Uni fund

chelseablue

My son is 4 and I save into a S&S ISA for him.

As he's so young I don't have a definite plan on what the money is actually for, I'm guessing help with a deposit on a property.

I wont be telling him about the money as soon as he's 18 though, he'll have to show a good work ethic and save up himself too before I start dishing out money.

He's already got almost £6,000 so it soon mounts up

PrettyKittyKat

I would definitely start saving, as you can save a low amount over a longer time. If your daughter decides to go she will get loans but if she lives away this won't cover her full living costs so any extra money you can then will help her. My partners paid for my fees, however as we knew I could get this on a loan I still got the loan and they gave me the equivalent for living costs.

If it is that your daughter doesn't go to uni or times have changed and the money isn't needed you could keep it for a house deposit. You don't need to specific at this moment in time what it is for so I wouldn't worry too much about that now.

System

It's all case of what ifs...


If your daughter graduates and gets a good job that pays well, there's a good chance of paying it back. She could be paying anything from £20 - £200 depending on income for 30 years so have this in the back of your mind.


If your daughter graduates and isn't a high earner, there's a likelihood she will never pay anything back.



In all honesty, I couldn't call it myself and I work with this kind of stuff all the time. My brother-in-law is in the quandary as he can afford to pay the entire thing up front. My suggestion is save and wait. Let your daughter take the loans and then after they graduate, see what kind of occupation they go for. If it's a case of a high earner, then you can gift them the cash to pay it off or if they're a low earner and look likely to be in future, perhaps give them it as a house deposit.

ska_lover

Saving a little something ''for her future'' is a great idea - whatever she decides to do, a small helping hand I am sure will be great for her

Uni debt really is such a small amount each month that I think it isn't worth worrying about but to be fair a lot of students do work their way through uni, even just a shift or two in a coffee shop etc

I do think its a great idea to save if you can afford it, whilst she is still young though, I wish I had been able to afford to do so when mine were still those kind of ages

Katapolt

Saving anything for her future is really lovely, and is suggest keeping it to one side until she gets to a point where shes talking about future decisions. I think itd be silly for it to pay uni fees, but it might be nice as an extra £100 a month or something to help her when shes there.

Alternatively i'm sure it would be well received for anything else in her life!!

need_an_answer

The idea of saving is a really good one,it doesn't have to be a lot but even putting a little aside will mount up in the future and you can then choose when the time is right to gift that money.

Don't have an expectation of uni just call it the one day fund or something non descript,the worst thing to do is to name it uni and then plans change.

So many things it can be used for,the uni or apprenticeship which is also very worthwhile if your daughter is more vocational,the first car or its insurance,first flat and its deposit,first home purchase,potential wedding.The list goes on.

Personally I wouldn't advocate the repayment of uni fees but possibly more living expenses or treats for her whilst she is studying.We are currently in the position to be able to help our offspring with rent whilst at uni,the tuition fee debt remains very firmly under their responsibility!

Whatever you use it for its a very lovely thing to be making a contribution to.

Fireflyaway

It's very true that things could change a lot between now and then! I work with young people who have student loan debt and pay back a pretty small percentage. I know they would struggle to save £60,000 or whatever for a house deposit though so I'm probably leaning towards that.

Gloomendoom

If you have a mortgage, depending on the interest rate, it may be more cost effective to pay that off early then start saving.

Fireflyaway

Renting at the moment unfortunately but definitely do plan on paying our future mortgage off early if possible.

Tabbytabitha

Fireflyaway wrote: »

Renting at the moment unfortunately but definitely do plan on paying our future mortgage off early if possible.

Do you need to save foryour future home first, particularly as (given your earlier thread) you may want to cut back to part time?