If we look at the way education gets more expensive each year, it’s often difficult to get through the year’s education expenses, never mind saving something for our kid’s future education. The following acronym for MONEY can help you get through this easier:
M – Manage your education budget well. We all know that January, for example, is tough because you have to buy school clothes, stationery, pay for text books, school fees and transport and it’s right after the festive season. Plan or budget for this, either set money aside or try to already buy things like stationery in November and December. Plan for the holiday months where you still have to pay school fees and possibly also for other child care.
O – Opportunity to invest. Get proper guidance from a financial adviser on education policies that will help you save. You might be unable to save for the entire study amount, but saving something will help them get registered and started and then other opportunities that can substitute your child’s income can be investigated. These opportunities might be a student assistant job or waitering in the evenings.
N – No bad debt. Always pay your accounts on time and protect your credit record. If you do this, you have a better chance to qualify for a student loan. You will have to apply for the study loan with your child as they won’t have an income of their own at that stage.
E – Every cent counts. If you can save, for example, on text books by buying second hand textbooks it’s a few Rand that you can spend on some of the other necessities. If you can save more towards your Education savings policy than planned, that’s even better as it makes a big difference in the end.
Y – Your responsibility. It’s your responsibility to plan for your child’s education and to find out about possible support programmes like bursaries and internships. Sometimes you really can’t afford to save anything and then options like working while studying might be the only way to further their education. Universities and businesses can give you the information of their bursaries and internships and they often advertise these on their websites. If your child does well academically, be sure to apply for the academic performance bursaries at universities and colleges.
You might want to read more about how schools should teach entrepreneurship.
