raising children can cost up to 700 thousand euros

University of Naples Federico II Scampia (generic) – Photo by Ansa Foto

It costs 53,000 to 700,000 euros to educate a son or daughter by accompanying them from kindergarten to graduation. The digital investment company Moneyfarm tried to count in the pocket of the families by designing four formations to calculate the economic commitment of each one.

The study also takes into account the technological advancement that requires new skills. Soft skills are seen as increasingly important for career progression and are now complementary to traditional skills learned in school.

Extracurricular activities such as sports would be even more important than technical skills.

Standard route

Even when a family has a limited budget to invest in extracurricular activities, Moneyfarm has calculated that they have to spend around 53,000 euros for a standard educational path from kindergarten to kindergarten, elementary school, middle school and high school, including books and school materials. . . The complete cycle of the public university (5 years) is also included, taking into account a complete education, without taking into account scholarships and subsidies from Isee.

Among the extracurricular activities are online English lessons (from 6 to 16 years old), the purchase of at least one device for digital skills and socio-relational, recreational, sporting activities (scouts, theatre, sports individual from 5 to 12 years old, collective sports from 10 to 18 years old such as football, with a cost of 750 euros per year) and gym from 18 to 22 years old.

In this first case, the most expensive public and private university is Milan, for a total of 22 thousand euros.

Scientific and technological course

This path is more expensive than the classic path and aims to guide children towards a career based on scientific disciplines. The total cost of the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) course is around 98,000 euros. It includes not only public school, from kindergarten to middle school, but also public extracurricular programs from childhood to all high schools. It also includes off-site public universities (with a full 5-year course) (considering the University of Padua). The cost is 60 thousand euros.

The total cost includes extracurricular activities such as online English lessons from 6 to 16 years old (cost 900 euros per year), socio-relational, recreational or sporting activities (scouting, twice-weekly music) from 6 to 12 years old and individual sports such as swimming from 6 to 14 years old (415 euros), tennis from 14 to 20 years old (595 euros). Added to this is a device course and a basic computer course (420 euros for 20 lessons) as well as an advanced coding course of up to 590 euros for 20 lessons.

Radical or New Age path

This route becomes more expensive than the previous ones, for a total cost of 170 thousand euros. It starts in nursery and kindergarten with methods such as Montessori, Steiner or Reggio Emilia, or with a bilingual approach in an international context. Annual dues range from a minimum of €7,700 to a maximum of €14,600 for crèches, and from a minimum of €3,600 to a maximum of €15,300 for nursery schools.

In both cases, they were considered on the basis of the most exclusive international private school. The total cost includes extracurricular schools, public colleges and high schools, non-offsite public universities (Padua), and books and stationery.

Extra-curricular activities, in the case of digital and socio-relational skills, do not differ from the STEM profile, while the Moneyfarm study shows that language skills are those in which we invest the most. The cost is about 35 thousand euros (considering a course at the British Council from 5 to 15 years old, private Chinese lessons from 8 to 18 years old and study holidays).

Extra-luxury itinerary

This route costs 700 thousand euros in total. This is a completely private and international route from the nursery. Weighing above all else is university. Moneyfarm considered the UK. A BA at University College London and a Masters at the London School of Economics alone cost around 265,000 euros, including room and board (in the US they cost 572,000 euros).

The most expensive extracurricular activities have been factored into the cost. For language skills of a certain level, a course at the British Council for 5-18 year olds has been considered and costs €1,740 per year. The study of a second language such as Spanish at the Cervantes Institute from 8 to 16 years old, study holidays from 6 to 16 years old, with a whole year of study abroad. The cost is 61 thousand euros.

Socio-relational societies also weigh. A musical curriculum from 5 to 15 years old and a volunteering experience abroad from 14 to 18 years old, as well as individual sport from 5 to 15 years old and a personal trainer from 15 to 20 years old, for a total of almost 30 a thousand euros.