Parents have a number of options if they want to cover their child's university costs at short notice.
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Avoid massive student debt
Graduates in England will leave university with £44,000 of debt, according to education charity Sutton Trust.
This includes an enormous loan to cover their tuition fees, eye-watering sums from their maintenance loan, and significant personal debts.
It’s quite a burden to be carrying as you embark on independent adult life, so it’s hardly surprising that parents desperately want to help.
In an ideal world they will have been putting money aside for years.
In reality, they are far more likely to have little or nothing saved for students set to fly the nest before the end of the year.
Fortunately, they still have options.
Government loans
It may go against the grain, but one approach is to allow your children to borrow as much cash from the Government as possible.
This includes tuition fee loans, to cover fees of up £9,250 a year.
It also includes maintenance loans, which vary in size depending where on they are studying and what the household income is, but can be for as much as £11,002.
Parents may feel they’re not doing their best for their children if they let them take on this debt.
However, it may actually be the most cost-effective approach, because of the way these loans work.
They don’t have to be paid off quickly: repayments will only start once they graduate, and are earning at least £21,000.
The size of the repayments will depend on their income, and for someone earning £24,000 would be £48 a month, so they’re not crippling.
Crucially, once 30 years have passed since graduation, the whole of the remainder of the loan will be written off – which is expected to happen for 60% of students.
It means that only those whose children will emerge to a high-paying job will be better off paying for their tuition as soon as possible.
This doesn’t mean parents are in for a cheap few years, however.
According to a study last year by student information website Save The Student, 70% of students find the actual cost of living is far higher than the maintenance loan.
It varies dramatically depending on the student’s lifestyle and location but the University of Bristol puts it at between £9,000 and £15,000, while the University of Edinburgh estimates costs at between £7,620 and £15,360.
As a result, 80% of students say they worry about making ends meet, while 65% say their diet suffers as a result of financial difficulties, and 56% of students say their grades suffer because of the stress.
The Save The Student study found that 43% of students rely on their overdraft, and 10% have run up credit card debts. Alarmingly 2% have even turned to payday loans.
Different sources estimate the monthly shortfall between loans and outgoings at different levels.
The NUS puts it at between £500 and £650 a month, while Save The Student says it’s closer to £250.
It’s therefore worth calculating your child’s own shortfall, so you can see the size of the gap that will need to be closed.
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How to fund the shortfall
How to cut university costs
While there are a number of ways to raise the money to pay for university, the other side of the equation mustn’t be overlooked.
Parents can also consider ways of bringing down the costs of study. The biggest saving to be made is if your children choose to study locally and live at home.
It isn’t right for every family, but if the local university is appropriate, and you can agree domestic arrangements, it could make everything far more affordable.
The other saving comes from sensible budgeting.
The Save the Student study found that one in four students have never budgeted, which is why so many of them run out of money part of the way through the month.
Many of them know very little about shopping around for cheap utilities, buying low cost groceries, or using coupons and vouchers to bring down the cost of socialising.
Nowadays there are plenty of tools that make budgeting easier, quicker and more rewarding - including money management apps, and sites that hunt down student-specific shopping advice and bargains.
However, Butler points out: “It’s difficult to get students to think about budgeting, because it seems boring.”
They key, therefore, is for parents to instil budgeting habits from an early age, so it’s something their offspring do without thinking.
If they have managed an allowance for the best part of a decade before they start their studies, they will have a huge head start on those whose parents simply pay for everything they need.
It’s safe to say that whatever parents do, the university years will not be cheap, or easy.
They will be marked by expensive monthly outlays, and desperate phone calls from students who have made wild miscalculations.
However, if parents have the right attitude to Government loans, a creative approach to paying the monthly expenses, and have given their children a thorough grounding in money matters, these three years don’t have to disrupt your long-term financial goals.