The easy way to raise school fees

By Peter Kamuri

It is barely a week before school going children start trickling back to class for the new school term. Some parents may have already started to scratch their heads as they look for ways to raise school fees, with little success.

Every new term, paying school fees and other expenses like uniforms, transport and books can cause a lot of stress. This is worse during times of reduced income.

Depending on the school your child attends, raising the required fee may be challenging if you fail to plan well. Whether your children are in primary or secondary schools or even in colleges and universities, fee payment requires financial planning.

However, a number of parents do it on ad hoc basis and eventually create problems for themselves when they are required to raise school fees. This especially comes about as few parents save for education in advance.

Borrowing money to enable your children to go back to school is not a wise idea. Sometimes the interest you end up paying on the borrowed money may outstrip the actual amount you were supposed to pay.

To succeed, you need to come up with an education saving plan for your children early. This calls on you to regularly save and spend less.

For example, if you save Sh500 every month for a child born today, you will be surprised the amount will have grown to more than a Sh100,00 inclusive of interest by the time the child will be joining Form one.

James Njuguna, a financial advisor, says if you invest your money in investments where it can earn interest, you will see the money increase exponentially.

"Investment in property and stocks can also help you spread your risk and take advantage of long-term growth," he advises.

Some people overcome the problem of paying their children’s school fees by making pre-payments. You can make regular payments or one-off payments when you have ‘idle money.’

In some schools, a capital sum to cover all or even part of the fees made at the time of entry to the school will usually attract a discount on the fees payable.

However, if in the short-term you are having difficulty paying school fees for your child, you may consider borrowing or selling an asset.