Protecting School Fees and University Costs

For those parents who choose to educate their children privately, it’s the start of regular school fee payments that may be a 13 to 15 year commitment. In 2022/23 the average private school fees across the UK were £15,200 and remember its payable from net salary after deductions such as tax and national insurance. But, if as a parent, grandparent or guardian you’ve made this significant financial commitment, have you given any thought to what if something unexpected happened. What if a wage earner died prematurely, was diagnosed with a critical illness or just needed to take some long-term sickness leave. For most families, events like these will have a major financial impact and test their financial resilience.

I’m sure as a parent the very last thing you would want if a child or teenager is grieving the loss of a parent or anxious about a parent who is ill, is to have little choice but to move to a state school.

This would more than likely mean moving to a much bigger school, where classes are larger and where a child or teenager goes from knowing everyone to being the new pupil. Often this will mean having to travel to a school out of the immediate area to secure an available state school place.

However, it is possible to protect these school fee commitments. Certain policies are available and are well suited to providing a monthly replacement income in the event of premature death, diagnosis of a critical or terminal illness, an accident, injury or sickness that means you have to take leave from work. These policies are called family income benefit and income protection policies. This type of cover will give peace of mind that should the worst happen an income replacement will kick in to cover these commitments. They can be set up to mirror the end of education costs and can even be indexed to increase with RPI to retain the real time value of the replacement income.

Not only private school fees can be protected. Anyone who has supported a young adult through university or any further education will appreciate that this is a huge financial commitment. Aside from education fees, if applicable, there are also housing and living costs to consider. Imagine having to delay or cancel a further education degree or other qualification due to a parent being ill or sadly having passed away. The policies I mention earlier can help to protect private school fees and provide an income to ensure costs can be covered and enable young adults to complete their qualifications.

So, as we watch our children progress through the education system and gain experience and qualifications that will be invaluable to them throughout their adult lives, consider how your family would cope financially with a life shock such as premature death or sickness and if this would hinder your child’s education hopes?  Consider taking financial advice about the policies which can ensure their aspirations can be fulfilled.