How much should I save for university in 2030?

[namechange0998776554799000]

DD is 14, so due to go to university in 2030. How much should I put aside to help fund her?

Some context: I don't work, I'm a full time carer for disabled DS. DH works full time but on a low salary. The only benefit we receive is carers allowance but we get by fine. Our mortgage will be paid off the year DD turns 18.

I've just been given £100k, which we will partly need to live off in lieu of my salary, but I plan to ring fence some in a savings account for DD.

No idea at this stage what she will study or where she will go and I appreciate housing costs can vary a lot, but I have no idea how much to put aside. I assume she'll get the full student loan due to our income. I'd rather avoid her needing to work if we can. I do want her to live away from home - university is where I met DH and I had the time of my life, I'd love for her to have the same experience.

It would be great to hear from those with children at university how much would be a realistic amount to fund her as much as possible through the 3 years.

General rule of thumb for university costs per year is £10k fees, £10k accommodation, £5-10k living expenditure.

Obviously accommodation and living costs depends on uni but that’s just a guide.

With you not working and your DH on low salary, she would be entitled to full loan I imagine. She may also be able to have a little bar job or something to help with living costs.

So I guess it’s up to you how much of that £25k+ per year you want to help her with to reduce the amount of debt she leaves university with.

I’d also look into investing the lump sum you decide to stash away as opposed to just putting it in a savings account.

Yes good point, it's doesn't need to be a savings account as such. I just want to have in mind that it's for her university and whatever I do with it I can access it in 2030

Well done for planning ahead - we found this helped.

Also uni locations vary enormously for accommodation is so your DC can still go away but Sheffield student houses for instance per month cost much less than Exeter though both good Russell Group unis. Could save you £3-5K per year.

Put a stash in an ISA for her. Maybe £25k? Then loans for the rest.

In terms of post graduation employability, it’s quite important that she has some so,I’d work experience, so she could help by working in a gap year to save up her own lump sum, or work during the vacations, and at the very least, the summer.

so if she has a job to contribute to her university costs, it kills two birds with one stone!

I would avoid trying to pick one exact 2030 number because student finance and rents may change. I’d build a range instead: first-term rent before loan arrives, accommodation deposit, travel home, laptop/course kit, and a monthly top-up if the maintenance loan does not cover rent. Keep your own family buffer separate from anything ring-fenced for university.

Do you have any other savings or help for her?

If you don't, then personally I would put as much of it as you can spare into a savings/investment account, and keep it for her house deposit rather than university.

She will get loans for university, and she might actually want to work.. even if she doesn't, a little cash a week to top-up what she gets from her student loan is plenty.

For most young people having a deposit for their house, after university, is much much more helpful and valuable than having more disposable money while studying. Unless you have other plans for the house, she will thank you later if you keep it for that.

You say the only benefit you get is carer's allowance. Don't you get DLA for your son too?

I would keep the money in your name, you are a low income family and you don’t work so your DD may qualify for bursaries etc. She may also work and save in a gap year and work during university holidays, both for money and to prepare for graduate life / enhance her CV.

Would he get maximum loan ? If he would , he could apply to unis where your money goes further and avoid places like London , Bristol , Bath , York , Manchester .

For a great breakdown in household income and what your child will get if they were going to uni this year, scroll down the page for the table

https://www.savethestudent.org/student-finance/maintenance-loans.html

All universities have their accommodation costs on their website. Some places like Durham the cost is the same but with slight increase/decrease if they share a room, have an en-suite sort of thing. Some places have catered and self catered, Loughborough, Nottingham, Durham. Some vary wildly in cost. My youngest is at Warwick so first year halls were anything from £128 pwk (40 weeks) so £5120 up to £255 or £10200 which is quite frankly ridiculous. We paid just under £8k for en-suite first year room.

Ds is in private halls of residence for second/third year (now) and we are paying £8k. Then it comes down to what they pay out to live. Laundry, costs are usually on uni pages as they have a typical costs page, usually around £5.50 for a wash and dry per load. Mine does 2 loads per week, one clothes the other bedding and bathroom towels.

Then Netflix, Amazon Prime, Spotify, phone contract, any course materials, travel costs and socialising. Ds is not a drinker but does socialise on soft drinks. Supermarket shops vary, mine spends about £40 a week but eats things like salmon and steak, he loves cooking. We give him £100 per week term time only. He has savings from this.

We provide clothing basics, a toiletries stash plus a kitchen cupboard stash so pasta, pesto, tins of soup sort of thing.

There is also the initial layout cost for their room. This can come from spares in your house, we don't have spares so everything from duvet, pillow, bedding, towels, kitchen items, chopping board, pans, plates etc had to be bought. We bought for our eldest and these were passed down.

Even if you can afford to pay for the tuition fees and her living costs I wouldn't. I would instead give them money for a house deposit. Ds1 graduated, started out on £33k so take home monthly pay of £2246.30 and student loan payment of £60 if adjusted to the new payment plan 5 (he is on payment plan 2 and would only pay £27). So compare that take home pay and consider how long it would take them to save for a house deposit.

Saying all that, Ds2 will have cost us around £19k for all 3 years at uni. He got minimum maintenance loan, we topped him up to over the maximum maintenance loan to pay him the same as his brother's weekly allowance.

@namechange0998776554799000As others say, there are various ways of looking at this.

As you can see, not all universities and halls cost the same. What really costs are expensive choices. En suite rooms being one of them. Cut your coat accusing to your cloth - £8000 a year doesn’t leave much for food and everything else (£1000 a term) so your DD might need money from you or a job. Getting accommodation for £6500 a teen makes a huge difference!

Then, make the assumption she gets the full loan. Then look at which unis give bursaries. Some might be based on results and income but check. Then shortlist those. Do not pay up front as the money you have might be much better used for a house deposit post university. Dont forget loan repayments are based on salary, not how much you borrow like a bank loan. It’s completely different.

So, in terms of saving your money, invest for you, and dc. Make sure you can draw money down if it’s needed but a full loan and a bursary is better than many students get whose parents don’t pay up! Choose wisely so DD gets a good job afterwards.

I would put aside £50k for her (if you can afford to) and use whatever is leftover from that after uni towards a house deposit. Will hopefully incentivise her to get a job through college and uni too.

I’d put 20k of the 100k in a S&S ISA in my name and use that, it will grow a fair amount in 4 years.

Do you get child benefit and disability benefits for your DS?

We supported each of our kids with around £500 per month - to top up theur basic loans - which was around half of our monthly mortgage repayments. If you’re paying off your mortgage around the time your DD goes to uni, you may find you’ve spare cash there to play with and can do something useful with the £100k instead.

As others have said, avoid expensive cities, like London

Firstly make sure you have no debts and a good emergency fund and that your pensions are ok. Keep the savings in your own name as it is 4 years I would use a stocks and shares ISA with something like a FTSE 100 or S&P 500 tracker so you get maximum compound growth. As you come from a low income household your child will get max loans possibly bursary too. I would keep money until later . Also encourage your child to study somewhere affordable for a degree that gives good long-term prospects there is no point going to uni getting stacks of debt for a job that pays little more than minimum wage