Why save for your child’s future education? The education savings plan is an item of much philosophical controversy, it seems. Some believe that for a child to value education, she needs to work to pay for it. Others believe in saving all that a child needs to go to university or other post-high school education, thinking that this will free up the child to focus on studies instead of low-paying jobs.
I’ll sit on the fence here. I paid for my university fees and for my rent through scholarships and hard work. Of course, I also lived close enough to the university to commute from my parents’ house for some of the time, which was substantially cheaper and easier than living on my own. I too eight years to do two degrees, including a graduate degree, because I worked part time, during the summers, and at work experience positions during my degrees. I graduated with no debt, a rarity in my generation. This allowed me to buy a home at a relatively young age, and I am grateful for that.
Saving money to help your child through university allows your child some similar freedom. Since I had scholarships, I was not desperate to stay afloat and had the time to find good jobs that paid well and were on my own time frame. These jobs impacted my ability to study, but they didn’t take over my life. I also had time to volunteer, and my volunteer experience led to some good jobs as well.
However, I also value the fact that I worked through university and graduate school. As an employer, many people come to me with work experience that is entirely unrelated to what they studied. I needed to work to get money, but I also needed to work to get job experience. In part, this gave me good fodder for a resume, but it also taught me what I didn’t want to do. This was even more important than all of the great jobs that I had. Experiencing jobs that I didn’t like allowed me to move past those into areas that interested me.
I think that work and study complement each other, because in life after college, work and learning are all part of that greater entity that we call life. They aren’t separate things. Saving a little money to help your child through university gives your child the freedom to work less, to choose work that is appealing, and to graduate with less debt. However, it also means that your child needs to work and will experience the ups and downs and pleasures and dismay of the work world, and this is important too.