Bringing a child through Preschool all the way to his/her post graduate can cost up to €150,000.
The costs for parents don’t start at primary school and nor do they end at secondary school.
The Irish Times decided to take a look at the cost of education from birth through to the age of 23, and what a parent could may expect to shell out for each of their children the results are staggering.
The figures given are of the expected costs as they stand in 2016.
The trend is clear parents or guardians start paying significant sums from preschool onwards and the costs of education get more and more expensive with each stage of education.
Preschool
The extension of the free preschool year comes into effect from September 2016, which means that the costs of early-years education are, on paper at least, covered.
Outside family care, private creches tend to charge €1,000-€1,500 per month. The higher a person’s income, the less likely they are to rely on family members.
Estimated cost: Four years of childcare can cost anywhere from €48,000 to €72,000.
Primary school
The cost of getting a child ready for senior infants is €340, compared with €395 for a fourth-class pupil, according to a Barnardos survey. The average spend on primary-school books ranges from €75 to €125. About 70 per cent of primary schools have book-rental schemes, which parents say has been a major help.
The average cost of school uniforms is €100, while parents can also expect to pay almost half this amount again for their child’s footwear.
Totting up all the figures, it suggests that the average spend per child per year is €816, or €6,258 across the eight years of primary school.
Estimated cost: €6,250.
Secondary school
The Barnardos school costs survey puts the cost of sending a child to secondary school at €785, a rise of €50 since last year.
These figures, however, doesn’t include the costs of additional school tours, lunches and transport, estimated to be about €1,313 per secondary-school pupil each year.
Adding fees for Junior and Leaving Cert exams (at least €225) and fees to sit the mock exams, which tend to be about €115, and the total cost across six years adds up to at least €8,558 per child.
Estimated cost: €8,558.
Third level
Parents should brace themselves, because this is where costs climb quite sharply.
A survey conducted by Dublin Institute of Technology this year found the cost of living away from home is about €11,064, a figure that includes food, rent, bills, books and class materials, clothes, medical costs, phone bills, social life, student registration charges and other expenses.
Students who can live at home will need about €6,834.
While many students work, parents will almost inevitably have to subsidise the cost of college education. With the possibility of the return of fees, or the introduction of a student loan scheme on the cards, these costs might actually decrease in the short term; instead of parents paying for college registration fees, graduates may end up paying back the cost of a chunk of their education.
Estimated cost: €27,000 -44,000.
Postgraduate
With no maintenance grant for postgraduate students, it’s a real struggle for students and their families to afford.
Fees for postgraduate courses vary from €3,000 to about €10,000, although costs are higher for many medicine postgrads, while the MBA at UCD will cost a whopping €34,500.
Estimated cost: (one year): €9,800-€21,000.
So the Grand Total is in and around €100,00 – €152,000, a shocking figure which leaves both students and parents digging deep.
