OREANDA-NEWS. August 29, 2012. Sending your child to study at a university is a considerable expenditure. A parent has to reckon with a monthly expense of around EUR 300 that a university student needs for his/her everyday expenses. More than 80% of parents who are already saving up for their child’s future are doing so in order to secure his/her educational path, reported the press-centre of SEB.

An average student spends around EUR 300 each month to pay for dormitory rent, buy food and also to enjoy student life, including entertainment. One of the options is to take out a student loan, but another alternative is to save the money needed to go to a university.

“The sense of responsibility of student loan recipients, along with their awareness that the student loan is a financial obligation, has increased considerably, and student loans are not applied for unless there is an actual need. In today’s difficult economic situation, it is hard to change people’s attitudes towards insurance, but it is a good way to secure a sufficient money buffer for the time when a child is continuing his/her educational path at a university,” noted Indrek Holst, the Chairman of the Management Board of SEB Elukindlustus.

A pan-Baltic study on the financial security of children, conducted by SEB in the spring, revealed that people are saving up for rather specific purposes. Parents in all of the Baltic States are mostly saving in order to finance their child’s educational costs; this is followed by costs associated with the child’s dwelling place. 81% of the Estonians who participated in the study are saving up so that the money needed for their children’s university studies would be guaranteed.

In the Baltic States, Lithuanians differentiate themselves in terms of caring for the future of their children. 47% of Lithuanians, 38% of Estonians and a mere 9% of Latvians would start saving immediately after the birth of their child, so that the saving period would be longer and the amount saved thereby greater.