College savings

We're in North County Dublin. I don't know what the job situation is going to be like in 10 years time when our eldest will be due for college. The way I see it it's a bonus if they can work and study but we're not going to count on it. I had a great paying pt job the whole of college but having to work did limit some of my college stuff. Having some money set aside provides options.

Black_Knight wrote: »

Enter https://www.drcalculator.com/mortgage/
Found this to be a great tool to try plan out mortgage repayments.
https://www.drcalculator.com/calc/duration.html is a great tool to give you an idea what overpayments you'd need to reduce the length of your mortgage.

An aggressive overpayment of our mortgage (150%) would have us mortgage free by the time our first goes to college (assuming they will). It's likely unattainable, but at the very least we can have a very small mortgage left to pay. There's a lot of assumptions in those ~16 years ahead of us (jobs, salary fluctuations, bonuses, interest rates, unexpected expenses, unexpected incomes etc.), but putting 140 a month into a savings account is a waste given current interest rates.

This is our thinking too. Savings is a poor use of money given the roi. Throwing money against the mortgage gives us more options longer term. If the mortgage payment every month is nearly gone by college years and we're not paying child care fees any more that's far better in terms of cash flow.

Paul_Mc1988 wrote: »

I assume most of the people here are living far away from a college or university. Its only €3000 for the fees currently. Paying for the fee for the kids along side any extra they need €1000 and help them get a job to pay for the social side of things. I'm of the opinion I wont have to save for it. Anyone else living in south county Dublin any other opinion?

There's a university within walking distance of my house, the other main ones are easily accessible by public transport. I still feel it's better to have a bit of money behind you to cover every eventuality.

Anyone who goes to college has a college experience. I'm not paying out thousands for my children to live in student accommodation when they're within a commute of most major Dublin third level institutions. And my parents would have laughed at the notion too.

Have more independence and freedom

joe40 wrote: »

Do you think it would disadvantage kids to go to an IT instead of one of our universities. I live in a town with an IT, it would be financially beneficial for my kids to go there as opposed to Galway or Dublin, if they were doing a comparable course.
I'm not sure though if a university gives better employment prospects or make it easier to go on to post grad course.

Having looked at this in the round the course is more important than the institution. No point going to do a course just because the college appeals more. And any course which incorporates work experience or a placement is something I'd strongly encourage.

I didn't say there was one best way, I gave my family's viewpoint.. and I too have that freedom.

LuasSimon wrote: »

Obviously you are from a very rich family , many people can’t afford to throw away twenty or thirty thousand as easily as yours can .

Even if you could it would make no sense to me to pay for someone's accommodation outside the family home when they can easily commute. Different entirely if my kids want to fund this type of experience themselves.

eviltwin wrote: »

How do you miss out on the college experience by living at home? Genuinely puzzled by that statement.

Learning to live away from home, live with other people/strangers, cook for yourself, clean by yourself, live within a budget, get up and make it to college on time without relying on mammy to wake you, etc are all useful things to lean. It’s true that you can do them at 23 too and you can (somewhat) do them if you’re living at home.

And that’s not mentioning the independence of living by yourself like getting home far too late, crashing on a sofa at 5am because you’re too lazy to go home, having house parties, dealing with annoyed neighbours after those house parties, etc.

Obviously not everyone can afford to live away from home at a young age but it’s invaluable for those that can. Anyone I know who lived at home at college were frustrated by the end. Quite a few people who moved away from home for the first time at 23 took a while to adjust.

markpb wrote: »

Learning to live away from home, live with other people/strangers, cook for yourself, clean by yourself, live within a budget, get up and make it to college on time without relying on mammy to wake you, etc are all useful things to lean. It’s true that you can do them at 23 too and you can (somewhat) do them if you’re living at home.

And that’s not mentioning the independence of living by yourself like getting home far too late, crashing on a sofa at 5am because you’re too lazy to go home, having house parties, dealing with annoyed neighbours after those house parties, etc.

Obviously not everyone can afford to live away from home at a young age but it’s invaluable for those that can. Anyone I know who lived at home at college were frustrated by the end. Quite a few people who moved away from home for the first time at 23 took a while to adjust.

Exactly!

Saylor Better Sandpaper wrote: »

Nonsense, I lived at home all through college and after it too for some time. Was never in any rush to move out and never felt I missed out on anything, in fact I was much happier going home to a nice home and dinner ready than the slumming it in a crap houseshares most were doing. Was on every night out with others and never missed a thing, crashed in spare rooms or on sofas in friends house’s. Had far more money for spending on myself too.

It also meant having a car was possible without accommodation costs as my parents couldn’t have afforded both and having the car was far more freedom than living in a crap student houseshare.

That’s your experience and just because you don’t feel as though you missed out, doesn’t mean that you didn’t.

If you asked most people if they would prefer to live away from home for college given the choice, they would most likely say yes. Your image is of crappy house shares. Mine is of purpose built student accommodation, the type I experienced. you opted for a car instead of accom, many wouldn’t.

codrulz wrote: »

Have more independence and freedom

I don't understand this really. I lived at home for college as it was 25 mins on the bus in. I had as much independence and freedom as my friends who lived on campus. I didn't have to account to my parents about if I'd be home or what time. I was free to come & go as I pleased. The only thing my mam ever asked was to drop her a text if I was staying in someone else's so she'd know.

markpb wrote: »

Learning to live away from home, live with other people/strangers, cook for yourself, clean by yourself, live within a budget, get up and make it to college on time without relying on mammy to wake you, etc are all useful things to lean. It’s true that you can do them at 23 too and you can (somewhat) do them if you’re living at home.

And that’s not mentioning the independence of living by yourself like getting home far too late, crashing on a sofa at 5am because you’re too lazy to go home, having house parties, dealing with annoyed neighbours after those house parties, etc.

Obviously not everyone can afford to live away from home at a young age but it’s invaluable for those that can. Anyone I know who lived at home at college were frustrated by the end. Quite a few people who moved away from home for the first time at 23 took a while to adjust.

I had that experience when living at home. I was never allowed to rely on my mam or dad to be my alarm clock. It was up to me to sort myself out. Same with cooking & cleaning. If I wanted what my mam was cooking & would be home, I was more than welcome to have it. Otherwise I cooked for myself. Which happened quite a bit. Most of the friends who lived away from home relied on takeaways etc rather than actually cooking for themselves.

As for houseparties & that. To be honest, most people I know preferred going out of a night & when you could get into a nightclub for free & there were €3 drinks then it was actually cheaper to go out then buy in any alcohol.

I moved out of home at 24 & took no time at all to adjust. I'd been responsible for myself at home for a long time anyway. The most I had to adjust to was to no-one being there when I got home as I lived alone. Actually that was the bonus of living at home for so long. I was able to afford to rent an apartment by myself so really learned all the important lessons then.

codrulz wrote: »

That’s your experience and just because you don’t feel as though you missed out, doesn’t mean that you didn’t.

If you asked most people if they would prefer to live away from home for college given the choice, they would most likely say yes. Your image is of crappy house shares. Mine is of purpose built student accommodation, the type I experienced. you opted for a car instead of accom, many wouldn’t.

Actually most of my friends did live at home for college & those that didn't often commented that they were jealous about things like dinners being offered or not having to trek home every so often just to see family. I don't think you miss out at all by living at home.

We have some savings and money invested for this or some other future financial hurdle.

The hope is that accommodation costs can be avoided and they can commute from home like I did back in the day. Even if its a case of getting their driving license at 18 and buying a cheap run about starter car with 3 grand insurance, they would still save a fortune on rent.

Don't say that,just give them another reason to start means testing children allowance:D