Independent and higher education offers the likelihood of a more prosperous future for your children.

A bill per term, per child, can vary from £1,000 - £4,000 (or more), depending on where you send them – therefore the earlier you start, the less you will pay and it is worth remembering, any investment, however small, is better than none at all!.

School fees planning and planning for the cost of university education needs to be initiated many years in advance. The primary objective is to build up a capital sum to meet the cost of school fees in respect of primary and secondary education, and then the fees and maintenance costs for university education.

It's entirely a matter of choice if you are able to send your child to a fee paying school, but many of us want to ensure that our childrens' education is completed by obtaining a University Degree, and we all have similar costs to face.
$ The current cost of 3 years at university is approxmately £41,908*. Most graduates from the "class of 2009" expect to owe an average of £21,739* at the conclusion of an undergraduate degree (even more if they aim to collect a masters degree). The majority of universities and higher education colleges are now charging the maximum amount of Top Up fees which is £3,225 for the academic year 2008/9, and many universities are looking for the Government to raise the threshold level of Top Up fees in the future.

There are a number of different types of savings plans available on the market to help you meet the fees, ranging from the relative safety of the building society account to buying stock in emerging markets, with Unit Trusts, Investment Trusts, OEIC’s, With-Profits Endowment plans and Fixed-interest options in between.
If you haven’t started saving for education early enough and you are suddenly confronted with funding a child’s independent or university education, your IFA can help you look into special loans, which involve an extra mortgage on your home.

While no IFA can guarantee that a plan will completely meet all the expenses, especially when stock market performance can go down as well as up, we can offer advice on how to make the money you have work better for you.

*The above investment products should be regarded as medium to long-term investments and each carries a degree of risk. It is important to ensure that you keep enough capital readily available in a bank or building society account to cover short-term requirements.

Click here to send an eMail request for advice on Education Planning