Even if our children are not at private school, there will still be expenses related to their education. From uniform and PE kit to books, trips and university fees, there are always expenses that have to be covered. These are normally things that you have to pay for as well, not something that you have a choice about paying for. There are things that you can do though, which could help.
Save up
It can be a good idea to save up as soon as you can. There will be some larger expenses, such as uniform when they first start a school and university fees which will require a big chunk of money. If you can save up money for this, then it will be much easier for you to manage. It can be wise to try to start doing this as soon as they are born. Think about what they might need and how much it might cost to help you to save enough money. Of course, you will also need to make sure that you save according to what you can afford as well.
You may just decide to wait and see what might happen. You will not know when your child is born, whether they will want to go to university or not so you may think that it is a waste of time saving up. However, if you do save, you have nothing to lose If they do not go, you will still have that chunk of money. You could use it to help them out with buying a car, a deposit on a house or something like that. You could even use it for yourself to buy something nice.
Buy second hand
It can be a good idea to think about whether you can buy some things second hand. It might be possible to buy some pieces of uniform second hand. Sometimes the school may have a PTA which sells uniform cheaply from a rail, that has been donated by parents when their children have grown out of it and this can be at a discounted price. You may also be able to buy some books second hand as well.
Some people find it hard to buy second hand items. They feel that it is not a good thing to do, that perhaps people will be able to tell or that it is not very nice using things other people have. However, with clothes you can easily wash them and with books you can wipe the covers. It can save you a significant amount of money and so it is well worth doing. Children grow out of clothing very quickly too and you can always donate it back for someone else to buy once they have grown out of it.
Look for grants and busaries
It might be possible to get some financial help. If you have a low income then you can get help with the cost of school uniform. You may also be able to get a grant for university. You may be able to qualify for bursaries too. These can sometimes be available for private schools or universities and it is good to look out for them. They tend to be available to help the brightest students, but there may be some available for disadvantaged ones as well. It is well worth looking into all that are available so that you can see if you can benefit from them. Schools and careers advisors might be able to help with this as well as they may be aware of what might be available to different students.
