The soaring cost of educating children is a hot topic for many clients. The increase in the maximum annual university tuition fee to £9,250 in England has given an added impetus to the need for financial planning in this area. Putting a child through university, with its attendant tuition fees and living expenses, is just one of several uphill struggles facing parents. This may help explain why record numbers of students are choosing to live at home with their parents.
Costs of further education
Using the University of Kent’s cost of living calculator for an undergraduate living off campus the annual cost of living, including books, food, clothes, travelling to and from college is between £11,742 and £21,570. That is between £35,935 and £66,013 for a three-year course, assuming 2% a year inflation. This cost of living does not include the tuition fees that students are required to pay.
According to The Institute of Fiscal Studies an undergraduate from England is likely to accumulate student debt of up to £50,000 by the end of their course – regardless of whereabouts in the UK they study.
