Did you retire early before kids went to Uni? How expensive was it?

SouthCoastBoy

Yes, never used a junior isa for that very reason. Having a 40k allowance for isas was plenty for me

pensionpawn

More info / details on Dyson's (free) engineering degree programme and university campus.

Lostweekend

Thank you for all the responses to this thread. It has been extremely useful and reassuring to hear personal experiences and has helped with our planning for the next few years

youth_leader

Lostweekend would any of your children want to do an International degree, by attending Uni abroad? 

My late husband had just died and I was still waiting for probate when my daughter was due to go to Uni in Canada - I had to give her £9K in advance with her education visa application, to prove she could support herself over there. 

youth_leader

Sorry, I can't edit - it was for one academic year.  I had to send another £4K when she was there as she was unable to get a part time job.

Lostweekend

youth_leader said:

Lostweekend would any of your children want to do an International degree, by attending Uni abroad? 

My late husband had just died and I was still waiting for probate when my daughter was due to go to Uni in Canada - I had to give her £9K in advance with her education visa application, to prove she could support herself over there. 

Hi. I cant see any of my three wanting to do that but its early days yet, youngest is 12.  Thank you for the heads up on that though.  At the moment trying to steer away from London Unis due to accommodation costs (we are in the Midlands)

pensionpawn

Lostweekend said:

youth_leader said:

Lostweekend would any of your children want to do an International degree, by attending Uni abroad? 

My late husband had just died and I was still waiting for probate when my daughter was due to go to Uni in Canada - I had to give her £9K in advance with her education visa application, to prove she could support herself over there. 

Hi. I cant see any of my three wanting to do that but its early days yet, youngest is 12.  Thank you for the heads up on that though.  At the moment trying to steer away from London Unis due to accommodation costs (we are in the Midlands)

My daughter's hall of residence fees for central London were £12k, £3k more than her course. We were fortunate to get her out of that contract. She's been studying from her bedroom ever since and will commute to London as necessary. That has also allowed her to keep her part time job going (12 hours / wk, with share save) so it's win / win. With all the other changes to society that have been thrust upon us over the last 13 months it makes you think real hard about the merit of residential undergraduate courses and whether the Open University model will expand. I acknowledge that there is more to university than the academic experience, i.e. learning to be independent, which she isn't at home, however that has to be balanced against generating significant wealth to put towards moving out after graduation. My eldest daughters saved from age 18, by living at home whilst working (directly after A level, no uni), and bought their first houses at 23. Not many graduates could do that.

Robwales

pensionpawn said:

Lostweekend said:

youth_leader said:

Lostweekend would any of your children want to do an International degree, by attending Uni abroad? 

My late husband had just died and I was still waiting for probate when my daughter was due to go to Uni in Canada - I had to give her £9K in advance with her education visa application, to prove she could support herself over there. 

Hi. I cant see any of my three wanting to do that but its early days yet, youngest is 12.  Thank you for the heads up on that though.  At the moment trying to steer away from London Unis due to accommodation costs (we are in the Midlands)

My daughter's hall of residence fees for central London were £12k, £3k more than her course. We were fortunate to get her out of that contract. She's been studying from her bedroom ever since and will commute to London as necessary. That has also allowed her to keep her part time job going (12 hours / wk, with share save) so it's win / win. With all the other changes to society that have been thrust upon us over the last 13 months it makes you think real hard about the merit of residential undergraduate courses and whether the Open University model will expand. I acknowledge that there is more to university than the academic experience, i.e. learning to be independent, which she isn't at home, however that has to be balanced against generating significant wealth to put towards moving out after graduation. My eldest daughters saved from age 18, by living at home whilst working (directly after A level, no uni), and bought their first houses at 23. Not many graduates could do that.

i do wonder if Unis in the SE / London are now largely attended by people already living local (which means staying at home where i think you miss out on a lot of experience, and also its less diverse from a UK perspective) or from abroad.   When i was a kid we all went away...often as far as we could but now i know several families who kids will attend Uni from home.   My son is looking at Medicine, and the cost of living in london for 5 yrs (coming from Wales) means he wont bother applying to the likes of Ucl, Kings etc.  

youth_leader

I'm in Northumberland and my daughter had an interview at Cambridge - sadly she didn't get in, but the student rents there were scarily high and would have made a huge hole in our savings.  Two of her friends got in and stayed in halls for the first year (maids came in to make their beds ), when they moved out they had to travel in from outside, couldn't afford central.  My daughter ended up at Leeds and was very happy there, she studied Theatre Studies and English Lit.  Originally she wasn't going to do the International degree, a friend persuaded her, she had a very happy time in Canada.