Education Fee Planning
Paying for international school and university in different currencies without disrupting the rest of your plans.
International school and university fees are one of the biggest predictable costs a family that moves around will face, and they're almost always charged in a currency the family doesn't earn in. Fees rise faster than prices in general, come due on fixed dates, and can't be put off.
We work out the full cost of each child's education from their current age to graduation, in the currency each stage will be billed in, then design a plan to pay for it on time without having to sell investments at a bad moment or disturb the rest of your plans.
If grandparents or a family trust are paying, the plan also covers how the money gets there — gifts, trusts and tax — including who pays any tax and what happens if the person paying dies part-way through.
What we do for you
- School-fee rises modelled
- Money set aside in the right currency
- Trust and gifting options
Who usually uses this
- Families with children in, or heading to, international schools
- Parents paying for UK, US or European university from abroad
- Grandparents who want to pay for education tax-efficiently
- Trustees paying for education out of a trust
One team, step by step, from the first call to handing it over.
Fees, boarding, travel and living costs projected by stage, school and currency, with realistic increases.
Existing savings and expected income checked against the payment dates.
Savings in the right currency, wrappers, gifts and trusts chosen to suit the timeline and whoever is paying.
A payment schedule, a plan for currency and a yearly review, so every invoice is already covered.
What you receive.
Every engagement closes with a specialist-reviewed handover pack — retained on file for thirty years.
- Education costs projected stage by stage
- A funding plan in the right currencies
- Gift or trust paperwork where relevant
- A calendar of payments and currency moves
- A yearly review against how much fees actually rose
The countries we most often use for this service.
Questions we hear on every intake call.
- How early should we start?
- The earlier the better, but it helps at any stage — even a year out, deciding which savings pay which bills avoids forced sales and bad exchange rates.
- Should grandparents pay directly?
- It's often more efficient for grandparents to pay through a gift or a trust than for parents to pay from taxed income, but the best route depends on where both sides live, their domicile and their estates.
- How do you deal with currency risk?
- As each payment date gets closer, we hold the money in the currency the bill will be charged in, rather than leaving it to whatever the exchange rate happens to be on the day.
- Can a trust pay school fees?
- Yes, and it's common. How the payment is made, the child's tax position and the trustee's records need setting up correctly, which we arrange with the trustee.
Start with a twenty-minute call. Come away with a written plan and price.
Every engagement begins with our advisory team and is assigned to the relevant specialists. Fees are quoted in writing before any work begins. No hourly billing.
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Every engagement begins with a twenty-minute advisory call. The fee is in writing before any work begins. No hourly billing.