Effective Money Saving Tips For Giving Your Child A Good Start In College.

Gone are the days when you could leave school with little qualifications and enter a job, work your way up the ladder and end up in a successful, well-paid job. It just doesn’t happen anymore (well, very rarely).

These days it is pretty much a given that a child will proceed to further education in the form of a degree. It is the pre-requisite for a comfortable lifestyle and with the competition from other fellow classmates, each child must do reasonably well.

Research has shown that an individual with further education qualifications (a degree) will earn roughly 70% more than an individual with a standard education. Even a lesser degree will still ignificantly increase life chances.

If that pressure wasn’t enough there is the problem of how your child will be funded, cared for while studying. The fact is, it is far from cheap. To give your child the best chance for a good career requires several years at college/university and the best time to start saving money is before the little one is born. Following are some money saving tips for sending your child to college.

How much will I need? Well, There are varying expenses for different universities and locations. It is less expensive to go to a university/college in the area where you live, if you go elsewhere you will pay more. Private schools and universities have the same rate no matter where you live.

The expenses for further education for your child will be comprised of the college fees and tuition, college facilities such as rooms and meals and the books and stationery they will require as well as trips home at holidays. If they are not on campus, they may require transport on a daily basis and of course general personal expenses.

The average amount for sending your child to a public institution has been calculated at around $18,000, with accommodation and food accounting for a large proportion of the total cost . This figure is expected to rise to around $22,000 by 2010. These figures could be comfortably doubled for a private school.

Because the bulk of the expenses lies in the general living expenses, if the student could live at home, even with transport expenses, the cost would still be considerably reduced.

Books can be purchased second hand in many campus bookstores and some student offer their previous books at a reduced price. For a 4 or 5 year degree, using these facilities can greatly reduce costs,

The student lifestyle will impact greatly on the total expenses. Try to educate your child before they begin their studies on the basics of how to cook cheaply but healthily, this will save money on food. Your child will need money for socializing with friends, this is a given, however, try to encourage them to social only at weekends. Give some advice on how to manage their money, it may be difficult to get the point across but a few money saving tips and titbits of advice will not go amiss.

Many colleges and universities supply a large amount of necessary facilities such as computers and laptops that can be hired from the library. You could have a trip along to the chosen institution with your child and help them find their feet with the available facilities and where to go.

Perform a bit of research before you choose a college. There may be some that are more expensive but provide better facilities that will save money in the long run.

It is difficult to place an exact figure on the cost of sending your child to university, but the above ballpark figures should see you in the right direction and give you an idea of when to start saving money.

No one wants their child to have a bad start in life and if you can save your money for a rainy day, it will pay big dividends on the future of your child.