Saving for child's university

[TokyoTower]

Does anybody know how much university costs in Japan? I want to start saving for my daughter...

[RetireJapan]

I think a very rough rule of thumb might be 0.5 million a year for public, and 1 million a year for private. Add another million or so a year if she doesn't live at home?

[TokyoTower]

Right, I see.

I suppose that a Junior NISA would be the best vehicle for saving for a child's university?

I know that there are some 'insurance' plans that are popular in Japan for saving for university, like JP post 'gakushi hoken'. Anybody have an opinion
on these? I imagine they have high fees and low returns...

[RetireJapan]

That's what we're doing. If you can front-load it a bit a decade or two of stock market returns might work out well. If you need it for uni though probably rebalance toward conservative a year or two in advance...

[captainspoke]

One kid to a public/nat'l in Osaka ran a little over ¥2.5M/yr (closer to ten yrs ago), another to a public in Tokyo ran a little over ¥3M/yr (5-8 yrs ago).

[MyTime]

I suppose that a Junior NISA would be the best vehicle for saving for a child's university?

That's what I'm doing.

I know that there are some 'insurance' plans that are popular in Japan for saving for university, like JP post 'gakushi hoken'. Anybody have an opinion
on these? I imagine they have high fees and low returns...

I didn't look at these too closely (although my wife did have a rep for one company visit our house...), but I had the same doubts as you and a cursory glance at the brochure seemed to confirm what I expected so I went the JR NISA route.

[adamu]

rebalance toward conservative a year or two in advance...

Or five! Or else have a way to cover it by other means if the market is down when you need the money.

[TokyoTower]

Daughter is only three now so I should figure inflation into the calculations as well...

[MyTime]

One kid to a public/nat'l in Osaka ran a little over ¥2.5M/yr (closer to ten yrs ago), another to a public in Tokyo ran a little over ¥3M/yr (5-8 yrs ago).

I'm curious about these rather daunting figures.

The current tuition fees for national unis is ¥535,800 per year. Do these figures include all of the costs entailed, like the cost of accommodation, living expenses, pencils, beer, instant ramen, etc??

[captainspoke]

One kid to a public/nat'l in Osaka ran a little over ¥2.5M/yr (closer to ten yrs ago), another to a public in Tokyo ran a little over ¥3M/yr (5-8 yrs ago).

I'm curious about these rather daunting figures.

The current tuition fees for national unis is ¥535,800 per year. Do these figures include all of the costs entailed, like the cost of accommodation, living expenses, pencils, beer, instant ramen, etc??

Yes, overall cost--for living away from home. As noted above, you could get by for much less if your child went to a public uni while living at home. There would still be some extra expenses over tuition, but you'd have those anywhere else, too.

**

Also, I think my estimates above were a little low. That could be done, maybe even a little less. But I'd add ¥250,000 or so to each quote (to clarify "a little over"). We were generous.

Another factor to consider is if it will take an extra year. If you have more than one kid, this will likely happen to one of them.

Both of ours did, in different ways. One spent a year at a juku in Osaka since she wasn't comfortable with her acceptances the first time around. That year was cheaper than uni, probably ¥2.2M, and in retrospect was worthwhile--she made it into applied chemistry at 阪大. The other made it in the first time, but then did a year abroad. But since she was in sciences she had to repeat 3rd year to take some required courses--so five in total.

You might get some sibling stuff like this: "Older sis took five years to get thru, so shouldn't I be able to do a year abroad and take five to finish, too? It's kind of the same thing..."

Our are four years apart, and since the older one got into a public uni, we'd realized what the expenses were and wised up at least a little for the second: "You can go anywhere you want, as long as it's a public school." (Make a note, and keep this type of constraint in mind.)

(Another note: they overlapped one year in which they were both going to school, and we...were...paying...for...that. That year felt really expensive. If your kids are within four years of each other, get ready!)

In retrospect, it was money well spent. Both were able to choose what they wanted on their own, neither had a change of heart (major) halfway thru. Both are employed and now independent (25/29).

And hey, the older one is expecting our second grandkid mid-april! Her company plays by the rules. She was off for not quite a year before returning to her job the first time around. Fingers crossed, but probably the same for this next one.