Most Indians ready to take debt for child's education: Study

A vast majority of Indian parents, as many as 71 per cent, are willing to take debt to fund their children's higher education, said a study conducted by a leading international bank on Tuesday.

In case of foreign bound students, the parents' willingness to avail debt for financing their children's education rose to 76 per cent.

"The financial sacrifices that parents are willing to make to fund their children's education are proof of the unquestioning support...," said HSBC India Retail Banking and Wealth Management Head S. Ramakrishnan in a statement.

According to the study conducted by HSBC Bank, fathers and young parents aged 34 or below (77 per cent) are more likely to consider debt than mothers and parents aged 35 and above (68 per cent).

"Of the total number of parents surveyed in India, 41 per cent felt that funding their child's education was more important than contributing to their own retirement savings," said the study.

Besides, mothers (45 per cent) are more likely to believe than fathers (37 per cent) that contributing to retirement savings is less vital than funding their children's education.

Nearly 65 per cent parents said that paying for thier child's education is making it hard for them to meet other financial commitments as college and university education costs around Rs 2,05,000 a year on average.

Though 97 per cent parents are the principal contributors of funds for their children's education, 13 per cent parents expected their children to bear the cost of their higher education.

Only one per cent children at the universities are helping fund their own education.

Interestingly, India is in third position across the world with 71 per cent of parents willing to take debt to fund their children's education, topped by China (81 per cent) and Mexico (74 per cent).

"However, parents need to make sure that this financial investment is not made to the detriment of their own future well-being," added Ramakrishnan.

--IANS

sth/lok/vt