Hi! I have just sold a property and was going to put 120k in college fund for my two children - one will be in college in 4 years time and the other in 5 years. I was going to put the money in Government Savings Certs. Family think I'm mad and should buy another more manageable property and sell when time comes, but don't want stress of this - is e120k enough and is putting it into Saving Certs a good idea - 4 and 5 years is a relatively short time-span.
College Fund for two children - 120K??
- Thread starter elainem
- Start date
Interesting question and having put 2 through 3rd level recently I would still be unsure as to how much it actually cost. main direct costs of 3rd level (assuming no Masters) would be the student contribution (currently 3kpa) over 4 years plus say €500pa to cover sundry college charges. Virtually no book requirement as all required reading is generally available through the libraries or on line. The main other direct cost is accommodation and this almost entirely depends on distance from college. Obviously Cork/Limerick is much cheaper than Dublin. eg Cost 3,600 for a 9 month stay in Limerick. This would be considerably higher in Dublin.
masters if required would be 2 extra years and fees depend on course taken. In my case €14k for a 2 year programme. Standard extra costs would be food etc and travel. In my case pocket money was earned through part time jobs. generally speaking I would imagine that 120k would be more than sufficient to cover everything unless they are considering something like medicine etc!!
Thanks to all for you replies. Definitely will stay away from property investment - have been a landlord and hated - like many Irish people my relatives are property mad - 'they're not making more land' is a generational saying in our family. 4Brendan - thanks for the costings from your experience - will just go and put 60k for each of them in Post Office Savings Account - 60k for 3 years and another 60k for 5 years for my son. I have told them they will have to go to college at home in Dublin - I can't see myself being able to afford to send them to UK or anywhere abroad.
J
Jon Snow
Guest
Don't knock that "property madness" of earlier generations in your family Elaine, is it not largely responsible for your personal net worth..?!
You won't need anything like that sort of money if they are living at home. I have two daughters in college in Dublin, both renting. I am paying 350 euro per month for one with a nine month contract and 600 euro per month for the second with a ten month contract. The student contribution is 3k euro each. I give them 70 euro each spending money and they use some of their own money from part time summer work. I buy them some food and drink on Sunday before they go back, probably spend 50 to 60 euro. In year one I bought each of them a new laptop, I have bought no books at all. If you don't have accommodation expenses you can do it fairly cheaply and very cheaply if they have summer work as they'll have their own money.
Gordon Gekko
Registered User
- Messages
- 7,370
Agreed. If the borrowings are at a manageable level, the yield is reasonable, and the rent is sustainable, there's nothing wrong with property as part of a well diversified portfolio.
Thanks Delmolvre - it's great to know the costings. Facotored into the 120k is that my daughter wants to do 5th and 6th Year and maybe TY in the Institute of ED. She is planning to do two subjects for LC in 5th Year - Irish and Maths - and the remaining 5 in 6th Year - I understand you can do this for all courses except medicine. The Institute is costly, but possibly may be worth it in her case.
Gordon Gekko - yes property is responsible for my family's net work - well property and business. I would consider reinvesting in property but I don't want to be a Landlord again - it's not for me now. I've had fourteen years of it, and all the new PRTB stuff, and the fact that it now seems very weighted against the Landlord has really put me off - I currently have three properties - a family home, another house I intend using for a business next year and a holiday home in Ireland - it's enough!
Gordon Gekko - yes property is responsible for my family's net work - well property and business. I would consider reinvesting in property but I don't want to be a Landlord again - it's not for me now. I've had fourteen years of it, and all the new PRTB stuff, and the fact that it now seems very weighted against the Landlord has really put me off - I currently have three properties - a family home, another house I intend using for a business next year and a holiday home in Ireland - it's enough!
@elainem Sorry to take the thread off-topic a little (and well done for your forward planning!) It's the best scores from 6 Leaving Cert subjects that are used to calculate points, as your points can only be calculated from one sitting - so I'm assuming Irish and Maths are being done to satisfy minimum entry requirements, and then she'll do 6 together? It's an interesting approach and certainly should maximise her choices
