Taking the hard maths out of education
In an online industry first, financial advisers will be able to work out secondary school costs online with a new calculator built by the Australian Scholarships Group (ASG).
The calculator has been built to include all state, national, private and independent school costs plus additional items such as uniforms, tuition fees and computers.
ASG general manager of communities Warwick James said the benefit of the calculator for the adviser was that all the research had been completed.
“It is easy to use, the adviser keys in the details of the child, they select a state and school preference and then press calculate,” he said.
“The program will then give the total costs of the secondary education, which is also broken down into a yearly figure.”
James said the company had undertaken extensive research into the cost of education and would be updating the program every February with the latest schooling costs.
“The adviser can look at the costs and advise the client on what sort of school can be provided for the child within their budget,” he said.
“They no longer have to spend time researching the costs as we have done that work.”
The calculator is available free online and James said it was offered to help educate the community on what the actual costs of educating a child are.
Additional children can be keyed into the program to give a parent the true cost of educating all children.
“Choosing a school can weigh heavily on parents and while affordability is just one component of school selection, it can make a huge difference to a family’s lifestyle in the long-term.”
ASG offers an education bond that has tax advantages to help parents save for their children’s education.
James said he hopes the calculator will also introduce more advisers to the product, which is not widely known in planning circles.
“Many advisers don’t know about the tax benefits of the bond and we are taking an active role in making people better informed by introducing aids such as the calculator,” he said.
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