{"id":657166,"date":"2026-08-26T09:19:22","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T09:19:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/657166\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T09:19:22","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T09:19:22","slug":"sending-a-child-to-college-costs-an-average-of-e11102-this-year-here-is-the-smarter-way-to-pay-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/657166\/","title":{"rendered":"Sending a child to college costs an average of \u20ac11,102 this year. Here is the smarter way to pay \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

For thousands of Leaving Cert<\/a> students<\/a>, college<\/a> offers today mark the start of an exciting chapter. For their parents it\u2019s the beginning of an expensive phase of family life. Keeping on top of bills, the mortgage and a pension<\/a> can be hard enough, so how do you financially prepare for when your child goes to college?<\/p>\n

Costs <\/p>\n

Almost eight in 10 parents in Ireland say they want their children to go to college. They are less certain about how to pay for it, according to new research from Zurich Life<\/a>. Only a third of families say they are specifically saving for it. <\/p>\n

There is government assistance towards tuition and maintenance for some, but, for others, funding college is a nettle they need to grasp. Just one in four parents believe the way they currently save will be sufficient to see their child through college, according to the research. <\/p>\n

To save effectively for something, you need to be clear-eyed about how much it\u2019s going to cost. Parents quizzed in the Zurich research quantify the hit. <\/p>\n

Sending a child to college costs an average of \u20ac11,102 this year, according to them.<\/p>\n

In the nationwide survey of 929 parents of children in education, participants in the Zurich Cost of Education 2026 survey reported paying college fees of \u20ac3,832 a year. On top of that, they said they paid financial support to their college-going child of \u20ac2,457 a year, as well as transport costs of \u20ac557. <\/p>\n

For the 55 per cent of students living at home, their parents report a total bill of \u20ac6,846 a year. That would come to \u20ac27,384 per child over a four-year degree \u2013 if costs over the period remained static. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s a big chunk of change. <\/p>\n

Going by the research, college offers published today could see 45 per cent of students moving to another town or city to study. These families face the biggest hit. <\/p>\n

Parents of children staying in purpose-built student accommodation<\/a> should expect to add \u20ac7,605 to their annual costs, according to the survey. <\/p>\n

Over a four-year degree, this would bring the overall cost of supporting your live-out child to \u20ac57,804.<\/p>\n

On-campus accommodation will be more, depending where you study. Prices range from \u20ac3,316 to share a twin room at the University of Galway<\/a> to a whopping \u20ac11,990 for an en-suite room at UCD<\/a>. <\/p>\n

For students in private rented accommodation, parents report an average cost of accommodation of \u20ac8,939 a year. This brings the estimated total annual cost of college for these students to \u20ac15,785 a year, or \u20ac63,140 over four years. <\/p>\n

Parents surveyed reported an average balance of all savings of \u20ac9,545.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur latest research shows that costs are rising across college fees, accommodation and everyday living expenses, placing sustained pressure on parents and students,\u201d says Jonathan Daly, of Zurich Life Assurance. <\/p>\n

Indeed, parents report costs for a student living at home have risen by \u20ac701 this year compared with 2025. The average cost of rented accommodation has risen by \u20ac1,680, they say. <\/p>\n

Lived experience<\/p>\n

The figures tally with the experience of Se\u00e1n, whose son Jack studies at the University of Limerick<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Jack will pay \u20ac600 a month for his own room in private rented accommodation this year, sharing the house with eight others. Electricity, heating oil and broadband are extra. <\/p>\n

With three other children, one who has just graduated, the family has been careful with money. <\/p>\n

Jack worked full time this summer, while living at home. His earnings will cover his clothes, socialising and transport costs. Like seven in 10 students in the Zurich research, he works part-time while studying. He comes home on weekends to stock up on food. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe send down all the food with him on Sunday,\u201d says Se\u00e1n.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe takes a cooked meal with him for Monday, he takes mince, chicken breasts and batch cooks for Tuesday and Wednesday, cooks again on Thursday and comes home on Friday.\u201d <\/p>\n

Accommodation, fees and food are the leading drivers of financial strain, according to the Zurich survey. More than half of parents believe their child is under financial strain in college. <\/p>\n

Se\u00e1n and his wife planned for college.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe spoke to a financial adviser and put money into a regular savings plan and it has been a godsend,\u201d says Se\u00e1n. <\/p>\n

The plan offers a range of investment funds and you can chose a risk level. <\/p>\n

\u201cAll the children\u2019s allowance went into that since a long time back. We started when my wife was working full time and we could afford to do it. There was never any money left over in our bank accounts every month, we were just covering bills; anything we could save went into that. There was no money going anywhere else,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

He estimates they have paid in about \u20ac60,000 themselves, spending about \u20ac30,000 so far on accommodation and the student contribution fees for his children, with \u20ac45,000 to \u20ac50,000 now remaining.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t touch those savings and that\u2019s what is paying for college. Otherwise we wouldn\u2019t have the \u20ac3,000 to pay their annual student contribution charges. If the children\u2019s allowance had been left in our own account, it would have been swallowed up in spending.\u201d <\/p>\n

Investment products such as this, available from companies such as Zurich, New Ireland<\/a>, and Aviva<\/a> and the main banks, have pros and cons. <\/p>\n

This is investing and returns aren\u2019t certain. Unlike saving into a deposit account, you could lose some of your contributions. But given enough time the markets can outperform a deposit account.<\/p>\n

You may or may not be able to dip into the pot without a penalty, this can be an upside and a downside for savers.<\/p>\n

To make gains, you should be comfortable putting the money away for at least five years, and be able to take some level of risk with it, advisers say.<\/p>\n

You can vary your monthly contribution up and down. <\/p>\n

Taxes<\/a> and charges on these savings plans are a big consideration too.<\/p>\n

The Government charges a 1 per cent levy on your contributions to these savings products. Ask the broker if they will cover this fee.<\/p>\n

You should know too that you will pay 38 per cent tax to the Government on any gains when you exit the investment.<\/p>\n

Fees for the same investment product can vary widely by broker and can eat into your returns, so shop around and get the fees in writing.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Students warned of \u2018spike\u2019 in accommodation scams as they return to collegeOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

If you are putting in \u20ac100 a month, or a lump sum, ask how much of that money is actually going into the savings account. The ideal is to get all of that invested, that\u2019s called the \u2018allocation rate\u2019.<\/p>\n

Management charges can be about 1 per cent annually for a lump-sum investment. For monthly contributions where you pay \u20ac100 a month, for example, it would be about 1.25 per cent.<\/p>\n

Charges can be as much as 1.5 per cent or 2 per cent, however, so be sure to ask the broker. That may sound small, but extrapolated over time as the fund grows it can amount to a big difference.<\/p>\n

Separate pot<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no one-size-fits-all approach to saving for college, says Cian Callaghan, director of private clients at Metis Ireland. <\/p>\n

Building up a separate kids\u2019 college pot can seem to make sense, but it\u2019s probably one of the most common mistakes made by some families, he says. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s what we call \u2018mental accounting\u2019 \u2013 treating money for different things differently,\u201d says Callaghan.<\/p>\n

\u201cA common thing I see is saving child benefit<\/a> into a separate pot \u2013 people can take a very different view of the risk they might be willing to take with that because it\u2019s \u2018the kids\u2019 money\u2019,\u201d says Callaghan. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut there is only one pot of money and that\u2019s your family\u2019s wealth, and it\u2019s about how best to use it,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Child benefit is ultimately income to use as best as possible for your family\u2019s needs, he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I try to get people to focus more on becoming good savers and good investors and having an overall financial plan, rather than setting aside a separate pot for college.\u201d <\/p>\n

Every family is different, but one approach is to prioritise making the maximum monthly pension contribution first. This can be an extremely tax-efficient way to save and grow your money.<\/p>\n

Someone in their 30s earning \u20ac115,000, for example, can contribute 20 per cent of their salary to pension.<\/p>\n

If they make the maximum monthly contribution of \u20ac1,917 to their pension, they will benefit from generous 40 per cent tax relief \u2013 so that pension contribution will cost them just \u20ac1,150 a month, as they will get \u20ac767 back in tax relief. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s important to create a habit of saving what you can now, says Callaghan.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt allows you to take a long-term view of your money, it allows you to put it into a pension, it allows you to invest it in global equities, which is what\u2019s going to get you the return that you need in the long term.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat way, you will have trained yourself not to spend all of your disposable income and that\u2019s a very simple way to have disposable income for when the kids go to college,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you are comfortably able to save and invest \u20ac2,000 a month now, for example, you could just turn off that tap for the period when the kids go to college, rather than withdrawing the money for college out of an investment or savings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Doing this can take a mindset shift, he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdding more pots and more investment accounts with separate goals just adds more complexity. Focus on becoming good savers and investors on a monthly basis, focus on the habit itself at the outset, rather than the end goal,\u201d says Callaghan. <\/p>\n

This won\u2019t work for everyone. If your income is more precarious for example, then having a regular savings investment account for education would be understandable, he says. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf you want to just get your money working for you, it\u2019s definitely not wrong and it\u2019s better than just putting it into a credit-union or post-office account where inflation can erode the value of your money, but understand the charges. What you invest in becomes really important too,\u201d says Callaghan.<\/p>\n

If it\u2019s 15 years before your kids start college, you should be as heavily invested in equities as you can over that time frame, he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere has never been a 15-year period in history where global equities have had a negative return. But a lot of these products push you towards something that is more middle of the road and that really limits your potential for beating inflation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parents can become overly risk-averse when it comes to education money, says Callaghan. <\/p>\n

Browned off with fees on insurance-based savings products, and low returns from banks, some people are using platforms such as DeGiro or Interactive Brokers to invest directly, he says. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou are picking the funds yourself, but I would be careful recommending this to someone. I\u2019d recommend that you pay for independent advice,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

The Government\u2019s proposed personal investment account, modelled on the UK and Sweden, should make investing more accessible to families. First accounts may launch next year. <\/p>\n

If you are opting for an insurance-based investment product, avoid those with early exit penalties, he says. <\/p>\n

\u201cGet your money into the market today, but if something does come down the line that is much more attractive, you want to be able to get your money out.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For thousands of Leaving Cert students, college offers today mark the start of an exciting chapter. For their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":657167,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[73],"tags":[36394,79,39729,18,19,17,12550,12094,84271,1420,12548,20351,3275,21349,70755,61364],"class_list":["post-657166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-aviva","tag-business","tag-child-benefit","tag-eire","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-leaving-certificate","tag-money-matters","tag-new-ireland","tag-students","tag-third-level","tag-university-of-galway","tag-university-college-dublin-ucd","tag-university-of-limerick-ul","tag-your-stories","tag-zurich"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117161070832848330","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=657166"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657166\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/657167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=657166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=657166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=657166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}