How to Support Your Child's Education During the Pandemic

 

Rising education costs has always been a factor to consider to plan for your child's future. Moreover, due to the pandemic, children are increasingly exposed to online mediums for learning purposes. Due to this, their digital privacy, security and protection are also important now. That being said, here's how to support your little one's education now.

Estimate How Much You Need to Save

Start with setting a rough target amount that you need to save for your kid's education. For that, consider looking at the current figures of school/tuition fees and adjusting it over the years for inflation. Otherwise, you can simply use a child education calculator to forecast future expenses.

Education costs can vary for every child. It depends on the particular course that interests him/her in future. Process courses and private colleges are costly, and overseas education is more expensive. Considering these factors too, it's better to have a higher estimate of overall costs.

Start Investing

Mutual fund investment can be a good way to save for your child's education. As it's a long-term goal, you can consider investing in equity funds. Although they're high-risk funds, they can generate higher returns for long-term goals.

You can use a financial planning calculator in India on an asset management company's website to estimate the amount to be saved. Then if you don't wish to make a one-time lump sum investment, you can invest a small amount in a Systematic Investment Plan at regular intervals (like weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc.). SIP can help grow your returns with the power of compounding. Plus it can reduce your per-unit cost of investment to beat inflation in the long run. 

Cut Unnecessary Expenses and Improve Savings

Only mutual fund investments may not be enough to save adequately for your child's future. After checking the target amount of savings on a child education calculator, assess your budgeting and saving goals accordingly. See if you need to prune any variable expenses like entertainment costs.

Also, up your savings to ensure that the returns you get from a fund dedicated to your child's education plan aren't compromised for any other long-term goals like retirement. You can use a financial planning calculator in India for that as well. 

Keep Reviewing Your Investments

Keep checking your savings target using the child education calculator since the results are constantly subject to inflation. If you need to step up your mutual fund investments via SIP, you can do that by a specific percentage annually. 

Protect Your Kid Online

Finances aren't the only thing to consider when supporting children's education now. Since recently the medium of providing education has become mostly digital, ensure to protect your children online. Consider using parental controls on their devices to ward off online risks, especially for younger kids.

Educate them about appropriate online behaviour on platforms like video calls. If you identify any inappropriate online content or cyberbullying, report to the school or any other local support helplines right away.

Also, remember that kids need not share personal information to access digital learning.

Just follow these steps to support your kid's education effectively during the pandemic.