Saving for school or university fees

It’s often said that the value of a good education is priceless, but in today’s money that means on average, for a university student, you’ll be looking at around £20,340 a year, including tuition fees.

When it comes to school fees, according to School Fees Checker, fees increased by 5.1% in September 2022, with an average annual cost of an independent day school likely to be £20,480 per annum and £34,790 per annum for boarders. So, if you’re a parent or grandparent looking to build up the cash needed for school or university fees, it certainly pays to start saving as soon as you can. 

Ways to save for school or university fees

An Individual Savings Account (ISA) is a simple way to save or invest. The advantage of these types of accounts is that you don’t pay tax on the interest you earn, or the increase in value of your investments, so you don’t need to declare income and capital gains from ISA savings or investments on your tax return. They are flexible too; you can save or invest a lump sum or make regular monthly contributions.

Junior ISAs are a great way to build up savings tax-efficiently for a child aged under 18. Your child can have a Junior cash ISA, a Junior stocks and shares ISA or a mixture of both, and save up to a total of £9,000 pa for the tax year 2023/2024. When your child reaches 18, they can access the funds, making them a good way of saving for a university education. The great advantage of a Junior ISA is that once it’s been opened by the parent or guardian, anyone can make contributions, including grandparents, friends and family. For families looking to save for school fees, parents and grandparents can also put away up to £20,000 tax-free into their own ISAs during the 2023/2024 tax year. 

You could also consider investing a lump sum into an investment bond. When the time comes, you can make withdrawals from the bond to pay the fees. You can also assign the bond to the child. As the beneficiary, the child would be liable to pay tax on any income and gains, however as most children don’t receive enough income or gains to exceed their annual allowances, this could be an attractive option, especially for parents who are higher or additional rate taxpayers.

Here to help

If you could do with some help and advice on saving for a child’s education, then do get it touch. We can help you put a plan in place to meet future education costs, helping you give your child the best possible start in life.

Tees are here to help

We have many specialist lawyers who are based in:

Cambridgeshire: Cambridge
Essex: Brentwood, Chelmsford, and Saffron Walden
Hertfordshire: Bishop's Stortford and Royston

But we can help you wherever you are in England and Wales.

This material is intended to be for information purposes only and is not intended as an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any financial instrument. Tees is a trading name of Tees Financial Limited which is regulated and authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority. Registered number 211314.

Tees Financial Limited is registered in England and Wales. Registered number 4342506.