College: Third level fees and the expense of the family.

Yes there off to college!

You have held their hand crossing the road, wiped their tears, laughed at their awful jokes, picked them up from school when they were sick. (On Friday – test day – coincidence!) But now its time for your little ones (taller than you now!) to fly the nest. Start their future. Do something they love. It’s off to college with a life full of new adventures and smiles! Your bank account is not smiling and with your wages getting smaller by the day. Oh, College life!

As new reports show Ireland has the second highest third-level fees in Europe. The UK has the highest third level costs out of all the countries in the European Commission, with Ireland being second.

In Ireland, college students have to pay fees of €3,000 every year! This has risen significantly over the past decade and continues to rise. With this in mind there no easy way to send your child to college. Savings and investments are the only way to go.

There are needs-based grants (like the Susi grant) available to students depending of means, family size, nationality and previous academic attainment and distance from institutions. Working families, struggle to meet the many requirements to qualify.

There are no student loans or family allowances available. This means the bank of Mam and Dad have to pay.

The Bank of Mam and Dad

The Bank of Mam and Dad, Best bank ever, well according to your kids anyway! The college fees only cover the cost of college this is not allowing for rent, food, electricity, and day-to-day living. All these extras have to be accounted for. And when your child is 18 and standing in front of you telling you about their future career and dreams of big offices and high paying jobs, it is then we wish we had that little savings account we talked about before.

With numbers of third level students rising, in 2016 over 345,000 attended secondary level and over half of this figure continuing their education and attending Third Level  – Universities and Institutes of Technology. These figure show times are changing and now more than ever college is looking like the best option for a lot of children. Especially the world we live in, and society around us, with the appeal of silicone valley and the tech world and Ireland is a very techy country, kids want to learn more and are more open and educated than our predecessors with computers and the internet at their fingertips.

Conclusion

You can check the popularity of Third level education. The Irish Times has a great little tool to show which colleges or universities school leavers attend. Click the link to show you the performance of any school.

https://www.irishtimes.com/feeder-schools/

Frank Ryan Financial Services are here to help and advise in this area. Saving a little each week or month can help with the cost and the younger your child is when you start saving, the easier college will be, financially.

Frank offers advice to you, personally, looking at your situation and analyzing the best outcome for you and your family. Some parents like to use part of their children’s allowance to help with this and others like to pay a one-off payment a year into a savings account. Whatever the options, our financial advisor, Frank is here to guide you through the best option for you. Have a Question why not ask Frank today.

Are you ready for your kids to fly the nest? Is your savings bank all set and ready for college?

References:  The Journal Date: Nov 1st, 2017 |  The Irish Times – 2018  | Education.ie Key Statistics 2014/2015 and 2015/2016