PJSC Sberbank : 48% of Russian families find saving up for children’s higher education necessary

Forty-eight per cent of Russian families believe they need to build savings for their children's higher education, Sberbank subsidiary Sberbank life insurance revealed in a survey ahead of September 1. According to 43% of respondents, one should think about this issue since the very birth of a child, since school (39%), or a few years before entering a university (18%).

The proportion of those who find it necessary to save up for the education of children increased by 9 percentage points over the year - 39% of respondents said that last August. Russians aged between 30 and 40, those with higher and postgraduate education, and people with above average incomes tend to accumulate funds for education most often.

The respondents finding it necessary to save up for tuition are distributed unevenly across the surveyed cities. The proportion is the highest in St. Petersburg (91%), Ekaterinburg (67%), Moscow (66%), Krasnoyarsk and Chelyabinsk (61% in each), Novosibirsk (59%), and Tyumen (56%). In Makhachkala and Orenburg, the metric stands at 27% and 23%, respectively.

The survey revealed that those who are willing to pay for education agree to spend an average of RUB 105,000 a year on it. Residents in the following cities are ready to allocate the largest amounts for higher education: Moscow (RUB 250,000), St. Petersburg (RUB 227,000), Vladivostok (RUB 163,000), Khabarovsk (RUB 148,000), Krasnoyarsk (RUB 109,000), Yaroslavl (RUB 104,000) and Tyumen (RUB 99,000).

A good all-round education - from early childhood (including the costs of school education and tutors) to graduation - will cost RUB 1.78 mn, according to the estimates Russians gave. All respondents estimate this amount at over RUB 1 mn. The highest values were given by residents of Moscow (RUB 2.1 mn), St. Petersburg (RUB 1.9 mn), Voronezh and Ryazan (RUB 1.8 mn).

Seventy-six per cent of survey participants are sure that modern high-quality education is the key to success in life; 75% of Russians agree or somewhat agree that a good modern education allows you to earn more or much more. Also, according to 83% of Russians, it allows you to make a career faster or much faster. And the overwhelming majority of those surveyed (90%) are convinced that a good education is essential for personal development.

According to the survey participants, the shortest path to a successful future is a technical or engineering degree (24% of respondents), one in IT, programming and computers (21%), medicine and biology (17%), economics, finance and management (13%), law and jurisprudence (10%), mathematics and natural sciences (8%), or the humanities (7%).

Nearly one-half of Russians think they need to save money for children's tuition, 40% would like their kids to receive free education, and 4% would want their children to pay for their tuition themselves.

According to the survey results, 7% of the respondents expect to pay for their education using salaries or loans. There are many concessional student loan programs with low rates. For example, Sberbank issued 4,645 preferential student loans in the first half of August 2021 alone. Endowment programs can be a good alternative to lending. Under the children's program of endowment life insurance, Sberbank customers save an average of RUB300,000, with the average term of savings being six years. Women take out endowment insurance policies for future education more often than others, in 77% of cases. Young parents have started saving for education: 40% of clients using these programs are under 35 years old. Over the calendar year - since late August 2020 to the end of August 2021 - more than 15,000 new clients of Sberbank started building savings with the help of the future education program.

Natalya Alymova

Senior Vice President and Head of Wealth Management, Sberbank

The opinion survey was conducted in August 2021 among respondents in 37 cities of Russia with 500,000+ people each, using a sample reflecting the sociodemographic profile of the city.

Appendix 1.

Percent of residents finding it necessary to save up for children's education

Astrakhan	33%
Barnaul	33%
Vladivostok	45%
Volgograd	31%
Voronezh	43%
Ekaterinburg	67%
Izhevsk	42%
Irkutsk	41%
Kazan	50%
Kemerovo	39%
Kirov	45%
Krasnodar	54%
Krasnoyarsk	61%
Lipetsk	40%
Makhachkala	27%
Moscow	66%
Naberezhnye Chelny	38%
Nizhny Novgorod	50%
Novokuznetsk	42%
Novosibirsk	59%
Omsk	33%
Orenburg	23%
Penza	42%
Perm	42%
Rostov-on-Don	50%
Ryazan	40%
Samara	51%
St. Petersburg	91%
Saratov	35%
Togliatti	51%
Tomsk	40%
Tyumen	56%
Ulyanovsk	30%
Ufa	40%
Khabarovsk	54%
Chelyabinsk	61%
Yaroslavl	38%

Appendix 2.

Average cost of quality education (thousand rubles) according to residents of Russian cities

Astrakhan	59
Barnaul	53
Vladivostok	163
Volgograd	70
Voronezh	74
Ekaterinburg	90
Izhevsk	63
Irkutsk	89
Kazan	74
Kemerovo	61
Kirov	53
Krasnodar	94
Krasnoyarsk	109
Lipetsk	62
Makhachkala	31
Moscow	250
Naberezhnye Chelny	66
Nizhny Novgorod	84
Novokuznetsk	65
Novosibirsk	67
Omsk	56
Orenburg	66
Penza	57
Perm	83
Rostov-on-Don	86
Ryazan	87
Samara	89
St. Petersburg	227
Saratov	51
Togliatti	80
Tomsk	70
Tyumen	99
Ulyanovsk	61
Ufa	64
Khabarovsk	148
Chelyabinsk	75
Yaroslavl	104

Appendix 3.

Average price of full-cycle education, according to residents of Russian cities (million rubles)

Astrakhan	1.5
Barnaul	1.3
Vladivostok	1.4
Volgograd	1.6
Voronezh	1.8
Ekaterinburg	1.6
Izhevsk	1.5
Irkutsk	1.4
Kazan	1.7
Kemerovo	1.4
Kirov	1.5
Krasnodar	1.7
Krasnoyarsk	1.5
Lipetsk	1.7
Makhachkala	1.4
Moscow	2.1
Naberezhnye Chelny	1.6
Nizhny Novgorod	1.6
Novokuznetsk	1.4
Novosibirsk	1.4
Omsk	1.4
Orenburg	1.5
Penza	1.6
Perm	1.5
Rostov-on-Don	1.7
Ryazan	1.8
Samara	1.7
St. Petersburg	1.9
Saratov	1.6
Togliatti	1.7
Tomsk	1.4
Tyumen	1.6
Ulyanovsk	1.5
Ufa	1.5
Khabarovsk	1.3
Chelyabinsk	1.6
Yaroslavl	1.7