01 The real numbers
Local vs overseas: a wide gap
| Path | Tuition (per year) | All-in, total |
|---|---|---|
| Local public uni (citizen) | ~$8,000–$11,000 | ~$24,000–$54,000 |
| Local — Law / Medicine | $12,750 / $33,000+ | $51,000 / $166,000+ |
| Australia | ~A$22,000–45,000 | ~A$55,000–90,000/yr incl. living |
| UK | ~£10,000–38,000 | + living (London ~£25k tuition) |
| US (out-of-state) | ~US$25,000–45,000 | + living |
A subsidised local degree is genuinely affordable; overseas is a different order of magnitude once living costs are added. Worth deciding early which you're planning for.
For your money: what you're really pricing is optionality. Keeping "overseas" open costs roughly $470 more a month for 18 years than planning for local — money that can't go to your retirement or the family's present. And consider the counterfactual: $300k not spent on an overseas degree, gifted at graduation instead, is a home downpayment plus a decade of compounding.
For your life: this decision has a habit of being made at 17, under peer pressure, in application season. Make it at 5 instead — unhurried, as a values question about independence, exposure and proximity — and revisit it every few years. A scholarship can always upgrade the plan; panic-funding at 17 can only strain it.
02 Shrinking the mountain
The monthly maths
Decide the goal, count the years, and work out what to set aside each month. Invested consistently, time does a lot of the lifting — but here's the conservative, no-growth version, so the figure is a floor you can plan around:
| Goal | Years | Monthly set-aside (no growth) |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 (local) | 18 | ~$230 |
| $150,000 (overseas) | 18 | ~$695 |
| $150,000 (overseas) | 10 | ~$1,250 |
Illustrative, ignoring investment growth on purpose. Invested over many years, you'd likely need meaningfully less — which is the whole point of starting early.
For your money: compare rows two and three — the same goal, started eight years later, nearly doubles the monthly load. Starting late doesn't shrink the mountain; it only steepens the climb. A modest amount automated from birth beats a heroic amount from 45.
For your life: one rule keeps this whole page in proportion: your child can borrow for a degree; nobody will lend you a retirement. If it's ever education fund versus your own Full Retirement Sum, fund yourself first, without guilt — the greatest gift to a 30-year-old is parents who never need their support.
03 The right wrapper
How to fund it — and what to avoid
The classic trap here is an "education endowment" or investment-linked plan sold as the obvious way to save for a child — usually with layered fees and a long lock-in. For a long runway, a simple, low-cost, diversified investment is usually the more efficient engine; for money needed soon, keep it safe and liquid.
Match the time horizon to the right vehicle, and don't lock the money away in a product that mostly serves the seller. Building an education plan that actually fits your timeline is something I help families do. How I help →
Sources & notes
Figures as of June 2026. Local university tuition (citizen) and overseas tuition/living ranges are from published 2026 university fee guides (NUS/NTU and international). Monthly set-aside figures are illustrative (no investment growth assumed).
General information, not financial advice or a product recommendation. Jonathan Wong is a licensed financial adviser representative in Singapore, currently between firms — during that period he is not able to provide financial advice. You can check his registration yourself on the MAS Financial Institution Representatives Register at eservices.mas.gov.sg/rr.