look at foreign unis, for example Swedish, Swiss, many others. There are global leading unis in those countries and they often pay the child to attend, so additional cost is lower.
Also, your child doesn't have to go at 18. Many top executives say kids going to uni later, at 20-21, is a better choice, as they have a better idea what they want
Disclaimer: I did a degree in a 'difficult' subject, got a 1st, from a top 10 uni, while working full-time throughout, with annual leave used for exams etc. It can be done.