How much do I need to save to send ds to uni?

[thatlldopig1]

I have 12 years to save for ds to go to uni. He may not want to go in which case he can use money for something else but I need to make sure I've saved enough if he does

Parents with kids at uni.. How much will I need ?

My mum paid my fee's and i paid for my rent and living costs through jobs that fitted around uni.

It meant i came out with zero debt, but i worked hard for the 3 years. At one point i had 3 jobs. But i went out every week and lived the student life.

It was conditional, if i stopped working, mum would stop paying fee's and i's have to pay them myself.

Also, the loans aren't great-although most people are unlikely to ever pay back, every payrise your kids ever get will amount to basically no increase as student loan repayment will increase.

My friend got a 6k payrise, and instead of having an extra £300ish per month (after tax/ni/pension which all go up) she has about £100.

Mine work part time whilst studying. Accommodation in a shared 5 bed flat in Edinburgh is £500 per month each.
I pay £200 per month to support and only agreed to this if DC's also worked. They are adults and need to be responsible.

The thing that struck me about uni life was my additional costs; costs that not all families can easily 'soak up'.
Dropping DC's off that very first weekend was an eye-opener. Petrol costs for a long drive, a service station meals along the way, meals out for DC's and us whilst there, a nights stay ( too far to drive in a day), odds and ends that DC needed for his room ( additional to the stuff planned for and bought in advance), a food shop which included all of the basic 'larder' foods. We must have spent in excess of 500 'not really thought about' pounds that weekend.

We have one ds about to start Uni and haven't specifically saved anything ! he is taking a student loan to pay for his accommodation then we will help him with a monthly amount to live off and he has taken a gap year and worked and saved a bit himself.

Monthly regular savings since birth - initially into their CTFs which were later transferred into JISAs. I managed the stock/fund selection and their pots should be sufficient for their maintenance costs for uni. That’s the plan at least. 12 yrs is still plenty of time for you to invest. If you don’t want them to have free access, just save into an ISA in your own name. I’m putting my faith in 18 yrs of brainwashing my DC that they retain some common sense and not spend it all partying! You cannot control everything - they could waste a loan on partying - if they were so inclined. Invest what you can afford but not at the expense of your own retirement planning (which is more important imo).

OK. Ds is at the tail end of his MA year, so we have funded 4 years (with help from dh's employer).

3 x £9k fees for the BA 1x £6300 MA fees (alumni discount)
Year 1 accommodation was about £4k (Halls)
Year 2 and 3 about £4k each (lived out)
MA year £8k (post grad halls)
Having looked at his account with his university, we have paid them £45436.40 over 4 years for fees and Halls.

Allowance about £125 per week in term time. He comes home (abroad) for holidays, and we obviously house, feed and clothe him. He is supposed to save something out of his allowance.

This doesn't include the travel to and from university; the first food shop each term and the meals when we go to and fro to get him.

My son finished his masters last year, unfortunately he started in 2013, just as they brought in the new charges! He only qualified for the basic loan, no grant, as apparently we earnt too much- 42000 a year between us, with another child to support. We were advised for him to treat the degree as a full time job( physics). so not to get a job. Unfortunately he had to, as his loan was 5400 and his rent alone was 4000 (brighton). we did give him 200 a month, He did work full time in the holidays, But jobs in university towns are hard to get and the pay is atrocious.

Oh and forgot to add, he had his student loan statement through last week, he has £64000 and his girlfriend, same degree has the same, so £128000 debt between them! If as some people say, they don’t pay it all off, what’s the point of making them borrow in the first place, may as well give it to them and make their tax code lower.

Nothing. Students can get loans and jobs.
And I don’t understand the need for students to move away for Uni. I live in Scotland and it’s more common for students to stay at home and study at local Unis. I understand it’s a good experience, but it’s expensive and by no means essential.

£800 a month for food and fun? If that’s what students are spending, then they’re better off than their lecturers!

You don't have to save anything.
It is likely you'll have to contribute to support them though - the loan my dd has doesn't cover her rent, and when ds went, it just covered his rent (he was in a cheap part of the UK) but didn't leave anything for food etc. However we can afford to give them enough money every week / month / term to cover 'needs', and they then work to cover their 'wants'.

You do need access to money up front, for their deposit on their accommodation which is paid ages before their loans come in.

Saving, generally, is a positive thing.
If you can afford to, then save, but there's no way you can project what it will cost, in 12 years time, if they choose to go to University.

12 years before dc1 went, no-one was paying fees. Stuff changes. This is political.

Don't worry about it, a third of your salary is enough to save.
When he goes to uni be prepared to send him three quarters of it every month! Jolly good luck :).

Do you have a pension and emergency savings first, before saving for child's education ? How do you know that they will go to uni, maybe do a trade instead.

what’s the point of making them borrow in the first place, may as well give it to them and make their tax code lower

That's exactly what happens (effectively), I've never seen a pay slip with student loan repayments on it, so don't know how it's presented but the effect is that graduates pay 9% extra tax on earnings above a certain amount and unless they earn well above average, the payments are relatively small.

Not that it will be of use to OP, but for anyone else. Our baby due in 6 weeks and we are opening an investment account for him. We will put £70 a month in there and all our child benefit, plus any monetary gifts from grandparents

My dad did this for me and my brother from birth and it paid for us to go (though I did also Work)

If he doesn’t want to go to uni he can have some of it for travelling or towards a deposit on a flat.

it’s more common for students to stay at home and study at local Unis. Not much point doing that if your local Uni doesn't do the course you want, or doesn't have a good reputation. It also depends if there is a local uni near you and if there is, can you get good enough grades to get in, if you live in Bristol, Durham, Oxford or Cambridge, for example.

You only pay back a student loan if you earn over a certain amount. It is deducted from your salary. Some graduates never earn enough to pay back the loan

When I went to Uni I got a maintenance loan which covered my expenses and my parents paid my tuition and accommodation. My tuition was only 1.5k per year though which is minimal compared to how much it is now. Accommodation was around 3k. I was at uni for 4 years so that was around 18k that my parents fronted.

Tuition is waaaaay more now and accommodation likely more expensive so I'd maybe suggest them getting the loan to cover those and you help out with general living expenses. Student loads aren't that bad, they're not like normal loans and you don't have to pay them if not earning or not earning enough.

I have two DC and expecting a third and I'd like to be able to pay for a deposit on the first houses. That x3 plus uni expenses.... just not possible and I would prefer to help them on the property ladder as the student loan can help them with uni.

There are IHT implications with gifting money for deposits, but none when paying for and maintaining a student at university.

My sons just going into 2nd year. He has taken the tuition loan and receives a minimum maintenance loan £4000 this year.

I pay his rent (5.4k ish) and he lives off his maintenance loan plus he’s works the summer and will have approx 2.5 k in savings. So he has approx 6k ish a year. This year he’ll be paying his own bills ( shared flat they reckon about a tenner a week) plus food, though I do buy his clothes , pay his phone and also I send food and toiletries. I also pay any course related costs ( which have been minimal ).

He manages very well on the above, if we couldn’t afford it then obviously he’d have to manage, but he’s making an effort by working the summer and I’m glad he can afford to enjoy his uni life a bit. He did say that if he needed to work term time he would, but I don’t think he wants to.

Hahaha at anyone thinking you can give them nothing. It's just not realistic.

As others have said, the loan amount for fees is fine, they all get that (so come out of uni with £27k debt but at least it's not repayable until they earn £26K or something) but the maintenance loan just doesn't cover accommodation and living expenses. It might do if you're on a very low income but not otherwise.

So even if they get £3k a year as a maintenance loan you're looking at finding at least another £5k+ per child per year. X 3 years.

Hahaha at anyone thinking you can give them nothing. It's just not realistic.

Of course it is. My DSD is starting a local uni next term. She lives at home, has a part time job and gets a loan. We don’t need to give her anything.

Even if they do want to move away, they can take a year out to work FT and save, doing the same during each summer and work PT during the term. There are also loans and bursaries.

Some parents can’t afford to support their kids at uni.

Some parents can’t afford to support their kids at uni.

That's very true, and the system is set up to ensure that there are bursaries and loans for students from low income households. It's a different story for those students who come from middle or high income households though, and if their parents can't/won't help, they may be screwed.

What a great idea for a post. I am already saving for school trips and 2 of mine are pre school.

How much can you afford? What do you envisage paying for?

If you put by a reasonable £100 a month, in 12 years that’s 14k plus whatever interest there is from investing it maybe in a junior ISA is some sort.

That’s a healthy amount to then split between the 3/4yrs of uni. Some at the beginning of each year to setup then a monthly amount to help out with food etc.. And fees covered by loans.