Three smart tips to help you save for your child’s tertiary education

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world” – Nelson Mandela

Although basic education is a right for every South African citizen, the cost of it is not cheap.

There are schools that offer free education, but these schools don’t cater for everyone. Parents have to fork out hundreds or thousands of Rands to ensure their children attend school.

After passing grade 12, parents have to worry about paying tertiary fees for their children.

Tertiary education is even more costly, with a degree costing between R30,000 to R75,000 per year or up to R300,000.

Many parents struggle to afford to take their children to university. The tertiary drop out rate is also very high due to students not being able to pay their fees. This has resulted in movements such as #FeesMustFall.

In order to ensure that you are better financially prepared to take your child to university when the time comes, it is crucial that you plan.

Let’s look at tips that can help you plan:

READ: Kaya Biz breaks down the cost of tertiary education

Start Now

The sooner you start saving for your child’s education the better. Many financial advisors advise that the saving starts from as soon as your child is born. This way, you get to pay very minimum money that will accumulate interest over the years. By the time your child is ready for school or tertiary, you would have money to help you pay for the fees.

Starting to save now also helps in case things things such as unemployment, retrenchments or even death hit.

Investments

There are many education saving investments offered by different banks and financial institutions.

Many of them require that you deposit money monthly and that money will earn interest and can help your child in future.

Talk to your financial provider about tax free investments.

It is also important to do research. Don’t choose a policy or savings method blindly without doing due diligence.

READ: Former Miss SA helps 500 students access affordable education

Avoid withdrawing the money

Unexpected costs can arise in life. If you don’t have a savings for rainy days, you might feel tempted to withdraw from your child’s education savings account. This should not be a habit. Only withdraw if you really need to. Early withdrawals might even come with penalty fees and can negatively affect how much you could have accumulated over a longer period.

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Image courtesy of Pexels/ Joshua Mcknight