College Funding
The most consistent and interesting question that I have been asked last year is, “How much do we need to have set aside for our children’s college education?” It comes up with parents everywhere, and the honest answer depends on where the child ends up studying.
Location, rent and travel
College location, rented accommodation and travel costs all move the number.
Estimated accurately
Accurate calculators designed to estimate the cost, and other possible outlays.
A savings and growth plan
With the right provider, the best way to hit any estimated financial target.
The Number Most Parents Underestimate
Zurich’s 2026 Cost of Education research puts the cost of keeping one child in third level at these figures, every year, for the length of the degree.
€27,384 over a four year degree
€57,804 over a four year degree
€63,140 over a four year degree
Source: Zurich Cost of Education survey, 2026.
Four Lines on a College Budget
Fees are the part everyone talks about and the smallest part of the bill. It is the other three that decide whether the sum is manageable.
The student contribution
€2,500 a year. Budget 2026 cut it permanently by €500. Households under €120,000 may pay part of it or none at all through SUSI, so check before you assume the full amount.
Somewhere to live
The line that decides everything. A single room in a shared house typically runs somewhere between €565 and €870 a month, an ensuite in a private hall considerably more, and rents moved 8 to 12 per cent in a year.
The ordinary week
Food, bus fares, books, and the laptop that dies in second year. Zurich puts the money parents hand over on top of fees and rent at €273 a month on average.
What they earn themselves
Seven in ten students work part time during term. It helps, and it is not a plan. Parents are still carrying the larger half of the bill.
“I welcome the opportunity to demonstrate how we can work together to tailor a financial strategy that revolves entirely around your unique needs, objectives, and aspirations.”
What College Really Costs
Considering all the variables involved such as:
- College Location
- Rented Accommodation
- Travel Costs
This equation is not necessarily clear cut. However, we can be prepared for this unknown using accurate calculators designed to estimate this cost. This will take into consideration, the above expenses and other possible outlays.
Savings and Growth Plan
My recommendation is always the same, a well-constructed savings and growth plan with the right provider is the best way to hit any estimated financial target.
Having a lump sum available when your children start college can really help take the pressure off parents. That is why we recommend you take professional advice when implementing a college funding savings plan.
Six Years Goes Quickly
A child starting secondary school this September sits the Leaving Cert in six years, and could be paying rent a few months after that. Six years sounds like plenty until you divide the number by it.
That is the argument for starting earlier than feels necessary, and for looking at the plan once a year rather than setting it up and hoping. Meetings that suit your schedule, easy access to the same people every time, and a quick turnaround on queries are the least we can do about the rest.
What You Get From Us
A straight answer on the number. We will not dress it up, and if what you can afford does not reach what college is likely to cost, we will say so early, while there is still time to do something about it.
Advice built around your circumstances rather than a product we happen to sell. We are brokers, so the plan can go to whichever provider suits it best.
A first consultation with no charge and no obligation, in person or by video call, and a reply to any query inside one working day.
Why Parents Come To Us
Most people who sit down with us are not looking for a lecture on compound interest. They want to know one thing: is what we are doing going to be enough, and if it is not, what would be?
That is the question we answer. We will put a real figure on what the years ahead are likely to cost, show you what your current saving actually gets you, and tell you plainly what closing the gap would take. Some families leave with a plan. Some leave having decided to change nothing, but knowing exactly where they stand. Both beat guessing.
Why Not Try Our Calculator
Building the Fund, Step by Step
Five steps, from the September you are working back from to the review that keeps the plan honest.
Start from a date
Not from a number. We work back from the September your child is likely to start, because the years you have left decide almost everything else.
Price the likely route
Living at home, student accommodation or renting privately. The gap between the cheapest and the dearest of those is more than €35,000 across a degree, so it is worth being honest early.
Set a figure you will not resent
Small and consistent beats ambitious and abandoned. We would rather you kept going for twelve years than stopped after eighteen months.
Choose the right home for it
Deposit account, regular saver or a medium term investment plan, matched to how long you have and how much movement you can live with along the way.
Review it once a year
Fees change, rents change, and so do your own circumstances. A college fund that is never looked at is a guess that gets older.
The Six We Hear Most
There is no single figure, because it depends on how many years you have and which of the three routes your child is likely to take. As an anchor: roughly €27,000 covers four years living at home, and roughly €58,000 covers four years in student accommodation. Working back from a September ten years away is a very different monthly amount to working back from one three years away.
The calculator above gives you a starting figure in a couple of minutes. Bring it in and we will check it against what your budget will actually stand.
No, but it changes what makes sense. With three or four years to run you are mostly saving rather than investing, because there is not enough time to ride out a bad year in the markets. With ten years you have more options open to you. Either way, starting late and starting small beats not starting.
Possibly, and more families do than expect to. SUSI is means tested on household income, and Budget 2026 raised the income threshold for a reduced student contribution to €120,000. It is worth checking properly rather than assuming you are over the line.
SUSI also pays a maintenance grant, at a higher rate for students living more than 30km from their college. That distance test is worth knowing about before you assume it does not apply to you.
It depends on the time you have. Money you will need inside three or four years generally belongs somewhere it cannot fall in value. Money you will not touch for eight or ten years has historically done better in a medium term investment plan.
The value of an investment can fall as well as rise, and you could get back less than you put in. Weighing that against the return you are hoping for is the whole conversation, and it is worth having properly rather than guessing.
Then you have a fund. Most college savings plans are not tied to education in any way, so the money can go towards a first car, a deposit, an apprenticeship or a year away. Very little is wasted by having saved.
Usually yours, at least while they are young. Money held in a child’s own name becomes theirs outright at eighteen, which is not always what parents have in mind. There are gift tax thresholds worth knowing about as well. We will talk you through both before anything is set up.
Figures quoted are published averages for 2026 and are a guide, not a quotation. Any recommendation we make is based on your own circumstances. Cunningham Financial Services is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland.
Where They Study Changes the Sum
Geography matters more than people expect, but it is the student’s geography, not yours. A child who gets a place in their home city and can live at home costs a fraction of one who moves and pays rent, and rent is now the largest single line in most college budgets.
That is why a generic online calculator is a poor guide. The right figure to save depends on choices your child has not made yet, so the plan has to be flexible enough to cope with either answer. Come and talk it through, in person or by video call. The first conversation is free.
Start the College Fund This Year
Bring whatever you have already: a rough idea of when they will start, what you think you could put away each month, and any savings sitting still. An hour is usually enough to turn that into a plan. The first consultation is free and there is no obligation afterwards.
