How to fund your child’s university education – As university tuition costs seem set to rise over the next few years, the Daily Telegraph explains how parents can best prepare to pay for higher learning.
If you have 18 years to save then ideally you should be putting away ￡180 a month (to give a ￡60,000 fund). For the average new parent, struggling with the additional costs of a child and the loss of an income, this may seem out of their reach; but parents should remember they don’t necessarily have to find the full cost themselves.
Child benefit is paid to all children regardless of their parents’ income. This currently stands at ￡20 a week for the first child, then ￡13.20 for subsequent children.
Kate Barker, of Family Investments, points out that if an average of ￡15 a week is saved, this is ￡60 a month that can be put aside for a child’s education. “Over 18 years this is likely to produce a fund in the region of ￡22,000,” she adds.
As he points out, if parents save their child benefit plus a further ￡50 a month, and receive ￡25 from each set of grandparents, they are well on their way to building a substantial war-chest without breaking the bank.
It isn’t just education costs parents have to meet. According to the Liverpool Victoria’s Cost of a Child report, parents spend an average of ￡194,000 raising a child, with child care and education remaining the biggest outlays.
According to this report, families spend an average of ￡34,300 on a three-year degree course, with those paying for private education spending a further ￡71,660 on school fees.
Mr White adds: “It isn’t just parents who are interested in savings for their child’s future. Many grandparents tell us they also want to help, and by pooling limited resources together families can help keep the younger generation out of debt.”
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