Families ‘should plan early’ to avoid university debt

Parents in the UK have been advised to start the financial planning for their child’s education as early as possible in order to avoid falling into debt as a result of university studies.

Mutual society LV has reported that the costs of education have “skyrocketed” in recent years, with a large increase since 2003 attributed mainly to the introduction of tuition fees.

Lucy Pope, media relations manager at the firm, said: “The costs associated with going to university are obviously quite a lot, because you’ve got tuition fees and all the things associated with living at home – rent, bills, things like that.”

She added that the figures show that parents should plan their finances as early as possible to pay for their child’s education.

In October 2007, research from Halifax revealed that 11 per cent of parents are planning on taking out an unsecured loan to meet the costs of university for their children.