Saving for private education

Charlieg1946

Hi, Is there a saving scheme that allows you to out money say each month into a saving fund that can then be used to pay private school fees out of directly to the school? From age 8-18?

kidmugsy

Some schools give you a discount for paying in advance. By golly, you'd have to be very certain about using that school in future.

jimjames

A number of people use investment trust savings schemes to build a pot to pay fees but you could use S&S ISAs too.


It would then be up to you to pay the fees from it though.

rpc

kidmugsy wrote: »

Some schools give you a discount for paying in advance. By golly, you'd have to be very certain about using that school in future.

And when one school around here folded, lots of parents who had paid multiple years of fees in advance found out that they had to join the long list of creditors and got next to nothing back.

We pay in advance, just because it makes our cashflow more manageable. The 1.5% discount vs a monthly direct debit means that it arguably costs us a little more than paying monthly.

You can use a discretionary trust to fund the fees, but the £100 rule still applies I think so it is of questionable use unless someone else is providing the funding.

xylophone

https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/school-fees-plans

may be worth a read.

kidmugsy

For what it's worth, about 30 years ago we had an insurance salesman round. He asked "Are you planning to send your children to private schools?" We said "Only if we are disappointed by the council schools." He said "In which case don't use a school fees saving plan. They are for people who are certain."

Which from a salesman was rather good. He did sell us two Term Life Insurance policies, and the personal pension equivalent of the day. Money well spent.